DevTools Brew #65: JetBrains Story: Bootstrapping an IDE to $400M Revenues | Developer Marketing That Doesn’t Suck: A How-To Guide...
Hey folks, welcome to DevTools Brew Newsletter #65!
If you're new here, my name is Morgan Perry, co-founder of Qovery.
Every Saturday, I share the stories, strategies, and insights behind the most successful devtool companies. Subscribe to receive weekly stories :)
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In this Issue #65:
📈 JetBrains Story: Bootstrapping an IDE to $400M Revenues
📕 Developer Marketing That Doesn’t Suck: A How-To Guide
⭐ Star History Weekly Pick
Let's dive in!
📈 JetBrains Story: Bootstrapping an IDE to $400M Revenues
JetBrains’ story stands out as both remarkable and inspiring. The company, based in the Czech Republic, has achieved remarkable success by bootstrapping its way to $400 million in revenue. Known for creating tools for developers, JetBrains offers the second most popular Integrated Development Environment (IDE) after Visual Studio. Let’s explore JetBrains’ journey, unveiling its unique approach and success in devtool landscape👇
Key insights and lessons
Founding and Early Years
• Origin: JetBrains was founded in Prague in February 2000 by three Russian immigrants: Sergey Dmitriev, Valentin Kipiatkov, and Eugene Belyaev.
• First Product: Launched IntelliJ IDEA, an IDE for Java developers, in 2001.
• Slow Initial Growth: Experienced gradual growth in revenue and user adoption in its first decade.
Growth Factors (2010-2012)
• Expansion of IDEs: Started developing specific IDEs for other programming languages, including WebStorm for JavaScript, PhpStorm for PHP, and PyCharm for Python.
• Introduction of Kotlin: Launched Kotlin in 2012, a programming language compatible with Java and now widely used for Android app development. Kotlin is now the preferred language for Android app development, with 95% of the top 1,000 apps on Google Play using it. This strategic move helped JetBrains differentiate itself and attract a large developer community.
• Leadership Change: Maxim Shafirov became CEO in 2012, driving exponential growth.
Exponential Growth and Market Presence
• User Base Expansion: Grew from 59,000 customers in 2010 to 3 million in 2022, with a 39% CAGR.
• Global Reach: Used by 15.9 million developers, with 3,600 new daily users.
• Flagship Customers: Includes Google, NASA, Valve, Tesla, Twitter, and Ubisoft.
• Financial Milestones: Reached $400 million in revenue in 2022, with $200 million in EBITDA in 2020. JetBrains’ ability to bootstrap to $400 million in revenue demonstrates that significant growth and profitability are achievable without external funding.
Multi-Product Offerings
• Educational Tools: JetBrains Academy offers programming education within IDEs. They maintain open-source projects like Kotlin.
• IDEs: Offers 12 IDEs tailored to specific programming languages and Fleet, a multi-language IDE.
• Team and Collaboration Tools: Products include TeamCity (CI/CD), YouTrack (project management), and Space (collaboration platform).
Strategic Insights
• Customer-Centric Approach: Prioritizes developer satisfaction over aggressive monetization. Uses innovative models like the perpetual fallback license. JetBrains’ perpetual fallback license model, which allows developers to retain access to the version they purchased even if they stop subscribing, highlights their commitment to developer-friendly practices. This model has helped build trust and long-term loyalty among users.
• Minimal Sales and Marketing: Focuses on product quality rather than extensive sales and marketing efforts.
• Expanding Beyond Developers: Targets data scientists with tools like DataLore, a collaborative data science platform.
Comparison with other devtool companies
• Capital Efficiency: JetBrains, GitHub, and Datadog grew through positive word-of-mouth and customer evangelism.
• Contrasting Examples: Companies like HashiCorp and GitLab struggled with capital efficiency due to challenges in monetizing open-source models. The comparison with other developer tools companies like GitHub and Datadog illustrates that capital-efficient growth is possible in this market. However, open-source models, as seen with HashiCorp and GitLab, present monetization challenges that can impact capital efficiency.
Keeping up with the times (AI)
• LLM Integration: Tools leveraging large language models (LLMs), like GitHub Copilot and Replit, pose both a challenge and an opportunity for JetBrains.
• JetBrains’ Response: Integrating LLM-powered features, such as generated functions and documentation, to stay competitive and enhance product offerings. With the rise of tools leveraging large language models (LLMs), JetBrains faces new competition but also opportunities. The company’s proactive integration of LLM-powered features ensures they remain relevant and continue to meet evolving developer needs.
Wrapping Up
1. Bootstrapping Success: JetBrains’ ability to bootstrap to $400 million in revenue demonstrates that significant growth and profitability are achievable without external funding. Their focus on developer satisfaction and product excellence has led to a loyal customer base and sustainable growth.
2. Kotlin’s Impact: The introduction of Kotlin significantly boosted JetBrains’ market presence. Kotlin is now the preferred language for Android app development, with 95% of the top 1,000 apps on Google Play using it. This strategic move helped JetBrains differentiate itself and attract a large developer community.
3. Global Developer Adoption: JetBrains’ IDEs are used by 15.9 million developers worldwide, adding 3.1 million new users in 2022 alone. This widespread adoption underscores the company’s success in addressing developer needs across various programming languages and platforms.
4. Innovative Business Model: JetBrains’ perpetual fallback license model, which allows developers to retain access to the version they purchased even if they stop subscribing, highlights their commitment to developer-friendly practices. This model has helped build trust and long-term loyalty among users.
5. Expanding Product Suite: JetBrains has continuously expanded its product offerings beyond IDEs. Tools like TeamCity, YouTrack, and Space cater to broader organizational needs, positioning JetBrains as a comprehensive provider of developer and collaboration tools.
6. Developer Tools Market Dynamics: The comparison with other developer tools companies like GitHub and Datadog illustrates that capital-efficient growth is possible in this market. However, open-source models, as seen with HashiCorp and GitLab, present monetization challenges that can impact capital efficiency.
7. Adaptation to AI/LLM Trends: With the rise of tools leveraging large language models (LLMs), JetBrains faces new competition but also opportunities. The company’s proactive integration of LLM-powered features ensures they remain relevant and continue to meet evolving developer needs.
—> This great piece has been collaboratively written by Alexandre from Eurazeo and Marie from Fly. Read the full blog post here - published initially on the Overlooked newsletter.
📕 Developer Marketing That Doesn’t Suck: A How-To Guide
Developer marketing can be tricky, but when done right, it can significantly impact your product’s success. This guide below, created by Cecilia Stallsmith, highlights practical advice on what to avoid and what to embrace to create impactful marketing for developers. Let’s dive into the details👇
Key Takeaways:
Things to Avoid: The Bad
1. Tone-deaf Content
Examples of Bad Practices:
Using phrases like “create customer magic” or “join the movement” that don’t resonate with developers.
Trying too hard to sound technical with “code-washed” content that feels inauthentic.
Insight: Developers can quickly spot when marketing content is not written by someone who understands their world. Focus on authentic language that addresses their real pain points.
2. Doing Nothing
Issue: Some companies avoid developer marketing altogether, believing developers hate marketing.
Insight: Even without a formal marketing team, how your company presents itself to the world matters. Ensure there’s someone responsible for brand and product positioning to win over developers.
3. Trying to Out-market a Weak Product
Issue: Marketing can’t mask a product’s deficiencies, especially in the developer space.
Insight: Prioritize product quality, documentation, and developer experience before ramping up marketing efforts.
4. Forgetting About Other Audiences
Issue: Developers don’t work in isolation; other stakeholders like PMs, security teams, and legal are also involved.
Insight: Create content that addresses the needs of these secondary audiences to help them understand and champion your product.
What’s Good?
1. Show, Don’t Tell
Examples of Good Practices:
Insight: Visual demonstrations help developers quickly understand the value of your product.
2. Your Marketing Site Matters, But Your Docs REALLY Matter
Examples of Good Practices:
Stripe: Known for excellent, clear, and well-structured documentation.
Insight: Invest in creating high-quality documentation with clear examples and easy-to-follow guides. This is crucial for developer adoption and satisfaction.
3. Be Succinct
Examples of Good Practices:
Conduct user interviews to capture authentic language and tone.
Use tools like Hemingway to simplify your writing.
Run content by your dev team for feedback.
Insight: Eliminate jargon and business lingo. Speak plainly and technically to match your audience’s language.
4. Content Marketing Has to Be High Value
Examples of Good Practices:
fly.io, Honeycomb, and earthly.dev: Produce in-depth technical content that provides real value.
Insight: Avoid fluffy content. Focus on creating detailed, useful content that solves real problems for your audience.
5. Provide a Variety of Onramps
Examples of Good Practices:
Stripe: Offers everything from no-code integration options to fully customizable API integrations.
Insight: Cater to different skill levels and use cases by providing various integration options, from drag-and-drop to raw endpoints.
Effective developer marketing requires understanding and addressing the unique needs and preferences of developers. Avoid tone-deaf content, ensure your product is strong, don’t neglect other stakeholders, and focus on high-value, concise, and visually demonstrative content. By doing so, you can create marketing that resonates with developers and helps your product succeed.
—> To explore more, read the full blog post here - created and published by Cecilia Stallsmith.
⭐ Star History Weekly Pick
The Star History Weekly Pick is:
Restate: “A platform for building resilient applications that tolerate all infrastructure faults w/o the need for a PhD..”
⭐️ 1.3k stars reached
It’s already over! If you have any comments or feedback, you can reach out to me on LinkedIn or Twitter.
Thanks for reading,
Morgan