When everyone becomes a builder, every company becomes a developer tools company
After 30 years of marketing developer tools at companies like Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Meta, Twitter, Timescale, and Supabase, I've written the definitive guide to developer marketing. "Picks & Shovels: Marketing to Developers During the AI Gold Rush" is available now.
After 30 years of marketing developer tools at companies like Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Meta, Twitter, Timescale, and Supabase, I've written the definitive guide to developer marketing. "Picks & Shovels: Marketing to Developers During the AI Gold Rush" is available now.
This book couldn't come at a more critical time. We're witnessing the most significant shift in software development since the internet went mainstream. And most companies have no idea what's coming.
Everyone Is Now a Developer
Right now, as you read this, someone with zero coding experience is building a fully functional web application. They're not using traditional programming languages or spending months learning frameworks. They're using tools like Lovable, Bolt, v0, and Supabase to create software that would have required proper training just two years ago.
This isn't a prediction about the future. This is happening today, at massive scale.
The transformation is stunning in its speed and scope. In 2014, building software required deep technical knowledge. By the end of 2024, anyone with imagination and basic keyboard skills could create complex applications. The barriers to entry haven't just lowered. They've been obliterated.
This shift creates a fundamental problem for every company on the planet, whether they realize it or not.
When everyone becomes a builder, everyone adopts a builder's mindset. Builders expect access to their data. They want APIs. They expect to see (or have their LLMs read) source code. They demand the freedom to create custom experiences on top of existing platforms.
And, today’s builders are developers, a rapid and unprecedented expansion of what we’ve known for decades as “the developer market.”
The API Imperative
Consider Apple, a company that has mastered consumer experience but completely misunderstands the builder era. While Apple tries to catch up in AI, they're missing the bigger picture. When they refuse to build robust APIs for iCloud, they're actively fighting against the future.
I want to build a custom note-taking system. I have the skills and tools to do it. But my decade of Apple Notes data sits trapped in their iCloud walled garden. Apple could empower millions of builders to create amazing experiences on top of iCloud data. Instead, they're clinging to a closed ecosystem model that worked in the pre-builder era.
This isn't just an Apple problem. Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Walmart, and countless other companies are making the same mistake. They're treating APIs as nice-to-have technical features (or ignoring them completely) instead of recognizing them as business-critical infrastructure.
Why can’t I connect my Netflix and Disney Plus watch history to IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, and Google Docs to see a list of what I’ve watched and what people think of these shows? Why can’t I build my own recommendation engine?
Every Company Is Now a Developer Tools Company
Here's the reality that most executives haven't grasped yet: when the world is full of builders, every company becomes a picks and shovels business.
Your customers aren't just using your product anymore. They're building on top of it, around it, and through it. They're creating integrations, automations, and entirely new experiences using your data and services as raw materials.
I recently used Bizzabo for event management. Their standard interface is perfectly functional, but like most builders, I had a specific vision for how my event website should work and integrate with my existing tools. Their excellent API let me build exactly what I needed, connecting seamlessly with Customer.io. Bizzabo won my business because they understood that in the builder era, great UX means giving users the power to create their own perfect experience.
The Developer Mindset Goes Mainstream
Consumer trends never stay in the consumer world. They inevitably infiltrate and transform enterprise behavior. The same people demanding API access in their personal lives become the decision-makers in corporations.
Picture the marketing manager who builds custom dashboards using Zapier and Airtable at home, then demands similar flexibility from enterprise software at work. Imagine the operations director who automated their personal finances with APIs, now expecting to connect every business system seamlessly. Consider the sales leader who built their own CRM workflow using no-code tools, suddenly questioning why their company's expensive enterprise software can't be customized the same way.
These builders don't just want different features. They want fundamentally different relationships with software and no more walled gardens. They expect composability, extensibility, and data portability as baseline requirements, not premium add-ons. When enterprise software feels restrictive compared to the tools they use at home, they start evaluating vendors based on API quality and integration capabilities rather than just feature lists.
This isn't about technology adoption. It's about a fundamental shift in how people think about software, data, and digital experiences. The builder mindset is spreading from Silicon Valley startups to Fortune 500 companies to small businesses everywhere.
Why You Need This Book
Whether you're in technology, retail, manufacturing, or any other industry, you're now marketing to a world of builders. These aren't traditional consumers who passively use your products. They're creators who want to extend, customize, and integrate everything they touch.
Understanding how builders think isn't optional anymore. It's survival.
"Picks & Shovels" gives you the complete playbook for marketing to developers and builders. You'll learn positioning, messaging, go-to-market strategy, product-led growth, sales enablement, content creation, community building, and event execution. Unlike other marketing books that focus on theory, this guide combines business strategy with tactical execution.
The companies that embrace API-first thinking will thrive in the builder era. The ones that cling to closed systems and walled gardens will find themselves irrelevant faster than they imagined possible.
The AI Gold Rush isn't just about artificial intelligence. It's about the democratization of building itself. And in this new world, the companies selling picks and shovels to builders will capture the real value.
The question isn't whether your customers will become builders. They already are. The question is whether you're ready to serve them.