#124 — How successful DevTool companies manage content strategies

Leading devtool companies like Atlassian and Retool assign dedicated editors for each content type or channel (think: tutorials, product updates, thought leadership) and build a hybrid roster of in-house authors, subject matter experts, and trusted contractors. This allows them to balance technical depth and fresh perspectives, with every piece going through at least one round of editorial review for quality and consistency.

Successful teams centralize all content planning in visible platforms—often Trello, Notion, or Monday.com—so every stakeholder is aligned. They link their calendars to workflows in tools like Jira or Confluence for seamless handoff from draft to design to distribution, ensuring accountability across product, marketing, and engineering.

Winning content teams focus on metrics that drive pipeline: traffic growth, inbound trial signups, MQLs, and community engagement. Examples: LaunchDarkly maps content performance against OKRs; Retool ties content outcomes to business KPIs like product signups and user activation.

Consistency beats volume. Most interviewees target sustainable cadences—CircleCI posts weekly or biweekly, Orbit aims for 2-3x weekly per platform. The key is to maintain quality and update evergreen posts regularly for SEO, rather than overwhelming your audience.

The pros don't just rely on 'publish and pray.' They coordinate social media, newsletters, and SEO as primary channels, while leaning on partnerships for syndication—like guest posting on developer sites or co-marketing with integration partners. Example: CircleCI uses a 'hub and spoke' model, publishing big-topic content and then extending its reach through supporting tutorials and community channels.

At companies like Orbit and LaunchDarkly, every post is tracked—using Google Analytics, HubSpot, or custom dashboards—to monitor what resonates. Teams quickly adapt their editorial plans based on what delivers user signups, time on page, or engagement in forums. This tight loop between publishing and analytics allows for fast pivots and continuous improvement.

Product launches are mapped directly onto the editorial calendar. Successful startups seed high-traffic posts with new launches and updates, timing blog/newsletter/social pushes to align with campaign goals and maximize visibility. Atlassian, for example, integrates launch stories into trend and evergreen content for spike and long-tail results.

Take CircleCI: They aligned content to both quarterly marketing themes (like DevOps best practices) and ongoing audience needs (developer tutorials). By assigning content ownership, maintaining a clear calendar, updating high-performing posts, and using targeted SEO tools, they grew organic traffic and trial signups substantially—all as a relatively small team.

The most frequent pitfalls are lack of clear ownership, inconsistent publishing, failure to define audience, and chasing vanity metrics over business outcomes. Top teams solve this by assigning roles, using transparent planning tools, and focusing on content that drives measurable impact.

They update and redistribute evergreen content, integrate product updates into high-performing posts, and repurpose material across blog, email, and social channels. LaunchDarkly, for example, reuses core assets to support multiple campaigns, ensures discoverability, and maintains search rankings over time.

Developers are selective and cynical when it comes to content—they ignore clickbait and generic 'Ultimate Guides.' Winning devtool brands like PostHog and CircleCI build detailed tutorials for technical audiences, paired with high-level posts for non-technical readers. The most effective content is relevant to real developer problems and is delivered in formats they value: dense blogs, transparent case studies, video walkthroughs, and honest comparisons.

Startups should use analytics, customer support tickets, sales conversations, and audience surveys to identify high-traffic questions and urgent pain points. Retool and Draft.dev recommend starting with your most popular and evergreen topics, then layering in product-driven and community themes. Example: CircleCI mapped quarterly themes (DevOps trends) alongside weekly developer tutorials to attract both practitioners and buyers.

In-depth case studies not only rank for high-value keywords, but they also build trust and authority. Siege Media found that posts spotlighting customer success stories and hard metrics (reduced deploy failures, increased signups) generate organic links, boost site authority, and convert readers. Example: LaunchDarkly repurposes customer case studies as blog posts, landing pages, and social content, multiplying their SEO and sales impact.

Aim for at least two new pieces per week and prioritize regularly updating your high-performing evergreen content. PostHog and Orbit use this cadence for both consistency and SEO benefit. Updating existing tutorials and product guides using AI-powered tools ensures continued ranking, engagement, and relevance.

SEO wins come from answering specific, high-intent questions, creating keyword-optimized tutorials, and publishing comparison and 'alternative to competitor' pages. SaaS leaders like Notion tailor content to user personas and stages, leveraging unique data studies, guides, and product-led posts. Successful teams use standardized templates and content briefs for QA, incorporate reputable author bios, and maintain a user-friendly website experience.

They start with clear metrics mapped to business goals—traffic, ranking, inbound signups, community engagement. Retool ties OKRs directly to content themes and outcomes; LaunchDarkly tracks every post with dashboards for trial conversions and forum engagement. Fast feedback loops lead to rapid pivots and ongoing improvement.

Top teams go beyond blogging—coordinated social, email campaigns, video supplements, syndication partnerships, and community reposts multiply reach. For example, CircleCI uses a hub-and-spoke approach: publish a flagship guide, then distribute snippets, tutorials, and expert interviews across channels and partner sites.

Common mistakes include unclear audience targeting, inconsistent publishing, chasing vanity metrics (likes over leads), and lack of editorial ownership. SaaS winners solve this by assigning explicit roles, maintaining transparent editorial calendars, focusing on content that helps their real customers, and tracking ROI—not just impressions.

Yes—thought leadership builds brand trust and signals expertise. Startups should publish opinionated posts based on first-party data or unique insights, host webinars or AMAs on relevant trends, and position their founders or technical leaders as expert voices. Example: Notion and Retool publish interviews and technical insights that attract links, press mentions, and inbound prospects.

Blog posts for dense information and SEO, YouTube videos for visual learning and team connection, long-form case studies for authority, educational webinars for engagement, and competitor comparisons to capture switching intent. Smart founders repurpose content across formats and use results to double down on what resonates most.