Scaling DevTools

There are more and more open source DevTools startups. I’ve interviewed dozens. But I am still confused about open source licenses. So I decided to ask questions to two people who actually understand them: my friends Eric and Matt - founders of open source background jobs tool Trigger.dev.This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.What we discuss:Two Key Questions for License SelectionWhat are the benefits of permissive licenses?What are the main licenses?Why shouldn’t you write your own (open source) license?What is Copyleft?Post Open Source" Movement(00:50) - Open Source Licensing (18:18) - Protective Licensing (23:12) - Copy Left Concept (43:30) - Wordpress Trigger:Eric Allam - https://x.com/maverickdotdev Matt Aitken - https://x.com/mattaitkenTrigger.dev https://trigger.dev/JSON Hero https://jsonhero.io/ LicensesMIT License https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_License - Matt’s “most permissive license”Apache-2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_License - “Like MIT but with trademarks”FSL / Fair Source License https://fair.io/ - created by SentryHeather Meeker - Open Source Licencing expert https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathermeeker/ A practical guide to Open Source Licencing https://www.amazon.co.uk/Open-Source-Business-Practical-Licensing/dp/1544737645 ReferencesSentry https://sentry.io/welcome/ Redis https://redis.io/ Valkey https://valkey.io/ Clickhouse https://clickhouse.com/ Background to Continue.dev and PearAI https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/30/y-combinator-is-being-criticized-after-it-backed-an-ai-startup-that-admits-it-basically-cloned-another-ai-startup/ 

John O'Nolan, Founder and CEO of Ghost, a leading open-source blogging platform, shares profound insights on navigating the competitive landscape of blogging. He discusses the benefits of open source for autonomy, its implications in journalism, and the importance of aligning community goals with profitability. John critiques VC funding while exploring sustainable revenue models for journalism. He emphasizes launching projects imperfectly to learn and grow, and highlights the empowering role of AI tools for developers, making coding more accessible.

Gonto (Martin Gontovnikas) was the 6th employee at Auth0 and helped them grow fast and sell for $6.5billion to Okta.  Now he is the founder of Hypergrowth Partners and helps DevTools grow fast.We discuss:What Auth0 did to become so valuable so fastWhat the best founders do (Guillermo Rauch)Different is better than better People follow people not brandsWhy bleeding edge mattersResourcesWhy Technical SDRs are the Future of DevToolshttps://playbooks.hypergrowthpartners.com/p/product-advocates-technical-sdrsGonto's website https://gon.to/Gonto's Twitter https://twitter.com/mgontoHypergrowth Partners https://www.hypergrowthpartners.com/Code to Market https://codetomarket.fm/Guillermo Rauch https://x.com/rauchgThis episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.

Mike McQuaid and John Britton are cofounders of Workbrew - a tool that gives you the missing features for enterprises running homebrew. John has previously worked at GitHub and Twilio and is a contributor to Homebrew. Mike has also worked at GitHub as well as being the project lead and longest running maintainer at Homebrew. We dig into:How Homebrew can trace its origins to a pub in LondonHow Apple actually work with HomebrewHow Homebrew managed to grow and scale upHow Workbrew are avoiding misaligned incentives so common in open sourceLinks for Mike, John and WorkbrewMike McQuaid https://mikemcquaid.com/John Britton https://johndbritton.com/Workbrew https://workbrew.com/This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.

Paul Klein is the founder and CEO of Browserbase - one of the fastest growing DevTools in 2024.Browserbase is a headless browser API focused on helping AI Agent startups.We dig into:Why browser automation?How Browserbase hit "VC-market-fit"Visionary is revisionist-history Tips for hiring your friendsWhy buying a jacket is like buying a devtoolBuilding an in-person DevTool in San FranciscoMaking priorities (what Paul doesn’t care about).Where to find Paul and Browserbase:Twitter/X https://x.com/pauljasonklein?lang=enLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulkleinivBrowserbase https://www.browserbase.com/ReferencesMux acquires Stream Club https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mux-acquires-stream-club-to-enable-developers-to-build-live-streaming-studios-into-their-applications-301449407.htmlLevelsio on VPSs https://x.com/levelsio/status/1827308534645572015 Charly Poly https://www.linkedin.com/in/charly-poly/?originalSubdomain=frDevTools Pauls: Paul Butler https://x.com/paulgb?lang=en and Paul Copplestone https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulcopplestoneSolaris office space https://www.solarissf.com/To support Scaling DevTools, please check out the Enterprise Ready Conf from WorkOS https://enterprise-ready.com/

In 2017, Rasmus Makwarth sold his previous APM (Application Performance Managment) startup Opbeat to Elastic for an undisclosed amount. Opbeat became Elastic APM, which became a big part of the Elastic Observability solution and Rasmus became Senior Director of Product Management - with a focus on Developer Experience.Today, Rasmus is the founder and CEO of Bucket.co - a feature flagging tool built for B2B teams. Bucket has raised $5.7m from investors such as Project A and Creandum. We dig into:The realities of fundraising on a deadlineThe role of San Francisco in fundraising - do you need to be there?How exit opportunities can come from unexpected sources and the importance of showing up The importance of building a great productWhat Rasmus learned at Elastic - one of the biggest DevTools in the world Why Bucket is betting on helping engineers at b2b companies understand how users use their featuresThe future of product engineeringWhere to find Rasmus:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/makwarth/?originalSubdomain=dkTwitter/X https://x.com/makwarthBucket https://bucket.co/ReferencesElastic https://elastic.co/Opbeat acquisition announcement https://www.elastic.co/blog/welcome-opbeat-to-the-elastic-familyShay Banon - founder of Elastic https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimchy/Gregory Tademoto - VP Global Business & Corporate Development https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorytademoto/To support Scaling DevTools, check out the Enterprise Ready Conf from WorkOS https://enterprise-ready.com/

Shawn Wang, known as swyx, is the founder of smol.ai and co-host of the Latent Space podcast, celebrated for driving the AI engineer movement. In this conversation, he shares insights on organizing AI Engineer conferences and promoting intentionality within the community. Shawn discusses angel investing in DevTools, the evolving role of developers in the AI landscape, and the balance between OpenAI's vision and profitability. They dive into the complexities of investing in developer tools and the significance of a supportive network for success.

Sagar is the CEO and co-founder of Speakeasy - an API tooling platform. We talk about the journey of Speakeasy. The challenges of startup life. How they developed the product and how they work with influencers in a surprising way.Building relationships with influencers can significantly enhance product development.Importance of listening to customersFine line between product and consultingThe role of documentation in user experienceBeing responsive to customer needs builds long-term relationships.The startup journey requires patience and adaptability.Links:Sagar Batchu Speakeasy https://www.speakeasy.com/Check out the Enterprise Ready Conf from WorkOS https://enterprise-ready.com/

In this conversation, Anurag Goel, founder and CEO of Render, discusses the evolution of Render as a cloud infrastructure platform is actually simple to use.He shares insights from his time at Stripe, emphasizing the importance of customer focus, crafting a seamless user experience, and the philosophy of progressive disclosure of complexity. Anurag also highlights the significance of customer support as an integral part of the product and offers advice for aspiring founders on finding their passion and maintaining empathy in their work.This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.What we discuss:Building in special details enhances customer experience.The delicate balance between simplicity and capability. How the power of sensible defaults. and progressive disclosure of complexity improves usability.Focus on customer needs drives product development.Customer support should be treated as a product.Finding founder market fit is crucial for success.Empathy for users is essential in product development.LinksAnurag's Twitter https://x.com/anuraggoelRender https://render.com/Stripe https://stripe.com/KeywordsRender, developer experience, cloud infrastructure, customer support, startup culture, Anurag Goel, Stripe, product development, user experience, technology

Ant Wilson, cofounder and CTO of Supabase, dives into the company's evolution and the power of open source in tech. He discusses the significance of community engagement and developer-centric branding, highlighting how these elements shape successful marketing strategies. The conversation offers insights into navigating enterprise challenges and the growing influence of AI and vector databases. Ant reflects on building trust with clients and celebrating the journey of reaching 100 episodes, all while emphasizing the competitive edge that open source can offer.