Picks and Shovels

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Product Details

Publisher: Strategic Nerds Press
Release Date: September 23, 2025
Formats: Paperback, Ebook
ISBN: PB: 979-8-9991111-0-4; EB: 979-8-9991111-1-1
Trim: 6 x 9
Page Count: 494

 

Marketing to Developers During the AI Gold Rush

Prashant Sridharan

Master the art of developer marketing and make it big in the AI Gold Rush.

During the California Gold Rush, it wasn’t the miners who struck it rich—it was the merchants selling them picks and shovels. Today’s AI Gold Rush is no different. The real winners are the ones building tools for developers, and it takes special skills to stand out and successfully market to people who hate being marketed to.

Picks and Shovels is the definitive guide to developer marketing, built from Prashant Sridharan’s thirty years of experience helming developer programs at Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Twitter, and numerous startups. To connect with the most discerning audience in tech, you’ll learn how to:

  • Craft honest, effective messaging that resonates with developers.

  • Build programs that build trust and turn skeptics into champions.

  • Run unforgettable events that drive real adoption and impact.

  • Build audacious content that developers love.

  • Align product, marketing, and sales teams around a shared vision.

  • Measure what matters—and cut the fluff.

Whether you’re launching a business or running an established organization in BigTech, Picks and Shovels is the essential resource for marketing technical products.

About the Author

Prashant Sridharan has more than thirty years of experience running marketing, product, and business development teams for some of the largest and fastest-growing developer platforms in the industry, including Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Twitter, and several high-growth startups. He currently leads product marketing at Supabase and advises seed and Series A startups. He lives in Lisbon, Portugal, and San Francisco, California.

Reviews

“I’ve watched Prashant lead teams, shape narratives, and scale platforms. This book shows you how he does it.” —Bear Douglas, VP of developer relations, Pinecone

“Prashant’s work is proof that developer marketing isn’t a guessing game. It’s a craft—and this book teaches it.” —Romain Huet, head of developer experience, OpenAI

“Prashant has channeled his thirty-plus years of experience in developer marketing and turned it into the definitive guide for technical marketers everywhere. Level-up your marketing with Prashant’s guidance.” —Dick Costolo, managing partner, 01 Advisors, and former CEO, Twitter

“If you are marketing to developers, you are going to love this book. Regardless of your role, technology, or organizational maturity, you will find entire chapters that speak to your situation.” —Jeff Barr, VP and chief evangelist, Amazon Web Services

“Prashant and I have spent our careers helping developers—working together across multiple companies and platform shifts. This book captures the strategy we’ve lived and now reimagined for the AI era. It’s thoughtful, practical, and grounded in real experience. Prashant deeply understands how to connect with developers, and this is the playbook for today.” —Jeff Sandquist, VP and head of product (generative AI), Walmart

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