
What are ethical ways to market a Startup to developers? - cswendrowski
I am a privacy-focused developer - I don&#x27;t have a Facebook, I run browser extensions to block ads and trackers, and I have multiple emails dedicated to keeping spam away from my real accounts.<p>Like other developers, I also hate LinkedIn Inbox spam, cold calls, and other marketing techniques most companies employ.<p>I am now attempting to start a Startup to take tools I&#x27;ve built for my own use and build them into a product for others to benefit from.<p>The problem I&#x27;m facing is - how do I ethically get our name out there to others like me? The standard tools of Google and Facebook Ads are brutally efficient because of how little they respect privacy, and I am loathe to use what I&#x27;ve spent so much time avoiding.<p>So far, the only tool we&#x27;ve come up with is sponsoring conferences to go talk to Developers in-person.<p>What other avenues does a small startup have?
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thisone
So, how do you find out about small start ups yourself?

Whatever ways you do, it would seem they fit with your world-view, so do them.

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1ba9115454
Have a blog with some really great tutorials / articles.

It's called inbound marketing.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbound_marketing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbound_marketing)

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hluska
You have a few:

1) Sponsor conferences/pay for booths. This one is tough because not every
conference worries much about privacy.

2) Speak at every conference you can find. This one has the same caveat as
above.

3) Build quality products at competitive rates and provide serious value. In
theory, you hope you'll get referrals. You could think about rewarding
referrals, but then if you sell your startup, you'd presumably be selling off
an influence graph.

4) Go full bore evil, build a unicorn, avoid becoming truly evil, and give all
your money away to privacy focused organizations.

5) Open source your products, allow self hosting and make your money off of
consulting.

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cswendrowski
Thanks all for the input - Lot of really interesting ideas! We are going to
sponsor some meetups and conferences and start blogging a lot more than we are
already

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siscia
It seems like the best way to go is to build an online presence with
articles/suggestions/whatnot

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aguilarm
Organize or offer to host a local Meetup group. Totally expected that hosts
say what they do and that they're hiring, and everyone going will probably be
a developer.

