Hello, we're Calyx.

We help companies build winning platforms

Successful platforms create virtuous cycles for your business. We help teams launch and scale them.

Our platform philosophy

1

Understand the Bill Gates measure of a true platform.

A platform is when the economic value of everybody that uses it, exceeds the value of the company that creates it. Then it’s a platform. - The Bill Gates Line, Stratechery

2

Platforms create flywheels. You live and die by the flywheel.

Platforms make your product more useful, and can grow your business as a result. But if you never drive adoption of what developers build, the flywheel (and platform) dies.

3

There are (only!) three potential core value props for any developer tool or platform.

Your platform offers:
1) Useful or cool technology 2) User acquisition 3) The opportunity to make lots of $$$

4

Developers are first class citizens. Treat them as such.

Consider your ecosystem with the same empathy (and rigor) as your customer funnel. Help them succeed: give away marketing resources, help your ecosystem reach customers, build surface area to help integrations get used.

5

Take any and all marketing lingo, and put it in the trash.

Developers don’t want any of it. Make your language human, straightforward and meaningful. Eliminate excess.

6

Ecosystems are messy, but growth takes place in the mess.

You get dirty when you tend to the garden. Standing up a developer community comes with real challenges. Have at least one person who is worrying about making your community safe and helping it to grow.

7

We can’t all be platforms.

Developers can’t be part of 300 communities in a meaningful way, so test and see if your platform is viable. One approach: build your first integrations, and see if they get adopted: if they do, then you might have a big opportunity on your hands.

About Us

Ceci Stallsmith

Partner
Calyx Team Member

Built and ran Platform Marketing at Slack.
Invested in developer tools at BVP, and helped build platform at Box as developer relations.
Angel Investor.

Paige Paquette

Partner
Calyx Team Member

Built and led Developer Marketing and Community at Slack
Ran Platform Marketing at Slack
Led marketing at ZenHub
Advisor at Openview Ventures

Want to chat?

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Our Blog

Occasional tips and guides for those thinking about platforms and developer tools.
Arrow Right

Who are low-code app developers?

An intro to five types of builder. Adding nuance to the citizen developer conversation
Paige Paquette

Guide: Cultivating trust in your developer ecosystem (Part 2)

A practical checklist for engaging developers and building trust for the long term
Paige Paquette

Guide: Cultivating trust in your developer ecosystem (Part 1)

Unpacking the surprising and often-overlooked factor of thriving developer communities
Paige Paquette

Introducing the Ecosystem

A newsletter about platforms and developer ecosystems by Calyx Consulting
Paige Paquette