Developer Ecosystem GTM Engine

Building a fully operational, repeatable developer acquisition system.

Overview

I was brought in to lead a contracted team responsible for designing and executing the go-to-market strategy for a new developer-focused launch platform in the AI ecosystem. The core objective was not brand awareness — it was to attract serious developers, get them building, and seed a technical ecosystem around the platform. Over a 3-month engagement, I authored a 50-page GTM strategy, architected the funnel, allocated budget, built the acquisition engine, and led execution across hackathon activation strategy, email reactivation campaigns, community acquisition, landing pages, automation workflows, paid targeting, influencer amplification, and event partnerships.

Objective

How do you attract serious technical builders with limited capital and fragmented infrastructure? Rather than run generic awareness campaigns, I designed the entire GTM strategy around an in-person hackathon. The hackathon functioned as a developer acquisition mechanism, a product activation filter, a high-intent conversion event, and ecosystem signaling to serious builders. This shifted GTM from passive marketing into behavior-driven conversion. Developers didn't just read about the platform. They built on it.

1. Awareness & Education

I developed the core positioning and messaging framework and structured a funnel that prioritized technical credibility over hype. The messaging emphasized platform utility and builder-first positioning.

• Targeted developer paid ads
• Influencer marketing
• Event amplification (including partnership exposure at TOKEN2049)
• Email reactivation campaigns
• Community outreach

2. Hackathon Conversion Engine

I built two custom landing pages that supported registration, information flow, confirmation sequences, reminder automations, abandoned registration follow-up, and pre-event educational drip campaigns. The primary conversion event was hackathon signup. The registration list ultimately became overfilled.

• ~70% live attendance for an in-person event — a strong show rate given constraints and limited paid spend
• Hundreds of developer signups driven through the funnel
• Overfilled registration list

3. Global Email List Reactivation

One of the highest leverage moves was reactivating a dormant global email database of 50,000+ contacts. The dataset was messy and underutilized. Despite imperfect data, this became one of the top-performing acquisition channels. Most hackathon signups were driven through owned distribution and community channels rather than paid ads, which dramatically increased capital efficiency.

• Cleaned and segmented the data where possible
• Built targeted messaging streams
• Created educational nurture campaigns
• Launched hackathon invitations
• Implemented automated follow-ups
• Ran review and feedback flows

4. Community Acquisition Strategy

Because budget was limited, I engineered leverage instead of increasing spend. I identified expired developer Meetup groups in the hackathon's geographic region and acquired ownership for a minimal fee. This consolidated an ~800-member developer community. It was one of the highest-ROI channels in the campaign.

• Reduced reliance on paid media
• Increased event credibility
• Generated high-intent signups
• Created local developer density for an in-person event

5. Paid Media Strategy

Paid ads were used conservatively and strategically. Most conversions did not come from cold paid traffic. The majority of signups were community-driven and owned-channel driven.

• Target developers specifically
• Retarget interested prospects
• Reinforce community and email-driven campaigns

6. Automation & Tracking Infrastructure

I designed and implemented custom automation systems. No interaction went unmanaged.

• Behavioral tagging
• Segmented email workflows
• Registration logic
• Reminder sequences
• Post-event follow-up paths
• Nurture campaigns for non-registrants
• Lifecycle segmentation

7. Hackathon Outcome

The event validated developer interest and generated a pipeline of technical builds. More importantly, it established a repeatable developer activation model for the platform moving forward.

• Overfilled registration
• ~70% in-person attendance rate
• Hundreds of developer signups
• Strong portfolio of projects built during the hackathon

8. The 50-Page GTM Blueprint

As part of this engagement, I authored a 50-page GTM plan. This was not a campaign deck. It was a full operational growth blueprint.

• ICP and developer persona mapping
• Messaging framework
• Funnel architecture
• Channel sequencing
• Budget allocation
• Lifecycle automation
• Paid targeting design
• Community growth tactics
• Influencer integration
• Hackathon structure
• Post-event retention and activation
• Analytics and tracking framework

Why This Demonstrates GTM Engineering