Building a brand with Ramiro Nuñez Dosio from Supabase

Jack: Hi everyone. You're listening to Scaling Devs, the show that investigates how devs Tools go from zero to one. I'm joined today by Ramiro Nuñez Dosio, who is growth marketer at Supabase and has previously worked as a marketer for Aly and of Zero, which may be familiar to you as they're also DevTools

I am actually a big fan of Supabase. I have to introduce Supabase, it is that it solves all the things that you have to do when you want to get a project off the ground really quickly. It was previously that Firebase was the best way to do this, for kind of getting your Auth and your database up and running really quickly, and Supabase came along and they addressed all the teething issues that Firebase had where you kind of get locked in and they made an open source alternative that actually has.

A really strong foundation. So I'm using it in a project and it's really great. So I'm really excited to speak with you Romero. Thanks so much for joining.

Ramiro: Thanks a lot for the limitation. Happy to be here.

Jack: Romero Supabases, arguably like the hottest dev tool right now, so I just wondered what your marketing approach is.

Ramiro: Yeah, in some ways, like we don't do the usual marketing that you see out there. , we have, uh, a different approach that is sometimes just. Showing and promoting like the developer culture. Just like, I'm building the brand well with that, right? We care about, getting in touch and like, connecting with developers and because like the product is used can used by any type of developer, right? You see that there's web developers looking to, not think about the backend, maybe the majority, but, Supabase being built in by, with open source tools. Now you can. Any, uh, side of the product, anywhere. So yeah, like, uh, it's kind of like an open way, of, getting to them. And yes, of course we also talk about our features and integrations, but that's not the, main way of doing it, right?

Like, we don't start by that. What we are doing also is building a brand, which is sometimes something like very overlooked in this industry. Sometimes, you know, like people just go for like more like direct approaches or, growing quickly and they forget about what matters, which is like, building a brand, having a great product with a big focus on developer experience. Another two key things, from supervisor, is, something that I always preach, and is having your, the founders involved in, you know, building community and in marketing, uh, from the start. So you can see that with a couple. And, um, the CEO and CTO and co-founders, you know, like. Talking with developers, listening to their feedback, answering support tickets engaging with the community. yeah, like, uh, if something is not working, they're going to be there, uh, acknowledging the error. so it's something very important being acting on social media, right? Like it's very important nowadays and especially for the founders. I saw this also, it's a really cool story of like with um, o's CTO and co-founder Mattas Volos. yeah. Like he was always there, right? Like, getting customer feedback, doing like user research, on Twitter. Just like acknowledging the feedback, uh, saying like, Yeah, when something was working was not working right, like trying to fix that. And this was from the early days till now so he was there from the beginning, right?

Like, uh, working closely with the community, providing feedback, and you could even see it in the, uh, last few months. Sal here had a downtime like couple of months ago, like really long downtime, and you could see him, answering on Twitter to each of the complaints, saying, Sorry about this.

We're working hard on fixing. I'll keep you updated. And we are talking about a CTO with a 6.5 billion exit, right? Who's likes about developers and users and just like was there while trying to fix the problem. so yeah, that's like what I mean by having the, founders involved. Deeply in community building marketing. Another thing that we do really well is, uh, listening and engaging. Yeah, we, we supervise is a product built, , with, uh, open source technologies. Uh, right. So like, We give a voice to anyone that is building on top of supervisor or using war using one of, uh, our features. And we boost, right? Like, uh, we, we see like people coming to us and you know, like tell what they're building and we help amplify that message.

Jack: And that kind of ties in with this very surprising fact that you are the only full-time marketer at Supabase.

Ramiro: Yeah, so I'm the first marketing hire and the only one at the moment. I just want to say that I'm the only. Full marketer, right? Like, because well, , everyone does marketing the company. We have a double team with the for people. the founders, again, are very, uh, important in our marketing and, and everyone in the company.

So like for launch weeks, we have our engineers writing blog posts, documentation, participating in the live streams. In the tutor spaces. So everyone does their part.

Jack: Yeah, and that kind of ties again onto the launch weeks, which are a very interesting way of doing marketing I think Paul was saying that you only do. Marketing during launch weeks, and then it's like you don't do any marketing in between, or at least that's what he spends his time on or.

Ramiro: Yeah, launch week. It's pretty crazy, right? Like, they have become a phenomenon. and they're deeply tied on how we ship products. Uh, you know, they set up, the way we, we ship the, the, the timeframes. one thing also is that we're con constantly shipping. It's not just launch weeks.

We are always, you know, like, doing announcement. We're releasing new things. We also believe in launching several. I've been learning also that approach of like, you know, like launching something several times. Or not waiting until the, it's like in the perfect shape, to do it.

so you can see that, you know, sometimes we do. Yeah. Beta, then like, fully release. Uh, we also gather user feedback , in the meantime, so we can improve, the feature or product. But, uh, but yeah, like, uh, and that's like one of the things we do between launch weeks, right?

Like really focus on feedback and getting, the, the features, uh, ready. Uh, and then with launch weeks, we focus on top of the funnel and, uh, marketing them hard and getting as new ables as possible, uh, while also, you know, providing the news to our existing users and community.

Jack: One of the things that I imagine must be really hard is when everyone's talking about Supabase and, and you do, things are going so well. How do you kind of keep focus when you hear so much positive feedback in the community?

Ramiro: At The moment regarding success, one of the things, uh, we are focusing is on adoption, right? So like we are bringing a lot of new users all the time. but uh, we want to help people build fast. And, you know, get the, the products, uh, to market as quickly as possible. Uh, so one of the things, one of our most important metrics is like weekly active DA databases. . That's doing really well. So like, uh, people, they don't just signup, but they also use, activate Supabase, uh, uses using production. And of course that, we also want to build a sustainable business, hosting, uh, 200, uh, 50 K databases is, is is not cheap.

So we are also look at revenue.

Jack: I think an sends you an email maybe automatically when you don't use your database.

Ramiro: Yeah. So, um, at the moment, yeah, like, uh, we put the database to sleep if there's no use, right. Because it has a cost infrastructure It's not cheap

Jack: It kind of kickstarts me to like, Oh, I really should get back on that personal project though.

Ramiro: Yeah. It also has right, as a growth, tactic, right? To get people back in it. So yeah, it works in many ways. Like we not people to like, remember, we're here, continue working in your project.

Jack: I know that one of the things that is your, kind of your specialty right, is, , working with DeVry teams.

Ramiro: Yeah, so I've been doing this for many years. I think that, yeah, that's like one, the things I'm, Yeah, I like doing the most. And, uh, thankfully I like, I'm, I'm good at doing it, uh, which is, yeah, helping, uh, several teams. Embrace marketing in some way. Where it is from, like the process point of view or, kind of improving, having a better understanding on what we have to do, why, how to measure, Tackling the goals that the business needs. Uh, so yeah, I work with them in creating more like targeted content or more being more strategic about what we should talk about, uh, how to create content, how to distribute it. That's also, think I'm very passionate about content distribu. and, uh, and yeah, all with, you know, finding the balance right.

Because me not being a technical person, right, like, um, I, I work with them on getting that technical knowledge and, you know, like, yeah, like, for example, propose, content creation process. You know, like I've introduced to many d teams to brief an outline, steps that are key for content creation and help, you know, The creation and the, the effect, the results of, the content.

Jack: So you, you mentioned there about like kind of the process and like, briefs and stuff. Are there any other areas that you like see when kind of marketers are working with Dev that could be done better, like quite frequently?

Ramiro: Yeah, so distribution is one, right? Like distribution is super important. It's not just about like creating content, but also making sure it's seen by the right people. Uh, so distribution process, uh, also it's, uh, it's key. Um, and working with them also, like identifying. Places to distribute where like communities, newsletters, you know, like discord groups. also, and also reusing content, right? And repurposing. That's also, you could see that inside distribution, right? Like the content repurposing. Uh, but yeah, just like Not just do something and let it there, but also see like how we can reap more benefits,

more uses where it's a video into other formats or a topic itself, right?

Sometimes it happens that the person will acquire knowledge of, a topic, right? To create a video or a blog post, if that's successful, we should continue tackling that, right? We should put that knowledge , to good use, or, you know, continue delving into other areas of that topic. Just reducing and repurposing that in our formats. identifying the topics that we should, uh, also like, Talk about something I do, uh, right where it's by, uh, you know, like frameworks for something, which, which ecosystem should we focus, right? Like, which like pering language should we do? Sometimes it's like, you know, from the content point of view, but also, you know, from the product, right? Like, should we build integration with, This new tool? Or is there a framework now, you know, that like we should, focus on where is this from the community point of view, where is from like gonna bring revenue, uh, how our product works with that, framework. That's something I also like, really enjoyed.

Jack: I guess that sounds like there's so many kind of moving parts, especially when you start thinking about the product strategy. So I suppose, is it like something that you decide together with the founders and with the dev team or.

Ramiro: I have like, a process, right? Like for identifying from like several. Aspects, right, of like, where to focus, Like where, for example, you know, if the new SDK need to be built, or you know, like sometimes you're not just gonna go and build one just because of, Right. Like a good tactic is just, Starting by generating some content to validate that the users, you know, are enjoying and then are going to from that content, you know, sign up and use, the, your product. Uh, and then also write like that our product works well with that. Um, framework or tool that we want to, to focus more. And in that aspect, you work with like founders or, you know, the product team? This I've done in, in other companies. Not currently at base, but yeah.

Jack: That's super interesting actually, because it sounds like you're kind of validating the product side of things with the marketing.

Ramiro: Yeah, you use even like, uh, things like seo, right? Is there an seo, like, or is the like search, search can be right? Like a number that you put, is there like Yeah, how big the communi is. Yeah, enabling, We're like looking into, uh, which frameworks we should focus and then let's, does this framework have like a, at least like a real time providers, like does this framework have something with real time, right?

Like, uh, we would be competing with something inside the same ecosystem. Um, what is already there, right? Like, which other. Products, similar products or like competitors already focusing this ecosystem?

Jack: It sounds like this is like. Really hard stuff like this is not easy work. , how do you kind of measure like the success on something like that when it has so many kind of moving parts?

Ramiro: Yeah, that's a very good question. Right. Uh, well, it's important to set up, you know, like metrics, KPIs, the beginning and, you know, actually report on them, on a, on a certain period. yeah. And just like, you know, I think one of the things is. Just when you decide on what you're gonna track, which which is the success criteria, right? Like really go hard into that. And you see it also to focus, it gets harder, right? Like when you also want to, Align that with the business needs and else. Just defining the success, right? It's the same with the, an experiment, right? Like, uh, it's about saying, okay, how hypothesis, how is this gonna work? Set up metrics to measure, uh, and then see what happens and iterate to get closer to those metrics.

Jack: One thing I wanted to circle back on, just cuz it's something that I find really difficult, even with the Scalings podcast, is like, how to distribute content, and. A lot of what I find is like kind of engaging in communities. If you just do like a kind of hit and run, like, uh, here's my stuff.

Like, hi everyone. I've never spoken and engaged with, here's my stuff. It just usually just bombs and maybe you kind of create a negative effect, but then engaging with these things takes time. So it's like, how do you do it?

Ramiro: Yeah, it's tricky. One of the things is when you do a long term plan, right? So for example, with supervisor, you know, next year, right? Like, um, it's something that is not a. A one time thing, right? Like, uh, and we have like in like Deborah specialized or also pelt, right? We have one of our Deborah's, Andrew Silent Works.

He's the spelled, um, Deborah. So, you know, like by having him promoting the content, Going to these communities, going to these like forums where read like Slack, you know, is different.

because like, he's not going to do that just once, but it's going to be continuous. Right? And that's also again, when the focus use or you know, or like sometimes, you know, having. The long term into, into something, right, Like pace. Another thing, Yeah. Sometimes it's better to use like for the Ds to do the, the distribution, right? Like, uh, and help as much as possible because they are like the, the public faces. Like building their brand with the communities, with the ecosystems.

Right. Like it also helps, to get a better reception of this promotion.

Jack: So it's like you are not just doing these short term things. You're like picking your focus areas and you're like doing the hard stuff, which is like having Deval teams and

Ramiro: And, and it depends on, each company, each product, right? Like super waste. Again, it's, uh, we can write content about whatever, basically because we do so many things and it can be used by so many people. But, uh, yeah, like on the content side of things, right, Deborah, We're focusing on web developers at the moment and, you know, we have like, These like, five communities, ecosystems, frameworks, however you want to call them, that we are active in.

Right? Like by creating content, by help, helping them, Right?

Jack: When you say focus on web developers, I know for Firebase, like one of, I mean, I used Firebase with a mobile, app, and I know it was like a really big, kind of like weigh in for them. Is it something that you've like purposely, like spent less like marketing attention on or, so like mobile develop.

Ramiro: Yeah, no. Like, no, because like one of our strongest and the one we're focusing the most is flatter. Right?

And even flat being Google Framework fire base, uh, we are seeing huge reception and like flat developers love Supabase. I guess also, again, the focus thing is about how you structure the team.

And again, right, like we have a Deborah, flatter Deborah. Tyler who is, great. Like, he's a machine, knows a lot about Florida, like loves being active. The content he creates is great. Super, you know, like always like looking to help the community. And yeah, he is doing really well. Like, we just moved our flat sdk, uh, to be like fully supported.

We released the b. And people are loving it. Yeah, we see a lot of, flower products, building integrations with Supabase, uh, because of that. And even we have like this case of, things, flower flow, like, um, this product that we want, the Supabase integration, they have a fire base, but they've been, you know, in social media in the last weeks and months, just like we want, uh, Supabase.

Jack: That's really cool.

So, one last question, Romero. I saw that you are like huge on Twitter. And that seems to be like a massive focus. Um, but then like TikTok and stuff like that, I think you are like less of a focus on, and I just wondered like how do you think about channels and like where to reach developers as someone that's currently trying to do some stuff on TikTok as well?

Ramiro: Hmm. Yeah. So you are right about the focus. And so being the only pure marketer, right? And, uh, we team also, you know, been involved in parts of the product. Like, for example, you know, the other helpers, um, integrations. So we can tackle everything as we would like. So we double down on Twitter and YouTube and Hacker News, because they're like really effective for us as a channel. But we are definitely, uh, open to, um, expanding to our channels, if we have the right people, uh, if we can find the right people. So like, if, uh, anyone is listening and you know you are a creative person and you want, you like to come and run our TikTok and Instagram accounts get in touch because we love to chat about this. You get the opportunity to, do creative things with a very cool product and, uh, really like very engaging community.

Jack: That would be a cool job,

Ramiro: Yeah.

Jack: Romero. I think that's all we've got time for now. That was super fun. Thank you so much for your time. Where can people learn more about Romero and about Supabase if they're interested?

Ramiro: So Supabase of course at Supabase on, on Twitter. Or in YouTube? We are very active on Twitter, as you know, and myself. Yeah, you can follow me on Twitter. Ramiro. Nd also have me on LinkedIn. I'm always happy to chat with anyone about, uh, marketing, developer marketing. , I'm, I'm very lucky to. To call this my passion, not only my, my, my work.

Jack: That's what we, we want passionate devil lovers on the podcast.Thanks so muchand thanks everyone for listening, and we'll see you again next week.