ChartDB · B2B · database diagram tool for developers
Show up on GitHub, Hacker News and r/selfhosted instead of inventing new channels
21K+ GitHub stars and ~250K developers a year; no per-channel numbers
Workedcommunityword-of-mouth
What they did
Didn't invent new channels; went where developers already are: GitHub (the open-source repo), Hacker News, Reddit (the selfhosted subreddit and other developer subreddits), plus sharing inside engineering teams.
What happened
21K+ GitHub stars and ~250K developers using it over the year; no per-channel breakdown
- Stage
- Ongoing
“we didn't look for uh invent any new channels, and we show out where developers already are. So, GitHub and Hacker News, and also Reddit, in selfhosted and subreddits that where the developer used to be, and internal teams sharing between them.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- ChartDB: Launch your free open-source developer tool as a Show HN on Hacker NewsHit the front page; thousands of engineers tried it the same day
- ChartDB: Let developers try it with no signup, no database login and nothing to installDevelopers adopted it after an earlier version needing credentials stalled
- ChartDB: Give the tool away free, then charge for the team features users ask for~$9K MRR from the paid cloud version after 16 months
- ChartDB: Focus only on making database diagrams obvious and ignore everything elseFounder says everything started working once they focused; no numbers