Essay · approx 20 min read

Marketing Software, For People Who Would Rather Be Building It

Patrick McKenzie · Kalzumeus Free Intermediate

Written specifically for engineers who would rather ship code than sell. McKenzie, a developer who bootstrapped his own products, breaks marketing and selling down into concrete, low-pressure actions like writing helpful content and making it easy to buy. It meets you where you are and removes the ick without pretending selling does not matter.

  • Marketing is just teaching people your product exists and helps them
  • You can grow without ever cold-calling or being pushy
  • Small, systematic, non-sleazy actions compound into real revenue
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The question it answers

  1. I'm a solo technical founder and hate selling. How do I get my first customers without becoming a salesperson?

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