In most of my calls with early stage founders we talk about the best metrics to track at the earliest stages. Until there is meaningful ARR, what do you measure from day 0? The KPIs That Actually Matter at Pre-Seed into Series A - read the full post in 🧵

Every week there’s a new GTM acronym trending. PLG, CLG, SLG, ELG. Pick the right one and you win. Pick the wrong one and you’re doomed. At pre-seed, none of them are “the one.” You’ll do all of them, usually at the same time. That’s the job. Read the full post in thread 🧵

Just dropped a new Vermilion Cliff Notes with Tori Seidenstein, CEO and Co-founder of Tadata. We talked about why MCP is the 100x connectivity leap, how open source has become the new enterprise wedge, and what modern GTM for dev tools really looks like. Full interview linked in thread 🧵

Open source isn’t about novel code anymore. It’s about execution. @bizza.pizza shares how one OSS team turned community momentum into a sticky product and a standout fundraise. 🎧 Full episode in thread 🧵

“You don’t need permission to start.” On this week’s Vermilion Cliff Notes, I sat down with @bizza.pizza to talk open source, AI agents, and founder momentum. We cover his path from MBA student to devtools founder and what it takes to stand out in this AI-fueled market.

New episode of Vermilion Cliffs Founder Notes: @austinhay & @patrick__thompson went from early @Branch + @Amplitude to founding @clarify together. Why they finally made the leap, how they closed their Series A, and the advice they now ignore. Full episode in first comment 👇

In our first episode of Vermilion Cliffs Notes, I talk to Ian Cairns, CEO of Freeplay, about agents, eval loops, and why your best AI workflows might look more like a Slack thread than a sci-fi movie. 🎥 Watch the full interview --> vermilioncliffs.substack.com/p/vermilion-...

Mary Meeker Returns: What's Shaping the Next Gen of Technical Products, Founders, and the Market open.substack.com/pub/vermilio...

Like every shift from web → mobile → APIs → big data, today’s GTM playbooks are evolving fast. Over the past two weeks, I shared daily snapshots of the shifts every technical founder should know. Get the full deep dive → vermilioncliffs.substack.com/p/where-tech...

Events Work. Especially Now. In a world of async everything, in-person time is more valuable than ever. We’re seeing a resurgence in technical events but not the vendor-heavy expos of the 2010s. 🧵 👇

Your message matters more than your metrics In a crowded market, clarity is the killer feature. If you can’t explain why your product exists in one sentence, your AI-generated competitor will outrank you. 🧵

A Developer Tool Is a Developer Experience The line between product and marketing is gone. If onboarding is bad, growth slows. If docs are confusing, retention tanks. 👇 🧵

Ecosystem and Integration Are the New TOFU Your top-of-funnel isn’t your homepage. It’s where your tool shows up in the developer’s existing flow. 🧵

Developers Are Still Bypassing Search for Signal If you want developers to find your tool, don’t count on Google. Count on the ecosystems they already trust. 🧵

Build in public or be forgotten. Product marketing used to move in months. Now it moves in hours. Launches still matter. But what you do between them is what builds brand, affinity, and momentum. 👇

1/ Technical GTM: A Series Day 2 – The New Influencer: Engineering Founders Are the Face of the Company 🧵

Technical GTM: A Series Today's 🧵 → GEO & AIO: Content Still Matters, but Context Is Everything SEO isn’t dead. But GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is where the game is headed.

Does AI mean the end of devtools? Short answer: No. Long answer: No. Devtools aren’t dying - they’re evolving but GTM playbooks are breaking. So what’s working and what’s not in 2025 technical GTM? Lesson 1: We all have the attention span of gnats vermilioncliffs.substack.com/p/the-golden...

Is this an AI bubble? Maybe. But we’re still seeing real traction—especially from technical founders building for the AI-enabled developer. Some notes on valuations, GTM shifts, and why seed pricing is higher than ever 👉 open.substack.com/pub/vermilio...

Thank you Allie Garfinkle of @fortune.com for learning about my journey into VC and highlighting the launch of @vermilion.fund 🤠

I look great with bangs and my wardrobe hasn't really changed. Excited to launch my debut $13m early stage fund @vermilion.fund