• 29: How to Scale a Developer-First Startup with Daniel Jarjoura

  • Feb 4 2025
  • Length: 1 hr
  • Podcast

29: How to Scale a Developer-First Startup with Daniel Jarjoura

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  • Summary

  • Join The CTO Playbook Slack Community to connect with other CTOs!Daniel Jarjoura is the Managing Director at Avolta, specializing in helping engineering-led companies prepare for mergers and acquisitions.In this episode, you'll learn the importance of building products that solve broad problems for developers, how to use open source as a growth tool while monetizing through premium services, why GitHub metrics can help predict future success, how to scale from a developer-led market to enterprise sales, and the 18-24 month process to plan for a successful M&A exit.Daniel Jarjoura specializes in 'developer-first' companies, open source, AI, cloud, infrastructure and cybersecurity. Prior to his current role, Daniel served as a CTO advisor for four years and founded The Unicorn CTO, a community and leadership training program dedicated to CTOs. A software engineer by training, Daniel began his career managing tech, product and support teams before transitioning into entrepreneurship. Over the last 12 years, he launched two companies: Startup42, one of France’s first tech startup accelerators, and H2 Innovate, an innovative platform offering on-demand expertise. Additionally, Daniel founded and directed the entrepreneurship department at EPITA, a leading software engineering school in France, for ten years.Timestamps:[00:00] Introduction[05:00] Startup42: A tech startup accelerator for engineers[07:00] Challenges faced by engineer-led startups[09:00] Business model for Startup42[12:05] Lessons learned when transitioning to a second company[14:00] Shifting towards advisory work for CTOs and developers[16:00] Due diligence and M&A transactions in small cap companies[19:00] The importance of scaling to enterprise sales[21:10] Developer-first companies and the importance of solving broad problems[24:00] Evaluating market demand and finding alternatives[26:10] The difference between developer-first and VC-compatible companies[29:00] How to determine if your company is ready for VC funding[31:00] Open source as a tool for growth[36:05] The evolution of open source and its business model[39:00] The challenges of scaling developer-first companies[42:00] How to approach sales in a developer-first startup[44:30] Scaling from selling to developers to selling to enterprises[47:00] How cultural differences affect sales strategies in the US and Europe[50:00] How to position your company for an exit[52:00] The importance of getting noticed by the right acquirers[54:10] Strategies for attracting M&A attention[56:00] The 18-24 month preparation for a successful M&A exitConnect with Daniel on LinkedInResources Mentioned:The Unicorn CTO | WebsiteGitHub | WebsiteGitLab | WebsiteMongoDB | WebsiteAngelList | WebsiteDatadog | WebsiteH2 Innovate | WebsiteStartup42 | LinkedInEPITA | WebsiteFind more from Adam on LinkedIn and YouTube and check out Adam's CTO coaching company Synova Tech.
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