Neil Mansilla of Runscope (previously at Mashery)

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Dev Evangelism Podcast with Neil Mansilla


Shownotes/interview flow:

  • Brief overview of your background

    • self taught developer, entrepreneurial from a very young age

    • first program in pascal was a virtual lemonade stand

    • first business was video game / vending machine business

    • first startup was a hosting company

    • pattern throughout his businesses was focus on SMB’s

    • mentioned - DreamHost founder interview

  • Tell me about Runscope and Mashery

    • mashery - API mgt provider with focus on Enterprise

      • Mashery handles a lot of the logistics for large companies’ API’s

      • Neil was very excited to work with Deyln Simons, a mentor of his, it’s one of the reasons he joined Mashery

      • Mashery has so many apps in its suite that you might be using one of their products and not even know it

      • biggest job of a Mashery evangelist is to talk about the APIs on their platform, not mashery itself

    • Runscope - api testing, debugging, tools

      • like a ‘slow motion camera’ for API’s - shows you exactly what happened.  And that you don’t necessarily need ot turn off

      • Runscope is useful during dev, testing, and then in production

      • initial messaging was very dev focused - over the past year it has transitioned towards a broader message with Runscope Radar, now for QA and testing

      • the product is best used pre-emptively instead of reactionary

      • tl;dr - if you use API’s runscope can help you

  • Unique problems of being a Mashery dev (with 300 products in the stable)

    • Having so many solutions doesn’t really affect the job - Dev Evangelist’s prime directive is to help developers implement, even if it’s not your API

    • Best way to help someone get what they really need (versus what they ask for) is to figure out what their goals are for the event.  Are they trying to win or are they a newb?

  • Different personality types at hackathons?

    • Neil has been to a ton of events and been able to do some pattern recognition -

      • 2011 - 70-100 per year

    • See also:  8 types of projects you meet at hackathons

    • types of hackers

      • Mercenary

      • newb - wants to learn

      • design is a good differentiator now

  • Hackathon scene - where is it headed?

    • “I don’t know if it’s possible to go to more hackathons than I have” - Neil Mansilla :)

      • thankfully, never burned out

      • started off as an attendee before

    • Hackathons have Evolved, not devolved as some are saying

    • how to get value out of the hackathon??

      • take feedback you run into and feed it back into product

      • Nick Quinlan is a great evangelist b/c of enthusiasm + chops

    • MajorLeagueHacking (MLH) is a new force in hackathons - Swift started as a multiple attendee, then became a Dev Evangelist for Sendgrid, and now founded MLH

  • Evangelists - what do you do?

    • Travel a lot :)

    • Feedback from events needs to go straight back into product development and making it easier for developers to use

    • DevEvang’s goal is to close the feedback loop and discover what is out there working in the market

    • It’s a long game.  Copying other companies’ strategies doesn’t work without the right culture

    • John Sheehan’s talk at Heavybit - why copying doesn’t work without an integrated culture

    • Your job BEGINS after you do your opening ceremonies pitch - the meat is interacting with hackers throughout the event and listening

    • A good example of getting energy from helping people is Nick Quinlan, who just joined MLH

  • What’s a good way for a hackathon organizers to make your life easier

    • Airport lounge is always part of the deal for a true evangelist :) - rack up a ton of miles

    • organizers should be hackathon attendees before they organize - at least 3 is the sweet spot - participate in one

    • Most important thing for an organizer to do is to ASK FOR HELP WHEN YOU NEED IT

      • stepping up for an event puts you ahead of 90% of your peers - have the maturity to admit when you need help

      • sponsors have spent money, and hackers are absolutely spending their valuable time.  you have a responsibilty to them

    • ‘Table stakes” articles by evangelists exist because of things organizers could have done better

    • How to throw an epic hackathon - Mike Swift, fmr commissioner of MLH

    • The Hackathon Budget - by organizers of HackMIT

    • Planning for Wifi disaster at hackathons - Organizers of Mhacks

    • Hackathon Transportation 101 - Mike Swift

    • How to fundraise - by Dave Fontenot

  • How long have you been running your Dev Evangelism program

    • Excited to build the program at Runscope because it’s a tool Neil and other developers have been using

    • The Runscope program is in its infancy and Neil refuses to take shortcuts

    • FUD - define it

    • If you build an app that is depending on another API doing what it says it will - if it doesn’t you’re at risk

  • What is an API or product (not your own) that you love?

    • It all boils down to good Developer Experience (DX)

    • Twilio - easy to use because of the portal

    • Stripe is also a good portal

    • TomTom - Geocoding

    • Klout - it does more than just the score, has an interest/influence graph

    • ESRI (ArcGIS) - puts google maps to shame, has a z axis

  • Tell me about a great event you’ve been to in the past year

  • Neil’s big winner at TechCrunch Disrupt SF

    • Neil’s team won Disrupt with “Shower with Friends,” it was his first win in 8 events

    • Previously competed in Disrupt as team Hot Mess

    • At Disrupt Sept ‘14 he built “Shower with Friends” using an Intel Galileo board

    • Idea came because Neil had promised BK (CEO of Intel) he’d build something with potential to install at his house

    • Internet of Things + Drought (recall Ice Bucket Challenge) + Gamification = Win

    • GroupMe is most valuable project so far (exited for $85m, sold to skype) to come out of a hackathon, Tinder is on track to beat them (see Article about Tinder’s foundation)

    • flow sensor on the Mashery keg -- Galileo was the startup Intel bought

    • Intel Developer Forum @ Moscone - tweeted question to intel CEO “can we install it”

  • Where do the you see the dev evangelism scene evolving to?

    • Past several years it has matured a lot

    • Focus on closing the loop between people who use developer tools and the team who is building them

    • near future - more tied in with product and with consumer side.  Less of a focus on discovery of your product, more focus on partner ecosystem

    • More focus on the instrinsic goal of being helpful

    • A major benefit of having developer evangelists that they are an advocate of your customers to pressure the engineer team to build best product

  • Anything (product, API, idea) you want to plug?

    • use runscope - Neil used it before he started working there :).  (there’s a free tier

  • Where can we find you

    • Twitter - @mansilladev

    • follow @runscope