Avdi GrimmMay 15

Developer Tooling is a Lousy Business

Back in 2017 Slava Akhmechet wrote a post-mortem on the RethinkDB project: If you do set out to build a developer tools company, tread carefully. The market is filled with good alternatives. User expectations are high and prices are low. Think deeply about the value you’re offering to the customer. Remember – wanting the world to be a certain way doesn’t make it so. As a veteran of a developer tools startup, my view of that market is similarly jaundiced. Every hacker has a great […]

https://avdi.codes/developer-tooling-is-a-lousy-business/

Developer Tooling is a Lousy Business

It's a trap.

Show threadDavid Brownman
@avdi this is a great post! There's something funny about tooling that feels much harder to sell than most other kinds of software. I think the wealth of free alternatives and extreme specificity make it hard to ship a broadly appealing product
May 19 at 4:52pmWeb