Scaling effective sales motion in a dev tool startup

[00:00.00] - Luke:

I think selling to developers is unique because they are a well-informed client base and naturally skeptical, as they should be. Most developers and engineering leaders know what tools are available and what they want to use. What I've seen work in this space is sales teams acting more as facilitators rather than traditional salespeople. The approach we've taken, especially in my previous roles, is that the main goal of a salesperson in this space is to help developers see the value in the product and envision how it solves their specific problem. Whether it makes their life easier, their team's life easier, or saves money, the focus should be on demonstrating value. The sales process in this space is very different; you're not really selling from that first conversation. It's about removing friction, helping them get into a proof of concept or trial, and allowing them to discover the value themselves. Your main goal is to remove blockers and help them see the value as quickly as possible.

[01:49.89] - Achintya:

Hey, guys. Welcome to another episode of the Modern DevTool GTM Brew. Today, we are diving into a perennially hot topic: cracking the sales motion for developer tool companies. We have an incredible conversation lined up for you. My guest today is Luke Bivens. Luke is a seasoned sales professional with a knack for startup success and a passion for selling developer tools. He has worn multiple hats in his sales career, including being the founding account executive at three successful tech startups, a sales and growth advisor, and now the founder of QC Growth, where he provides go-to-market advice to developer tool companies. Luke, welcome to the podcast. Excited to have you here.

[02:34.54] - Luke:

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Really excited to have a chat.

[02:39.63] - Achintya:

The first thing that comes to mind is that you specifically focus on GTM for developer tool companies. What is the reason for the vertical focus on developer tools? What do you think is different about developer tools, particularly in the sales motion, that led you to specialize in this area?

[03:00.81] - Luke:

Yeah, my background is in the B2B startup SaaS space, where I've repeatedly taken on the founding account executive role, as you mentioned. For the last four or five years, I've been focused on the developer tool space. My last company was called Gatsby, which many in the open-source community will recognize as a React-based framework that allowed developers and companies to build really fast websites. That's how I was introduced to developer tools. Early on, I realized I really like this space. Selling to developers is quite different from selling sales or marketing software. When I left Gatsby to start QC Growth, I saw a real need in the space for technical founders, especially those working with open-source or developer tools, to build that early-stage sales motion. Many start with an incredible product, but it's hard to build a go-to-market strategy and navigate that zero-to-one stage. That’s why I started QC Growth and the types of companies we typically work with.

[04:34.72] - Achintya:

Let's double-click on what you mentioned about how selling to developers is different. What makes it unique, and why does it require that vertical focus?

[04:55.21] - Luke:

I think selling to developers is unique because they are a well-informed client base and naturally skeptical, as they should be. Most developers and engineering leaders know what tools are available and what they want to use. What I've seen work in this space is sales teams acting more as facilitators rather than traditional salespeople. The approach we've taken, especially in my previous roles, is that the main goal of a salesperson in this space is to help developers see the value in the product and envision how it solves their specific problem. Whether it makes their life easier, their team's life easier, or saves money, the focus should be on demonstrating value. The sales process in this space is very different; you're not really selling from that first conversation. It's about removing friction, helping them get into a proof of concept or trial, and allowing them to discover the value themselves. Your main goal is to remove blockers and help them see the value as quickly as possible.

[06:24.10] - Achintya:

Got it. So when you're working on a GTM motion where you're talking to developers and helping them out, what are some of the best practices you see when it comes to messaging to developers?

[06:37.23] - Luke:

The biggest thing, especially in the outbound motion, is the idea of niching down. Early on, when you talk with founders of developer tool companies, they often believe they can sell to any team with a software engineering department and solve all their problems. But it’s hard to create repeatability that way. It’s hard to tell a story that resonates from company to company. What we like to do is focus on a specific persona, a specific type of person or company, and deeply understand the problems they face day-to-day. Then, we figure out how to solve those problems in our messaging. A lot of that is social proof. Developers want to see that another engineering team at a similar company is using the product to solve a specific problem. The messaging should be curious, personalized, and based on research. We might say, "Based on the companies we’ve helped, we figured you might be dealing with these same issues. We’d love to have a conversation. If it’s not a fit, no worries. We’re not here to force anything on you; we’re here to help." The messaging is different from typical sales outreach—it’s more about seeking feedback and exploring opportunities to help.

[08:36.35] - Achintya:

Got it. Along the same lines, there’s a common belief that the developer community dislikes sales, or at least bad marketing. When dev tool teams and sales teams are reaching out to developers, what should they keep in mind to engage an audience that is often averse to sales?

[09:06.50] - Luke:

Yeah, there are a couple of things. When it comes to sales and marketing as a whole, it’s important to become product or industry experts. The content you create—whether it’s for blogs, social media, or other channels—should provide value to the people you’re reaching out to. This way, they can easily find information and answer their own questions by reading that content. That’s one approach every developer tools company should focus on. Another crucial aspect is meeting developers where they are. Developers aren’t living in their email like a founder or someone on the sales side. It’s important to reach them on platforms they frequent, like X/Twitter, GitHub, or Discord communities. You need to understand where your customers prefer to communicate. Email isn’t always the best option, especially as the landscape of sales outreach has changed over the past few years. It’s now about taking a multi-channel approach and finding where developers spend most of their time.

[10:32.65] - Achintya:

Got it. That brings me to the logical next step. As you’re trying to meet developers where they are and where they are active, there are a lot of intent signals in those activities. What are some of the intent signals you’ve seen working for organizations? How can dev tool companies identify and leverage these signals in their GTM strategies?

[11:04.36] - Luke:

Yeah, there are a lot of intent signals, and they all funnel into one another to tell a story. For example, job postings are a big one—tracking companies hiring for specific roles with specific technology expertise can be a strong indicator of a need for your product. Another key intent signal is self-learning and self-exploration. Developers often engage with documentation sites to explore products on their own. Within those sites, certain pages can be strong indicators. For example, some pages might suggest a larger enterprise project, while others might indicate a side project. Tracking those engagements and bubbling them up as key indicators for your sales team can help you understand the story and tailor your messaging accordingly.

[12:43.21] - Achintya:

Got it. Let’s talk about some of the advice you give to DevTool startups. What are the starting points? What advice do you commonly give that they start implementing right away? What are the five most important things for getting started that you see as really useful?

[13:06.51] - Luke:

Yeah. A lot of the startups I work with focus on the idea of niching down, as I mentioned earlier. When we first start working with founders and developer tool companies, we do a lot of testing. You have a hypothesis about the company or persona you want to target, but you don’t really know until you have more conversations and see what messaging works. Early on, it’s important to be curious and understand what customers want. A key best practice we implement is creating a "voice of the customer" funnel. This means ensuring that feedback from conversations isn’t just heard by the salesperson but is also shared with engineering, marketing, founders, and the entire team. Everyone needs to be on the same page, building a story around the problems you’re trying to solve. Collaboration is crucial—sales, marketing, and engineering should all be aligned, especially at the early stage. Marketing and engineering are your salespeople too, as they’re in Discord communities and on Twitter. Everyone should be telling the same story and communicating effectively, without silos.

[15:13.41] - Achintya:

I agree. There is tremendous impact when different departments communicate the same story and collaborate effectively. How do you achieve that? Selling to developers or technical buyers requires a lot of collaboration between teams. You need content, marketing targeting, and SDR outreach all aligned. What are some best practices you recommend for bringing various teams together to work in sync? Because I believe orchestrating collaboration across teams is a big challenge for any organization.

[15:49.29] - Luke:

The one thing you want to avoid is silos. Typically, salespeople have the sales conversations, and then they go to product, engineering, or marketing to ask for specific things. But at this stage, especially in growing startups, it’s important to integrate these teams into the sales process. At Gatsby, we did a great job of involving our product, marketing, and engineering teams in sales calls. They were part of the conversation, which built an amazing customer-facing culture. Customers evaluating our product realized they weren’t just talking to a salesperson—they were talking to the experts who built the product and could reach out to them anytime. Involving your entire team in the sales process not only provides world-class customer support but also removes the sales stigma and allows everyone to hear exactly what customers are saying.

[17:05.13] - Achintya:

One last question, Luke. I ask this to all the guests: What are some of the best books, podcasts, or resources you recommend for sales teams of developer-focused companies?

[17:19.65] - Luke:

Great question. There are a couple I’d recommend. One of the best sales books, and an easy read, is Sell with Swagger: The Quick Hit Guide to Crushing Your Quota. It sounds like a typical sales book, but it’s actually a very practical guide for setting up your day, tracking the right things, and getting in front of your target audience. Another great resource is the Craft of Open Source podcast. They always feature interesting companies, and you can learn a lot about what’s up and coming. I also recommend the Runa Capital Open Source Report. It’s a quarterly report that highlights the hottest open-source companies. You can learn a lot about current trends, especially in areas like open-source AI.

[18:44.12] - Achintya:

Amazing. Thanks, Luke. This has been great. I learned a lot. Thanks again for being on the podcast.

[18:54.65] - Luke:

Thank you so much for having me. This was fun.

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