Why Companies Invest in DevRel

Below is a deeper look at the four big business drivers behind Developer Relations. Think of them as compounding levers: each delivers value on its own, but together they create the network-effect flywheel that turns a promising product into a thriving platform.


1. Product Adoption & Ecosystem Growth

Helping developers succeed → more active users → more revenue

What it means in practiceCommon DevRel tacticsHow leadership sees the ROI
Lower the “time-to-first-wow” and keep devs unblocked so they actually ship to prod• Step-by-step quick-starts
• Sample apps that mirror real use-cases
• Hands-on office hours / livestream coding
▸ Higher activation & retention curves
▸ Migration stories that close enterprise deals
▸ Partner apps that drive indirect revenue (e.g., API overage, marketplace fees)

Real-world example: Stripe’s open-source sample repos and interactive docs cut integration time from days to hours; merchants who go live sooner start generating payment volume sooner—which Stripe monetises.


2. Rapid Product-Market Fit

Continuous feedback loops surface real-world pain points, fast

What it means in practiceCommon DevRel tacticsHow leadership sees the ROI
Turning raw developer friction into actionable stories for PM/engineering before it explodes on Twitter or GitHub• Public issue triage sessions
• Structured surveys & beta programs
• “Voice of the Developer” briefings for the roadmap
▸ Fewer costly re-writes and hotfixes
▸ Roadmap that matches actual demand instead of guesses
▸ Net-new features informed by users land faster & with less churn

Real-world example: MongoDB’s Champions program flagged aggregation-pipeline pain points months before support tickets spiked, helping the team launch syntax improvements in time for the annual release keynote.


3. Brand & Talent Magnet

Developers follow the people and communities they trust

What it means in practiceCommon DevRel tacticsHow leadership sees the ROI
Build a reputation for being genuinely helpful and transparent; the brand becomes synonymous with developer-first• High-signal conference talks & blog posts (no sales pitch)
• Active, friendly moderators on Discord/Stack Overflow
• Recognition programs (MVPs, Ambassadors)
▸ Earned media & word-of-mouth cut marketing spend
▸ Surge in inbound engineering applicants who already know the stack
▸ Community goodwill cushions PR hiccups

Real-world example: Kubernetes’ contributor ladder—supported by SIG mentors and events like KubeCon—turned a Google-born project into a cloud-native career beacon, attracting thousands of volunteer contributors and, by extension, enterprise adopters.


4. Market Education & Standard-Setting

When your tech defines a new category, DevRel can make it the default

What it means in practiceCommon DevRel tacticsHow leadership sees the ROI
Codify best practices so the ecosystem grows in a direction that benefits everyone—especially you• Authoritative reference guides & stylebooks
• Workshops and certification programs
• Collaborative RFCs with community buy-in
▸ Reduces integration friction for every new customer
▸ Positions the company as a thought leader regulators & partners look to
▸ Raises the switching cost for competitors (“industry standard = us”)

Real-world example: Terraform’s providers and HashiCorp-led education created de-facto IaC (Infrastructure-as-Code) standards, forcing cloud vendors to build compatible tooling rather than reinvent the wheel.


Key takeaway

DevRel isn’t just “nice to have community stuff.”
It’s a multiplier across product, marketing, and engineering:

  • Short-term: smoother onboarding, fewer support tickets, quicker product fixes.
  • Mid-term: stronger adoption curves, growing ecosystems that generate indirect revenue.
  • Long-term: a brand developers champion, standards that lock in market leadership, and a hiring funnel that basically runs itself.

Investing in DevRel means investing in developer success first—and history shows the business success follows.