One of the most fulfilling aspects of growing a dev tool is seeing a community build around it. I vividly remember when our Discord server hit 100 members – these were users helping each other, sharing feedback, and even contributing code. That’s when I knew we had something bigger than a product; we had a community. Cultivating a developer community can accelerate your growth: your users start to support each other, spread the word for you, and even build things on top of your tool. But a community doesn’t just happen; you have to nurture it intentionally. And a great way to nurture it is by empowering the most passionate members – your champions.
Here’s how to build an engaged community and champion program:
Create Gathering Spaces: First, provide places for your users to talk to you and to each other. This could be a forum (Discourse, GitHub Discussions, etc.), a chat (Slack or Discord), or even a subreddit. Choose what your audience is most comfortable with. Many dev tool companies opt for Discord or Slack for real-time chat, plus something like GitHub Discussions for more threaded Q&A. We chose Discord because many dev communities live there and it’s easy for us to have channels (support, off-topic, feature-requests, etc.). Once you set up the space, actively invite new users to join (“Join our community for support and tips!” in onboarding emails, etc.). But just creating the space isn’t enough – you need to seed discussions. Early on, I would post weekly questions (“How are you using X this week?”) or share a cool tip, to get conversation flowing.
Encourage Knowledge Sharing: A healthy community has members answering each other’s questions, not just the company providing support. Encourage this by responding quickly when someone asks something (so they feel it’s worth it), but also praise or thank other users who jump in. For example, if Alice answers Bob’s question on your forum, follow up with “Thanks Alice, that’s exactly right!” and maybe add additional context. This shows that you value community contributions. Over time, you might see a few power users who are extremely active and helpful. These are potential Champions (sometimes called ambassadors, superusers, MVPs, etc.).
Establish a Champion Program: A champion program formalizes the recognition of your best community members. These are the folks who answer lots of questions, create tutorials or plugins, give you tons of feedback, or advocate for your tool elsewhere. The program can be as simple or elaborate as you want, but the core idea is to reward and support these people. Some common perks:
- Public Recognition: List them on your website or in a GitHub repo as official Champions. Shout-out their contributions in community meetings or newsletters.
- Swag and Goodies: Send them a special swag kit – t-shirt, stickers, maybe even something like “Champion” hoodie. It seems trivial, but wearing the badge (literally) makes them proud and visible.
- Direct Line to Your Team: Create a private Discord channel or periodic Champions call where they get to hear about the roadmap first and provide input. This insider status makes them feel valued and heard (because they are!). It also gives you great feedback.
- Early Access: Give them beta access to new features or even unreleased products. Champions love being ahead and giving feedback.
- Amplify Them: Help promote content they create. If a Champion wrote a blog post or spoke at a meetup about your tool, feature it on your social or blog (e.g., “Check out what our Champion Jane built with X…”). One company noted their Champion rewards include amplifying the Champions and their work, supporting and educating them, and making connections for them across the company – essentially giving them a platform.
- Special Events: Host an annual (virtual or physical) meetup just for Champions, or invite them to co-host webinars with you.
Involve Champions in Program Creation: When building your champion program, get input from those initial champions on what they value. Before we formally launched anything, I had one-on-ones with a few superusers asking, “What would you find valuable as recognition? What would help you to help the community more?” Their insights shaped our program. In fact, one guide suggests doing a feedback session with identified champions to ask what rewards they’d value, which proved extremely helpful.
Empower Community Leadership: As your community grows, you as the founder or team might not be able to personally welcome every person or answer every question immediately. Champions can effectively act as community moderators or leaders. Make it clear you trust them: maybe give them mod privileges, or let them run a monthly community call. When people see peers (not just company staff) deeply involved, it feels more like a genuine community rather than just a support channel.
Foster Communication and Iteration: Keep an open channel with your champions – maybe a shared Slack or email thread. They will have great ideas and pulse checks on the broader community. Use them as a sounding board for decisions (“We’re thinking of changing pricing, how do you think the community will react?” – but be mindful of confidentiality). Also, be ready to iterate the program. What works at 5 champions might need tweaking at 50 champions. The program should evolve with community needs.
Showcase Success Stories: Highlight how champions have helped shape the product or community. For example, “Our community champion Alex suggested this feature and helped test it – now it’s live!” This not only recognizes Alex, but also signals to all users you truly listen and that being active in the community has tangible impact. It encourages more engagement.
Examples to Learn From: Many big dev companies have such programs – Twilio Champions, Docker Captains, Google Developer Experts, Microsoft MVPs, etc. They all operate slightly differently, but the essence is the same: identify top contributors and create a win-win relationship. They get career boosts and perks; you get passionate advocates.
Community Content and Events: Encourage community-driven content. This could be a community blog where members can publish articles, or a showcase page listing cool projects built by the community (with attribution). Maybe start a “Champion spotlight” series where a champion talks about what they’re doing in their work and how they use your tool. This recognizes them and also provides relatability for other users. You can also run community contests (like “build the coolest plugin” or “write a tutorial, win a prize”) to spur contributions.
Moderation and Culture: As the community leader, set the tone for a welcoming, helpful culture. Be quick to address any toxic behavior – fortunately, most developer communities I’ve seen are friendly, but you have to keep an eye out as you scale. If people see that the community is positive and well-managed, they’ll be more likely to stay and participate. Your champions can help enforce this culture too.
A thriving community becomes a self-sustaining growth engine:
- New users come and see lots of activity and support, which increases their likelihood of success and retention.
- They get answers faster (sometimes even faster than official support).
- Happy users tell others or answer questions about your tool on external forums, bringing in more users.
- Some members might even build extensions or complementary tools (I’ve seen users build CLI wrappers, alternative GUIs, etc., around dev tools they love).
- And when things go wrong, a community can also defend you or provide patience (e.g., if you have downtime, your champions might help communicate to others “the team is on it, chill”).
Action plan
- When you have at least a handful of users, start a community forum or chat.
- Personally invite your early adopters to join (“we’d love to have you as a founding member of our community, get direct access to the team and other users”).
- Once in, facilitate introductions and discussions.
- Identify 2-3 potential champions in the first few months – those who stand out in helping others or giving great feedback. Reach out to them individually to thank them and float the idea of a champion program: “You’ve been awesome in the community. We’re thinking of launching a champion program to recognize and support folks like you – would you be interested and what would you like to see from it?”
- Use their input to formalize the program. Publish a page about it, even if it’s just “Meet our Champions” with their names, bios, and a thank you.
- Continue to recruit new champions as your user base grows (you might even set criteria, like must have written a blog or answered X questions, etc., but keep it flexible initially).
- Dedicate someone (maybe you, maybe a community manager hire) to nurture the community – respond to posts, organize events, keep the vibe going.
It is work, but it’s also something that money can’t easily buy: an authentic, engaged community can outcompete huge marketing budgets in the devtools world and be an incredible moat.
Learn more about developer communities
- How to build a developer community? - Podcast interview from myself with Jana Iris (Employee #10, HashiCorp)
- How to build a developer community: a step-by-step guide - In-depth guide by former crowd.dev Head of Operations
- Why Developer Communities are Essential for DevTools Startup Growth
- Cultivating a Thriving Developer Community