market-to-devs-sell-to-buyers

# Market to devs, sell to buyers > The developer who adopts your tool is almost never the person who pays for it. Win the developer's heart; then hand them the ammunition to win the budget conversation for you. **Use this when:** you have stars, signups, and a beloved free tier, and a revenue line of zero. ## The core idea (Czakon) **Market to developers, sell to decision-makers.** Developers evaluate and adopt; buyers (CTO/VP/procurement) approve money. Your growth engine is the developer *champion* who sells internally, so your job is to make them look smart to their boss. ## Framework: GTM models that work (Czakon) Pick the one that fits your product and ICP; don't run all four half-heartedly. | Model | Fits when | The motion | |---|---|---| | **Open source** | infra/dev-tool, trust & inspectability matter | OSS core → adoption → paid cloud/enterprise | | **PLG / self-serve** | fast time-to-value, dev = buyer for small teams | free tier → usage → expand → sales-assist on big accounts | | **Inbound** | you can own the problem's content/SEO | educate on the problem → capture → nurture | | **Sales-led / ABM** | high ACV, complex enterprise, few big logos | target named accounts, land via a dev champion | Most dev tools are **PLG + a sales-assist overlay** for the accounts worth a human. ## Framework: enable the champion (Czakon + Frankl) Give the developer what they need to sell up: - The **Kairos** case for their boss (weeks off a release cycle, risk reduced), see ...