Picks & Shovels
Picks & Shovels is the definitive guide to developer marketing, written by someone who has done it all—positioning, messaging, go-to-market strategy, product-led growth, sales enablement, content creation, community building, and event execution.
Picks & Shovels: How to Market to Developers during the AI Gold Rush
By Prashant Sridharan, Published Fall 2025
During the California Gold Rush in the 1850s, the people who got the richest weren’t the miners; it was the ones selling the picks and shovels. In today’s AI Gold Rush, the same is true for the explosion of developer tools being built to power the future of technology. But how do you stand out in a crowded market?
Picks & Shovels is the definitive guide to developer marketing, written by someone who has done it all—positioning, messaging, go-to-market strategy, product-led growth, sales enablement, content creation, community building, and event execution. Unlike most books, which focus on just one piece of the puzzle, this comprehensive guide blends business motivations with tactical execution. Learn how to connect with developers—arguably the most skeptical and savvy audience in tech—and master the art of marketing to people who hate being marketed to.
In this book, you will learn:
- The fundamentals of Product Marketing for developer products: positioning, messaging, launch management, and sales enablement
- The secrets to developer content marketing and how to build and distribute phenomenal content that developers will love
- Analysis of business models and go-to-market strategies for developer products so you can find the one most aligned with your business
- How to be (and hire) an excellent Developer Advocate who drives measurable impact on the business
- Advanced tips and techniques for fostering powerful communities that support your business and product
- And so much more
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About me
I have over 30 years of experience running Marketing, Product, and Business Development teams for some of the largest and fastest growing developer platforms in the industry at Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Meta, Twitter, Timescale, Tinybird, and Supabase. I am an advisor to several seed and Series A developer tools and platforms startups.
Detailed chapter-by-chapter guide
(Subject to change)
Chapter 0: How can I help?
Chapter 1: Getting started
Chapter 2: The Developer Marketing and Developer Relations Organization
Chapter 3: You are what you measure
Chapter 4: Developer Advocacy
Chapter 5: Building Great Developer Content
Chapter 6: Distributing Developer Content
Chapter 7: Building Community and Engaging With Influencers
Chapter 8: Developer Events
Chapter 9: Building Awareness Through Marketing
Chapter 10: Building a Strong Developer Brand
Chapter 11: Developer Documentation
Chapter 12: Developer Product Marketing
Chapter 13: Segmentation, Positioning, and Messaging
Chapter 14: Pricing for Developer Products
Chapter 15: Developer Product Launches
Chapter 16: Aligning Developer Marketing with Product
Chapter 17: Aligning Developer Marketing with Sales
Chapter 18: Competitive Analysis and Intelligence
Chapter 19: Overview of Acquisition Models and GTM Strategy
Chapter 20: Product-Led Growth
Chapter 21: Sales-Led Growth
Chapter 22: Partner-Led Growth
Chapter 23: Public Relations and Analyst Relations for Developer Products
Chapter 24: Building and Managing Your Marketing Budget
Chapter 25: AI & Marketing
Chapter 26: Managing a High-Performing Organization
Chapter 27: Your Role in the Industry
Appendix 1: The Developer Launch Checklist