Recommended Reading: From Experts in the Heavybit Community

As 2021 wraps up and we enter a period of much needed downtime, we wanted to offer a list of books to keep you engaged and learning. If you’ve been attending our monthly Speaker Series or staying up to date with the content in our Library, then you’ll recognize some of these authors; this is a great list to help you take it a step further, and master what you’ve already learned from them.

People Powered: How Communities Can Supercharge Your Business, Brand, and Teams by Jono Bacon

We started off 2021 with a Speaker Series presentation by Jono Bacon and his talk really set the tone for the rest of the year’s curriculum. Community, Community, Community. Every aspect of developer and enterprise software startup organizations has been touched by the Covid-19 crisis. In-person activities like hackathons and conferences aren’t currently possible, dramatically shifting the Art of Gathering (another great book by the way.)

Communities have been a popular topic since the rise of the Internet and social media, but few companies have consistently harnessed their power, driven tangible value, and effectively measured their ROI. People Powered helps C-suite leaders, founders, marketers, customer advocates, and community leaders gain a competitive advantage by harnessing the power of communities, both inside and outside of the organization.

Digital-First Events: How to Create Engaging Community Experiences by Jana Boruta

At the start of the pandemic, when we were all just trying to figure it out, many of us turned to industry leaders like Jana Boruta, who’s developed community and experiential marketing programs at the early-stages for companies like New Relic and HashiCorp. In 2020, she managed to organize, not 1, but 2 virtual HashiConfs, which were attended by 25,000 community members across 100+ countries.

The events industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. It still continues to be a force, even with a global pandemic; most of those efforts have just shifted to a digital format. COVID-19 may have changed the landscape, but the fundamental desire to connect with people hasn’t changed. In response to high demand, she co-wrote a book on building your own digital-first events and conferences for your community from the ground up.

The Brand Strategy Canvas: A One-Page Guide for Startups by Patrick Woods

Patrick Woods has been a long-time Heavybit community member. He has more than 10 years marketing and customer operations experience and led the CS team at member company Keen IO before joining Heavybit again in 2019 as the Founder & CEO of Orbit. He’s the host of Developer Love, emceed and presented at this year’s DevGuild: Software-Defined Movements, and is the author of The Brand Strategy Canvas.

We focus a lot on branding and messaging advice as it’s been a consistent area of need for early-stage teams. Launching a startup is now easier than ever before but building a lasting brand remains a mystery for even the savviest of founders. Patrick’s book walks you through developing your strategy, including considering audience insight, assessing benefits, creating a positioning statement, and identifying key messages.

Developer Marketing Does Not Exist: The Authentic Guide to Reach a Technical Audience by Adam DuVander

Adam DuVander is a developer, marketer, and founder of EveryDeveloper, where he helps great dev tool companies reach more of the right developers with content. He’s also one of our most valuable contributors; in addition to advising many member companies, he’s written 3 great blog posts on editorial and marketing strategy for the Heavybit Library.

In his most recent post, Adam shares an excerpt from his new book, Developer Marketing Does Not Exist, on how some of the best developer companies have used tools as marketing—with ideas for how you can do the same. He provides practical advice, from creating tutorials and guides to advertising, and will help you uncover what actually resonates with your technical audience so you can start to reach more developers.

These books make great gifts and also support our generous community of contributors and experts so if you enjoyed what you read, consider purchasing several copies and don’t hesitate to reach out to them with questions and thoughts.