Open Source:

Marketing for Developers

Michael Bleigh, Open Source Bridge 2012
mbleigh.github.com/open-source-marketing

Hipsters:

• Place value in novelty and obscurity.
• Do not want to feel marketed to.
• Somehow still spread a common culture.

Developers:

• Place value in novelty and obscurity.
• Do not want to feel marketed to.
• Somehow still spread a common culture.

?

Something hipsters like

Something hipsters want

Something developers like

Something developers want

You.

Three Potential Goals:

• Traction (marketing to developers)
• Recognition (marketing by developers)
• Reputation (marketing of developers)

Traction

Your product is directly used by developers.

Your product can help open source projects.

GitHub has always been free for open source

Free for OSS helps overcome do-it-yourself inertia

Free for OSS can get you goodwill customers

Other Examples

• Travis CI raises $100k
• Lighthouse as Rails bugtracker
• Heroku free tier for toy apps

Recognition

Your open source builds awareness of your product.

Developers might want to use your product.

If your tech is interesting,
maybe your product is, too

Developers are early adopters.
Early adopters drive word-of-mouth.

Reputation

Your open source shows your team's strength.

Developers, investors, and customers will think highly of you.

Even if you don't need clients,
you do need developers