You don't want me at your startup
This article is phrased a little flippantly, I don’t mean to be disrespectful. Rather I phrase things strongly this way to emphasize that I really mean what I say. And I include resources to hopefully help those whose next question is “OK, so how do I recruit a DevRel professional and what should I know about them? Thank you to 30 companies that have reached out this year for the inspiration.
I’m really happy that your company, {}, that does {}, and recently received $XM in your recent series {a-f}. Congratulations to {} company. I hope they create value for the world, and maybe along the way some investors as well.
But you don’t want me to do developer relations for your start-up. No, really, you don’t. Here’s why.
I’m too expensive
You’ve just received $XM in your recent funding round. I’m a (currently L7) tech manager at a relatively stable major company (currently Google) with a large team that reports to me. I earn XX% of your funding every year. I have no interest in delaying a significant portion of my compensation until some unpredictable future point where I might possibly get some of that back. The structure of any venture capital based start-ups at this point mean only if you a founder or maybe employee 1-5, you’re not walking away with a ton of money. Or, possibly if you’re a buddy of a CEO in a late stage start-up you might come in to soak an $M, if you’ve already been a VP at a major company. Yes, I know you think your start-up is different. But it’s not.
Am I only in this for the money? If you didn’t think money was important, you wouldn’t have started a company or highlighted the valuation in your recruitment email. I’m not solely motivated by money in my life, but it’s an important part of how much companies value their workers. If you can’t meet my compensation requirements, it’s not worth the conversation. After that we can talk about where I’m interested in what your company is doing.
I don’t want to do what you need
Early stage companies need to drive awareness and adoption. That means getting in front of a lot of people. That means doing videos, engaging people online. It means showing up at meet-ups either in person or online, whatever we’re doing that year. It is the work best done by someone newer in their career, someone who is building a name. Someone who wants to dive deep and run all over the place. I’m not a developer advocate anymore. I loved it when I was, I just am done with that part of my career.
Don’t get me wrong, I work hard and value hard work. I like building teams. I like getting people in front of the camera. Getting people on stage. I’m done with the “I traveled around the world in a month” stage of my career. I value individuals and I also value how teams work together. I like building programs. And you don’t need that at this point. I can’t imagine you need more than 8 people, including community managers, advocates, and people to write sample code. Maybe a few more if you have a technical writing program.
I don’t care about Blockchain anything
As of this writing, 90% of my recruitment emails seem to be from Blockchain startups so I just thought I’d mention that. I know there are great people working in this space. You should go talk to them. I may change views later, but talking to a company founder that profits from tech that has significant downsides doesn’t appeal to me at this point. That includes the so-called Web3 and crypto currency industries. Do I wish I bought bitcoin when it was cheap? Of course. But I would have sold it by now and retired if I did.
Also I don’t do consulting
Unless you’re a friend/acquaintance/former colleague or you’re an important partner of my current company, you can’t “just pick my brain” for a few minutes. Sorry. My time costs money and I’m already paid a lot. I’m not interested in helping your for-profit company for free. My personal non-work time is valuable to me.
That being said, I point you at the DevRel Collective for resources. In particular, Phil Leggetters AAARRRP Developer Relations Strategy Framework, Mary Thengvall’s The Business Value of Developer Relations, and anything Angie Jones does. Find lots of devel folks on Twitter. I’ve got older posts on this blog, but lots of others have put more into print than I have and have deeper thoughts. I encourage you to find them.
Call me when you’re ready to IPO, or already have
FYI, I’m not currently looking. Should I, I can be an asset to a late-stage, almost IPO company, or better post-IPO company that can meet my compensation requirements and is looking to do something really valuable.
And I’m interested in work on products that empower developers, particularly individual developers working build tools for small and medium size businesses.