DevTools Brew #66: Building Appsmith into a $250M Devtools startup | How to monetize open-source projects: must-read resources...
Hey folks, welcome to DevTools Brew Newsletter #66!
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 :)
Also, follow me on Linkedin if you don’t already!
In this Issue #66:
📈 Built Appsmith into a $250M Devtools startup
📕 How to monetize open-source projects: must-read resources
⭐ Star History Weekly Pick
Let's dive in!
📈 Building Appsmith into a $250M Devtools startup
In just a few years, Appsmith has achieved remarkable growth since its inception, making it the world’s most popular internal app-building platform. Abhishek Nayak, a serial entrepreneur and the CEO/Co-Founder of Appsmith, shared his journey from his early entrepreneurial experiments to building a successful $250M devtools startup. Let’s dig into key learnings and valuable lessons from Appsmith’s CEO journey👇
Key insights and lessons
Appsmith’s growth and achievements
Before diving into the journey and lessons from Abhishek, let’s set the context with some key figures and milestones that highlight Appsmith’s remarkable growth since its inception:
Founding: Appsmith was founded in 2019 by three co-founders: Abhishek Nayak, Arpit Mohan, and Nikhil Nandagopal.
GitHub stars: Appsmith reached 20,000 stars on GitHub just two years after launching on the platform in mid-2020. This represents a 4.4x increase from June 2021 when they had 4,500 stars.
Total funding: Appsmith has raised a total funding of $51.5M over 3 rounds. Its latest funding round was a Series B round on Jun 22, 2022, for $41M.
User Base: Appsmith is now used in over 180 countries, serving an estimated 10,000 companies, including Fortune 100 and 500 companies.
Open-source adoption: Leading companies like GitLab and Docker have adopted Appsmith’s open-source version, recognizing its potential.
Development activity: Appsmith has submitted the highest number of pull requests among low-code development platforms, according to OSSInsight rankings.
Market penetration: Initially adopted primarily by backend developers, Appsmith has gained significant traction among medium-sized companies with up to 5,000 employees.
I guess now we can feel Appsmith’s rapid growth and significant market penetration— making it a standout player in the internal apps space.
Let’s dig into the early days and some key lessons shared by Abhishek Nayak (Appmsith’s CEO)
Early days and entrepreneurial roots
• Initial reluctance: Abhishek was initially disinterested in owning a computer, associating it with distractions like games and non-productive activities. It wasn’t until he attended BITS Pilani, a prestigious engineering college in India, that he discovered the broader potential of the Internet.
• First entrepreneurial spark: Abhishek’s curiosity about how social networks like Orkut made money sparked his interest in business models. This curiosity led him to explore how online products could generate revenue.
Founding and learning from Failures
• First startup - Gharpay: Abhishek’s first venture was Gharpay, a cash-on-delivery service for e-commerce in India. Despite rapid growth and scaling to multiple cities, the stress of handling large amounts of cash led him to sell the company to Delhivery.
• Second trial - Clink: Abhishek’s next venture, Clink, aimed to provide digital payment solutions but struggled due to changing personnel in partner banks. Following Clink, he worked on Wise, a smart whiteboard project, and then an AI-based customer support tool, both of which didn’t achieve the desired success.
The pivot to Appsmith
Idea Genesis: After multiple pivots and challenges, Appsmith was born from a need to simplify the creation of internal tools and dashboards. The idea was sparked by Arpit, Abhishek’s co-founder, who had been tinkering with ways to build UI on top of databases quickly.
Early Convictions: Initial doubts about the business potential of Appsmith were overcome through extensive market research, revealing a significant demand for internal app-building tools among developers.
Incubation at Accel: Appsmith started in stealth mode at Accel Launchpad. With the support of Shekhar Kirani from Accel, they received initial funding and valuable mentorship.
Unique approach and market fit
Remote-first team: From the start, Appsmith embraced a remote-first model, with a team spread across multiple countries. This approach not only broadened their talent pool but also aligned with the global nature of their user base.
Open source strategy: The decision to make Appsmith an open-source project was pivotal. This approach helped them gain rapid adoption, with developers contributing to and improving the platform.
• Open source strategy: The decision to make Appsmith open-source was pivotal. It allowed the product to gain rapid adoption and community support, leading to organic growth without significant marketing expenditure.
Global adoption: Upon launch, Appsmith quickly gained users from over 90 countries. The product’s appeal lies in its ability to help developers build internal tools effortlessly, addressing a universal problem faced by companies worldwide.
Overcoming challenges and scaling
Pandemic impact: The pandemic posed initial challenges but ultimately validated their remote-first model. The lockdowns accelerated the adoption of digital tools, benefiting Appsmith’s growth.
Funding & Growth: After launching in 2020, Appsmith secured significant funding rounds, raising $50M+. These funds were primarily used to expand their engineering, product, and design teams to enhance the open-source project.
Achieving success
Organic growth: Appsmith’s growth has been primarily organic, driven by word of mouth and the inherent value of their product. They have not relied heavily on paid marketing, showcasing the strong demand for their solution.
Global adoption: Today, Appsmith is used in every country around the world, demonstrating its universal appeal and the effectiveness of their go-to-market strategy.
Personal reflections and lessons learned by Abhishek
Persistence & Adaptability: Abhishek emphasizes the importance of resilience and maintaining perspective through failures. He views each failure as a learning opportunity, which has been crucial in his journey. Also, Abhishek mentioned the importance of resilience and the ability to pivot in response to market feedback.
Market research: Thorough research and understanding the target audience’s pain points are crucial for developing a product that addresses real needs.
Community and open-source: Embracing an open-source model can drive widespread adoption and foster a supportive community, reducing the need for extensive marketing.
Mental health: Entrepreneurship is challenging, and maintaining mental well-being is essential. The tragic loss of a close friend highlighted the importance of mental health in entrepreneurship. Abhishek advocates for a balanced approach to work, treating it as a game that should be enjoyable and meaningful. Success should be measured beyond financial metrics to include personal fulfillment and health.
Handling stress and setbacks: Abhishek candidly addressed the personal toll of entrepreneurship, including dealing with depression and the immense pressure of early failures. He emphasizes the importance of resilience and maintaining a balanced perspective.
Appsmith’s journey and Abhishek’s insights are sure to inspire and guide you on your own entrepreneurial/company path ^^.
—> To explore more, watch the full interview here - published initially by Backstage with Millionaires.
📕 How to monetize open-source projects: 10 must-read resources
Curated by Jakub Czakon, this list provides invaluable resources on how to effectively monetize open-source projects. Whether you’re looking to transition your community into customers, or simply exploring different business models, these resources cover all the bases.
From Community to Customers - Kelsey Hightower
» YouTube video from Kubecon by Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)
How to Build Beautiful Friendships Between DevRel, Marketing, and Sales
The Red Hat Model Only Worked for Red Hat
» Hacker News threadOur Community Loves Our Free Product. Now What?
The Money In Open-Source Software
» Techcrunch article by Max Schireson and Dharmesh ThakkerDeveloper Marketing and Community: An Early-Stage Playbook from a DevTools and Open-Source Marketer
Docker 2.0 Went from $11M to $135M in 2 Years
How to Sell Open-Source Software
How to Sell to Developers (tl;dr: you don’t)
How to Mine Open-Source Data for Enterprise Sales
—> Credit: this great list of resources was curated by Jakub Czakon. For more insights on developer marketing, don’t forget to subscribe to Jakub’s weekly newsletter ;)
⭐ Star History Weekly Pick
The Star History Weekly Pick is:
Docmost: “Docmost is an open-source collaborative documentation and wiki software. It is an open-source alternative to the likes of Confluence and Notion.”
⭐️ 1.9k 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