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Open Source Startup Podcast

E156: Code-First Product Integrations with Ampersand

Nov 22, 2024
Lauren Long, Co-founder and CTO of Ampersand, discusses her journey in creating a developer platform for native product integrations. She shares insights on why a code-first approach enhances the developer experience and how their first integration with Salesforce shaped their go-to-market strategy. Lauren explains the balance between open-source CLI tools and a closed-source orchestration layer, emphasizing transparency in pricing as a key differentiator. She also offers valuable advice for aspiring founders about pursuing passion and aligning with long-term goals.
25:53

Episode guests

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Quick takeaways

  • Ampersand distinguishes itself with a code-first approach, allowing developers better version control compared to traditional drag-and-drop integration tools.
  • The founders prioritize transparency in pricing and user engagement strategies, enhancing the developer experience and supporting community-driven growth.

Deep dives

Origins of Ampersand

The idea for Ampersand originated from the founders' shared experiences in developer tooling and integration challenges. Lauren, with a background at Google’s Firebase team, recognized a gap in the market for integration solutions that offer transparency and control to developers. Her insights, combined with co-founder Ian's struggles to find suitable integration solutions for a previous company, confirmed the need for a robust product in this space. Extensive customer discovery revealed that many companies were dissatisfied with existing integration options, affirming their focus on addressing this underserved market.

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