Let's talk a bit about how the use of AI in open-source is hurting the open-source devs and why Node.js just shot down their HackerOne project.

I had some amazing chats these past few weeks, and these inspired me to write up a post on how to build and grow a developer community. Let's just say that the ones who have been doing this for a long time have seen things. www.literally.dev/resources/ho...

Talking about developer marketing metrics is easy but building those charts isn't. This is why I've written another in-depth post about content marketing metrics that make sense when you're targeting developers 😃

What indicates growth? What moves the needle for a fast-paced startup? Is it attention someone's getting on social media, or is it their capacity to funnel that attention to awareness about what they do?

Most devtool founders track “growth” with GitHub stars and social media likes, because vanity metrics make them feel good. However, this isn't how you should approach measuring your success and growth.

If you want to sell to developers: - Make it easy for developers to make the buying decision on their own, - Your documentation needs to be spot on! - Don't force people on calls, - Don't ask them to show you their credit card instantly. Just get out of their way.

Developers often share their cookbooks and recipes with others, asking for feedback. Marketers also have their cookbooks, but they tend to hide them from others out of fear. I found that fear to be irrational.

Your AI-generated content will be the end of your thought leadership.

How many of you are using Pirate Metrics or want to implement them? Moreover, how many are interested in monitoring those with easy to use tools like PostHog? I am working on sth, and you may want to hear about it before I make it publicly available👂

I have worked in devtool companies for a decade. I’ve watched how teams build and ship products with accompanying documentation. There has been a time when we trusted our coworkers and collaborators, now we tend to trust LLMs more.

Clear and concise messaging is key to selling to devs. - Don’t force people into a funnel - Don’t make devs jump through hoops to try your product - Answer common questions with a simple FAQ page If you get this right, you don’t need to “convince” developers to use you. They’ll convince themselves

Do most people do weird stuff when testing new image generation tools? I have given nano banana a ton of pictures from the zoo and asked it to put us all in a metal band.

The next time someone tells me GPT tools will eliminate content strategists and creators, I'll just show them this.

If you are struggling with figuring out which developers to target, this post should get you going in the right direction. I talked to a few marketers and a couple of fresh founders who struggled with finding the right audience for their product, and they inspired me to write.

AI-first companies rely on Literally.dev to create and manage their docs. They have all the tools to generate their docs, yet, they rely on us. Usage of LLMs in the docs, with no humans to monitor the process, leads to difficulties in onboarding developers. Don't make this mistake.

I have reviewed ~150 applications to our Freelance Technical Writer job post in the past few days. Some tips for applicants: - If the application requires you to answer 3 simple questions, answer them. Don't put random symbols or say "look at my resume".

We think we can spot AI slop, but the truth is that we can never be really 100% sure. When the content is good, and I mean really good, only subtle formatting can give it away. And then again, there are people whose writing has turned into bullet points.

AI agents can't identify which messaging worked for your competitors, what landing page did great, which users they're onboarding, and how you should position yourself. AI can tell you at best which keywords they are focussing on, and what they are experimenting with.

This is of course a joke, but it just shows how important it is to have people with different skillsets pushing the same company together.

Your website should be optimized for a perfect chain reaction. Clear messaging Understandable pricing Smooth conversions When content is generated by AI, you're also triggering a chain reaction. Confused users Poor conversion rates Loads of support requests

I like taking risks. I share my marketing posts on HackerNews.

This post is a bit opinionated, but after working in a company that was profitable and had 0 sales people, I think I know what I'm talking about. Developers don't enjoy sales calls unless they had the chance to test the tool themselves.

There is a lot of AI junk online. We all know it, we all see it. Literally.dev is on a mission to help tech founders get the right type of content creators whose words will resonate with their users. Developers enjoy content created by other engineers.

Don't be obsessed with your competition. Don't blindly copy their approach, style of content, or messaging. They did their own research and figured out what works for them, you should go and figure out what works for you. How? JTBD methodology is built for cases like those 🤓

I used to complain about having too many calls per day. This is what an average day for me now looks like. Living that co-founder life. 😅

Why are blog posts important and why you should produce high-quality content for developers? Because engineers don't learn from books anymore. The speed of development is beyond what any publishing company could catch up with.

Everyone keeps saying how LLMs are getting better, but my experience says that they fail to even summarize meeting notes properly.

I had a great chat today with a developer who is familiar with the work I've done for other companies. They didn't understand how sharing so much high-quality content pays off to a company. They didn't see the marketing aspect in it. And that's how you do developer marketing.

Most people who run marketing agencies have worked in agencies all the time. I have been building products and growing their communities for years. I think this is what separates Literally from everyone else. We know what tight deadlines mean from a product perspective.

The dev world is always hyping something. - Containers - JavaScript - Blockchain - Crypto - AI I'm wondering what will be the next thing.

I just realized that one of the best podcast episodes I was on was deleted from the face of the Internet. This is why I keep reminding myself and others that we should try to own as much of our content and own our platforms.

“Everyone can jump into marketing” became a phrase that most people believe in. “Developers hate marketing” is another one. Without understanding the width or the depths of marketing, most developers assume it’s just a promotional activity that results in selling the product.

An author told me today that they won't be able to work with us. Here's how they ended that email:

How to appear in tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and similar: - add an llm.txt file next to your robots.txt - others did it, you can do it too - check out llmstxt . site - implement JSON-LD - fix your headers, only one H1, add proper H2

Me: Why do so many people think Wasp is an AI-powered tool? Meanwhile, our April 1st blog post is on top of Google. We jokingly announced that we're moving towards an LLM-based compiler.

Am I traveling a lot today? Yes. Did I get enough sleep? Absolutely no.

I'm preparing a 60+ slides presentation for tomorrow. Like this to support @wasp.sh devs who will have to listen to it.

We're counting down! Just 4 more ⭐️ Make sure to star us before we hit 15K to be eligible to win our swag bundle!

We are just 50 stars away from reaching 15,000 stars on @github.com! 🤩 To celebrate, three lucky winners will receive our Swag Pack! 🐝👕🎁 - Dark tee for the code ninjas - Light tee for the fashionistas - Beanie for the swaggers - Wasp plushie to help you with debugging! 👇 How to win... 👇

You can now add a first comment to your LinkedIn posts when scheduling them with @typefully.com Finally, a scheduling tool listened to its users!

Docker Desktop for Mac almost ruined my day. Here's how to fix it if you have issues with getting Docker to run or Mac saying you're running malware.

When a single user helps you more than all the official stuff that came out of Docker docs - the true power of community! If you can't get your Docker Desktop back and up on Mac - this is the solution! github.com/docker/for-m...

Even if you suck at design (like I do), with the right tools, you can create something you never thought you could. I built an app that helps people like me get nice labels for their homemade drinks, jams, and whatnot. It’s far from polished but the fact that I got it this far still blows my mind.

😮 Well this is cool! “Map of GitHub”, a visualization of 400k+ GH projects, clustered into countries. anvaka.github.io/map-of-githu...

Just keep shipping! We interviewed the founder of Turboreel who managed to kickstart his SaaS within weeks of discovering our open source tools. Wanna know how he did it?

As a chief printing officer in my family, this was the hardest bug I had to solve. It still baffles me how a lack of proper firmware updates lead to this.

TIL- Medium doesn't support webp format. webp has been around for 14 years.

We had an amazing time at #ArmadaJS and we couldn’t be more grateful to the organizers for inviting us! If you’ve ever doubted the magic of smaller conferences, ArmadaJS will prove you wrong. wasp-lang.dev/blog/2024/12...

What was the most useless thing you did at work? Let me start: Stress surveys 🤷‍♀️ I have never seen anyone act on them properly.

Wasp's ( @wasp.sh ) booth at #armadajs has been restocked, come and get your t-shirt, stickers, and badges!