I can't tell you how many times I've gotten a call that goes something like this: "Hey Marcos, we hired a DevRel person six months ago and spent $200K, but we're not seeing any results. What are we doing wrong?"
Usually, my first question is: "What was your strategy going in?" And usually, the answer is some variation of "We figured they'd just... you know... do DevRel stuff."
That's when I know we need to have a longer conversation.
Here's the cold, hard truth: throwing money at DevRel without a strategy is like hiring a world-class chef and then being surprised when they can't work miracles in a kitchen with no ingredients, no recipes, and no idea what kind of restaurant you're trying to run.
If you're thinking about starting a DevRel program (or fixing one that's not working), this guide will help you avoid the expensive mistakes I've seen companies make over and over again.
First, though, if you're new to DevRel entirely, start with our What is DevRel guide to understand the fundamentals.
The $200K Mistake Most Companies Make
Let me tell you about a startup I worked with last year. They'd raised a Series A and decided they needed DevRel. So they hired a talented developer advocate, gave them a budget, and said "go build our developer community."
Six months later, the advocate had written some blog posts, spoken at a few conferences, and started a Discord server with 47 members (12 of whom were company employees). The CEO was frustrated. The advocate was frustrated. And they were about to shut down the whole program.
The problem wasn't the person they hired. The problem was they'd skipped the most important step: figuring out what they actually wanted DevRel to accomplish.
This happens more often than you'd think. Companies see their competitors doing DevRel and assume they need it too. They know they should be "engaging with developers" but they haven't thought through why, or what success looks like, or how DevRel fits into their broader business strategy.
It's like deciding you need a marketing team but not knowing whether you're trying to build brand awareness, generate leads, or drive conversions. Without clear goals, even the best people will struggle.
For more on why DevRel matters strategically, check out our piece on Why DevRel is Crucial for Startup Success.
What Actually Makes DevRel Programs Work
Here's what I've learned from working with dozens of companies: successful DevRel programs start with strategy, not tactics.
Before you hire anyone, before you set up a community forum, before you plan your first conference talk, you need to answer some fundamental questions:
What specific business problem are you trying to solve? Are you struggling with developer adoption? Do you need better product feedback? Are you trying to build an ecosystem around your platform? Different problems require different approaches.
Who exactly are you trying to reach? "Developers" isn't specific enough. Are you targeting frontend developers at startups? Enterprise architects? Mobile developers? The more specific you can be, the better.
What does success look like in 6 months? 12 months? 24 months? And I don't mean vanity metrics like "grow our Discord to 1000 members." I mean business outcomes like "reduce time-to-first-success for new developers" or "increase API adoption among our target segment."
I worked with one company that spent months trying to build a general developer community before realizing their real problem was that their documentation was confusing. Once they focused on that specific issue, they saw immediate improvements in developer satisfaction and adoption.
The Startup Analogy That Changed How I Think About DevRel
A few years ago, I was struggling to explain to a CEO why their DevRel program wasn't working. Then it hit me: launching DevRel is exactly like launching a startup.
Think about it. You're trying to build something new (a developer community). You're not sure exactly what product-market fit looks like. You need to experiment, measure, and iterate. You're competing for attention in a crowded market.
Would you launch a startup without a business plan? Without understanding your target market? Without clear success metrics? Of course not.
But that's exactly what most companies do with DevRel. They hire someone, give them a budget, and hope for the best.
The companies that treat DevRel like a strategic initiative - with clear goals, defined metrics, and regular check-ins - are the ones that see real results.
Building Your DevRel Foundation (The Right Way)
So how do you actually build a DevRel program that works? Start with the foundation.
Get executive buy-in, not just budget. Your CEO needs to understand that DevRel is a long-term investment, not a quick fix. I've seen too many programs get shut down after six months because leadership expected immediate ROI.
Define your developer persona. Who exactly are you trying to serve? What are their pain points? What tools do they use? Where do they hang out online? The more specific you can be, the better you can serve them.
Map out the developer journey. How do developers currently discover your product? What's their first experience like? Where do they get stuck? Understanding this journey helps you identify where DevRel can have the biggest impact.
Choose your initial focus area. Don't try to do everything at once. Pick one area - maybe it's improving documentation, or building a community forum, or creating better onboarding content - and do it really well.
I always tell companies to start small and prove value before scaling. It's easier to expand a successful program than to fix a broken one.
For practical guidance on building these programs, our How to Build a Successful Developer Program guide has detailed strategies.
The Team You Actually Need
Here's another mistake I see: companies hiring one person and expecting them to do everything. DevRel is a multidisciplinary field. You need people who can write, speak, code, manage communities, and think strategically.
For most companies, I recommend starting with one strong generalist who can wear multiple hats. But as you grow, you'll want to add specialists: technical writers, community managers, developer experience engineers, and program managers.
The key is hiring people who genuinely care about developers succeeding, not just people who want to be on stage at conferences. The best DevRel professionals I know would recommend a competitor's tool if it was the right fit for a developer's needs.
Measuring What Actually Matters
This is where most companies get it wrong. They focus on vanity metrics - social media followers, event attendance, blog post views - instead of business outcomes.
The metrics that matter depend on your goals, but here are some I track:
Time to first success: How long does it take a new developer to get value from your product? This is often the most important metric for developer-focused companies.
Developer satisfaction: Regular surveys can tell you if you're actually helping developers or just creating noise.
Product feedback quality: Are you getting actionable feedback that improves your product? Are developers' suggestions being implemented?
Community health: Are developers helping each other? Are they sharing what they've built? Are they contributing back to your ecosystem?
I track both quantitative metrics (adoption rates, usage patterns) and qualitative feedback (developer stories, community sentiment). The numbers tell you what's happening; the stories tell you why.
Common Pitfalls (And How to Avoid Them)
After working with dozens of companies, I've seen the same mistakes over and over:
Treating DevRel like marketing. DevRel isn't about selling to developers; it's about helping them succeed. The moment developers feel like you're trying to sell them something, you've lost their trust.
Ignoring internal DevRel. Your own engineering team should be your first developer community. If your internal developers don't love working with your tools, external developers won't either.
Expecting immediate results. Building trust and community takes time. I tell companies to expect 12-18 months before seeing significant results.
Focusing on quantity over quality. A small, engaged community is infinitely more valuable than a large, passive one.
Not connecting DevRel to business outcomes. If you can't explain how your DevRel activities contribute to business goals, you'll struggle to justify the investment.
What Success Actually Looks Like
Let me tell you about a company that got it right. They started with a clear problem: developers were signing up for their API but abandoning it after a few days. Instead of launching a big community program, they focused on understanding why.
They discovered that their getting-started guide was confusing and their error messages were unhelpful. So they hired a technical writer with DevRel experience to fix the documentation and improve the developer experience.
Six months later, their time-to-first-success had improved by 60%, and developer satisfaction scores had doubled. Only then did they expand into community building and content creation.
That's what good DevRel looks like: identifying specific problems and solving them systematically.
The Long Game
Here's something I wish more companies understood: DevRel is a long-term investment, not a short-term tactic.
The companies that succeed with DevRel are the ones that commit to serving developers for years, not quarters. They understand that building trust takes time, and that the best developer communities grow organically around genuine value.
If you're looking for quick wins, DevRel probably isn't for you. But if you're willing to invest in building genuine relationships with developers, the payoff can be enormous.
Your Next Steps
If you're thinking about starting a DevRel program, here's what I'd do:
Start by talking to your existing developers. What are their biggest pain points? What would make their lives easier? Use those insights to guide your strategy.
Define clear, measurable goals that connect to business outcomes. Don't just say "build a community" - say "reduce time-to-first-success by 50%" or "increase API adoption among target developers by 30%."
Start small and prove value before scaling. Pick one area where you can make a meaningful impact and focus on that.
Most importantly, remember that DevRel is about serving developers, not serving your company. The companies that genuinely help developers succeed are the ones that build lasting, valuable communities.
Want to dive deeper into specific tactics? Check out our Ultimate Guide to Landing a DevRel Job to understand what skills and approaches actually work, and our insights on Developer-Friendly Blog Post Structure for creating content that resonates.
Trust me, your future self will thank you for taking the time to build a solid foundation. The alternative - throwing money at DevRel without a strategy - is a mistake you can't afford to make.