Advisory Retainer
Strategic guidance for founders and leadership teams who are transitioning from founder-led to community-led developer relations. Light-touch, high-leverage direction without the overhead of a full-time hire.
What you get
Most early-stage developer-tool companies start with a founder who is the face of the community — answering questions, writing every blog post, and running every demo. That's exactly right at the beginning. But as you grow, that model becomes a bottleneck.
The Advisory Retainer is designed for teams that are ready to professionalize their DevRel but don't yet need someone embedded full-time. We audit where you are, identify the highest-leverage next steps, and give you a clear roadmap your existing team can execute.
Who it's for
- Seed and Series A teams with no dedicated DevRel function
- Founders who are still the primary voice of the developer community
- Teams that need direction but have bandwidth to execute internally
What's included
- DevRel and developer marketing strategy audits
- Founder-led → community-led transition planning
- Monthly strategic planning + async feedback
- Content and campaign reviews
- AI workflow recommendations for content and community
- Community channel recommendations
- KPI framework and reporting structure design
The experience behind it
This isn’t theoretical advice. At GitLab, I helped scale DevRel from a single person to a global team serving 3,000 employees. At Kilo Code, I built the entire DevRel function from week 5. I’ve seen what works at 150 people and at hypergrowth.
Common questions
How is this different from the fractional tier?
Advisory is strategy and direction — we tell you what to do and review what you've done. Fractional is execution — we do the work. Most teams start with advisory and graduate to fractional once they see the ROI.
What does a typical month look like?
One strategic planning call (60 min), one review call (30 min), and async feedback on content, campaigns, and community activity via Slack or email. Everything is documented so your team has a paper trail.
Can we upgrade to fractional later?
Absolutely. The advisory retainer is designed as a stepping stone. When you're ready for hands-on execution, we can transition seamlessly into a fractional engagement with no ramp-up time.
Do you work with pre-seed companies?
Sometimes. If you have product-market fit and a small but engaged community, advisory can help you scale it. If you're still figuring out who your developer is, an hourly strategy session is usually a better starting point.
Ready to professionalize your DevRel?
Book a free discovery call and we'll assess your current DevRel maturity, identify the biggest opportunities, and recommend whether advisory is the right starting point.
Book a free call
