Channel 02 / 13 · Build trust
Technical content
Make something an engineer would save even without buying.
Use it when
Your engineers can teach something concrete that your audience struggles with.
Don't confuse it with
Rephrased documentation, shallow trend posts or generic “5 benefits” lists.
01 / What companies actually did
incident.io taught incident management to startups
Its 2022 startup guide gives useful rules for incident severity, roles, documentation and post-incident learning. It explicitly keeps most product promotion near the end.
[I1] incident.io — Startup guide to sensible incident management ↗PostHog hires technical people into marketing
PostHog says developer marketers should understand developer work, use real language, show features clearly and have content reviewed like code.
[P1] PostHog — 40 things learned about developer marketing ↗Tailscale explains the economics of its free tier
Its founder-written article walks through individual users, word of mouth and why paid corporate plans are different; useful because it explains a real design decision rather than hiding behind slogans.
[T1] Tailscale — Why the free plan stays free ↗02 / How to do it
- 01Ask engineers what they explained to a customer or teammate this week. Pick one recurring issue.
- 02Reproduce the problem in a real environment. Capture code, configuration, trade-offs and failures.
- 03Write for one level of reader; state prerequisites and what will work at the end.
- 04Have an engineer test every instruction and review the claims.
- 05Share the piece where that technical community already gathers, then link to a working artifact.
Things you can publish or run
03 / What good looks like
Watch this
Qualified readers, bookmarks/shares, code example usage, product intent and assisted opportunities.
Common trap
“Thought leadership” with no technical substance earns little trust.
04 / Copy the worksheet
COPYABLE WORKSHEET / 02
Technical content template
Replace the brackets. Use this as a starting point, not a rigid formula.
ENGINEER-WRITTEN ARTICLE Who this is for: [role and current setup] Real problem: [the failing job, not an industry trend] What you will build/learn: [observable output] Prerequisites: [versions, permissions, dependencies] Walkthrough: [steps + commands + screenshots] Trade-offs: [where this approach fails] Proof: [tested result, benchmark method, reproducible demo] Further reading: [docs/repos/vendor references] Natural next step: [try the example | inspect source] Technical reviewer: [name]
05 / Original sources