# A DevRel-Led Funnel That Puts Developers First > [!quote] > "The key is to talk about the problem, the solution, and the techniques without mentioning the tool." Leon Adato (11 years in DevRel) proposes a four-stage "conversational funnel" — DevRel (vendor-agnostic problem storytelling) → Product Marketing (same story, now vendor-specific) → Demand Gen (follow-up "gifts of knowledge") → Sales (a contextual, low-friction close) — and argues org placement of DevRel matters far less than whether these four functions hand off one coherent conversation instead of four disconnected pitches. ## Author's thesis (Q1+Q2) The perennial "where should DevRel report?" debate is the wrong question. What determines whether a go-to-market motion respects developer trust is sequencing: each stage earns the next stage's escalation through the audience's own observable engagement (a click, a return visit), so vendor specificity, outreach, and the eventual sales call each arrive as the reader's own logical next step rather than an interruption. DevRel's credibility is destroyed the moment top-of-funnel content reads as disguised sales collateral. ## Key arguments - DevRel's job is vendor-agnostic storytelling specific enough to provoke "that was ME last week" recognition, even when the employer's tool appears in screenshots. - PMM "earns the privilege" to be vendor-specific because the reader's click into stage 2 is treated as consent to a more commercial conversation. - Demand Gen's move is to broaden the conversation (more useful material, not a pitch) while narrowing the funnel — reframing lead qualification as audience self-selection rather than scoring. ## Literature atoms ### Vendor-agnostic storytelling defines DevRel's top-of-funnel role > [!quote] ID:rw_pending-devrelfunnel-01 > The key is to talk about the problem, the solution, and the techniques without mentioning the tool. **Where**: Top of Funnel: DevRel section. **Why**: The operational rule separating advocacy from marketing — usable verbatim as interview language for where DevRel content stops and PMM starts. **Tags**: #xref #aphorisms ### A reader's click licenses vendor-specific content > [!quote] ID:rw_pending-devrelfunnel-02 > the PMM has effectively earned the privilege to be vendor-specific **Where**: "Same Story, More Detail" section. **Why**: The funnel's core permission mechanic — escalation is earned by observable engagement, not asserted by the brand. **Tags**: #xref #articleseed ### Demand Gen broadens conversation while narrowing the funnel > [!quote] ID:rw_pending-devrelfunnel-03 > At this stage, Demand Gen is both broadening the conversation and narrowing the funnel **Where**: "Offer More Value" section. **Why**: Reframes lead qualification as audience self-selection via "gifts of knowledge" rather than scoring — a reusable alternative framing for DevRel/marketing-alignment conversations. **Tags**: #xref ## Permanent candidates - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Funnel Stages Run on Earned Permission]] — promoted this run; the reusable claim that each funnel stage's escalation must be licensed by the audience's own observable engagement. ## Links - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Funnel Position Predicts Which Content AI Search Extracts]] — because contrasts: that note is about where in the funnel AI search surfaces content; this one is about who owns each stage and how they hand off — complementary funnel-structure claims, different axis. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/DevRel Should Never Carry a Sales Quota]] — because extends: Adato's earned-permission sequencing is the structural argument for why DevRel content must stay vendor-agnostic — carrying a quota would collapse stage 1 into stage 2 and break the permission chain. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/The Four Objectives Framework Replaces Vanity Metrics in DevRel]] — because applies-in: cohort-by-stages-touched tracking (this article's own suggested methodology) is exactly the kind of non-vanity metric that framework argues DevRel should measure. - [[3. Resources/MOCs/DevRel MOC]] — because applies-in: developer-marketing funnel design is core DevRel-practice material for this MOC. - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Building Training Systems, Not Sessions Andrew Adam]] — the same build-the-reusable-foundation-once argument applied to client training rather than developer funnels ## Source - [[3. Resources/Readwise/Articles/A DevRel-Led Funnel That Puts Developers First HackerNoon]]