Northflank says 80% of its current inbound comes from larger teams building apps with AI coding tools, not the developers it originally targeted.
Cristina Bunea says usage has grown by probably more than 100% since Northflank simplified the platform for non-technical users.
Bunea argues community-led developer tools risk scaring away enterprise buyers, so Northflank will avoid running a community channel as it targets VMware and IBM OpenShift.
Northflank skipped community and found its growth in unexpected enterprise users
Northflank is a developer platform that grew by staying focused on enterprise buyers instead of following developer-marketing fashion. It skipped community, bet on content that LLMs now surface, and found that non-technical teams building with AI coding tools already fit its secure, self-serve product. Those users now supply most of its inbound.
Takeaways
Most inbound now comes from unintended users. About 80% of Northflank's inbound comes from larger teams in sales, law and banking building apps with AI coding tools. They need to deploy inside their own cloud accounts. Usage has grown probably more than 100% since the platform was simplified for them.
Content is the top channel and sells itself. Chosen deliberately almost two years ago, content is mostly SEO and AEO articles plus technical thought leadership and documentation. LLMs now recommend Northflank for several use cases, and prospects arrive informed, which has shortened the sales cycle.
Community risks scaring off enterprise buyers. Bunea holds that community and open source make a dev tool look built for prototypes and small apps. Northflank targets VMware and IBM OpenShift accounts, so it will never run a community channel. Host Figuera ends up agreeing.
The product already fits coding agents. Northflank's API, CLI and UI work well with coding agents, and it runs remotely in a secure sandbox. It is harness agnostic. Bunea credits its production record since 2019 for the credibility enterprises need.
Enterprise customers shape the whole go-to-market. Northflank deploys any workload inside a customer's own VPC or on premise, serving government, public companies and regulated industries. Buyers are senior engineers, so the company reaches them in LLMs. Product-led self-serve sits beside sales, with a goal of full enterprise self-service.
AI has made marketing hiring harder. With 22 employees and three in marketing, hiring is the priority for the next six months. Bunea looks for strong writers who can spot AI-written text from a distance, and plans more in-person events.
Channels must fit the audience, not the trend. Bunea warns against generic marketing advice because every company differs. Prospect dinners are oversaturated, with about 20 invitations a week in the Bay Area, so some channels should be deprioritised for the buyers being targeted.
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