Marketing to Developers in 2026: PLG, AI Discovery, and Building Developer Trust | Michael Ferranti | 363

Episode notes

In this episode, Jeff Mains sits down with Michael Ferranti, a veteran of developer tools and cloud-native infrastructure with over a decade of experience at companies like PortWorks, Teleport, and Unleash. Michael shares insights on feature management, the critical role of feature flags in modern software delivery, and how to effectively market to developers. The conversation explores why "friends don't let friends build their own feature flag system," the evolving landscape of product-led growth, and how AI is reshaping go-to-market strategies for developer tools. Key Takeaways [5:27] - The Common Thread in Category Creation [7:17] - What is Feature Management? [11:56] - The Cost of Downtime [18:28] - The Race Car Analogy [19:59] - Marketing to Developers [24:18] - User vs. Buyer [30:30] - Easy to Try is Essential [35:30] - Organic Search is Declining [36:29] - AIO (AI Optimization) [40:26] - The PLG Myth [44:17] - The AI Shift Tweetable Quotes "The thing that makes product development and success in SaaS really easy is when you have a product that solves real problems in a market that's big enough." "Friends don't let friends build their own feature flag system.