Developer tool startup simulator
See what your developer tool would turn over, how many teams you'd win and who you'd lose them to — quarter by quarter for four years — before you spend real money.
Engineers adopt it free; a company buys it later. This one opens as Shipwright: A developer tool engineers adopt for free and their companies pay for at team scale. Rename it, reprice it, or describe your own developer tool and let Nova rewrite it to fit.
What a steady tool ends up with
Played steadily for all four years — quality first, then growth, a fair share of the bank spent each year — a steady tool here ends its last year on $775k of revenue and $122k of profit, with 617 teams and 5.1% of the market (#6 of 6).
It starts from nothing: $25k in the bank and you, 50 hours a week, with no teams yet.
People who play it well do better, and a bad plan runs out of money.
Revenue in the last year: $775k
Profit in the last year: $122k
Teams at the end: 617
Share of the market: From nothing to 5.1%
Where it finishes: #6 of 6
Years and decisions: 4 years, quarterly
What you'll decide each quarter
Each quarter you price the seat, choose between building features and making it reliable, hire the people who sell and support it, and decide whether to raise money or borrow it.
Each decision shows on a forecast before you file it, and every period resolves against the rivals and the economy.
Who your teams are
Software is sold seat by seat and lost through churn: a cheap plan fills the top of the funnel, but the teams that stay and grow are what pay for the company.
24,000 teams in all, across United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Australia.
Solo developers: A few people, a card on file, and no patience for a sales call. About 13,200 of them, worth $750 a year each.
Startup teams: They will pay for something that works and an answer when it does not. About 7,200 of them, worth $1.9k a year each.
Platform teams at big companies: Procurement, a security review and the deepest pockets in the market. About 1,680 of them, worth $9k a year each.
Open-source maintainers: People using spreadsheets or a tool built for something else, because nothing fits. About 1,920 of them, worth $1.2k a year each.
Who you're up against
Four rivals are already in it, and they play to win: they cut prices, spend on marketing and answer what you do. Most of the market is theirs on day one.
The cloud provider's built-in tool: The biggest, and slow to change — it has stopped listening to its smaller customers. Holds about 32% of the market.
The open-source project: Wins on price and little else; its customers leave the moment somebody is better. Holds about 18% of the market.
The well-funded startup: Clever and quick, but stretched thin and hard to get hold of. Holds about 10% of the market.
Scripts somebody wrote in 2019: Hasn't changed in years and is living off the customers it already has. Holds about 10% of the market.
How it works
Free until you start: building and previewing cost nothing, and starting is $10, once.
Build it — free: Press build and you get your own copy of this market: four kinds of team, four rivals and five markets.
Make it yours: Change any number, describe your developer tool in a sentence or two and let Nova fill it in, or upload a profit and loss or a month-by-month sales history to fit it to your real figures.
Preview — free: See what a steady tool ends up with, and every warning worth reading, before you pay anything.
Start — $10: Pay once to start, your seat included. Then run it quarter by quarter for four years.
Also for
devtools · api · sdk · open source · infrastructure · cli
How much does the developer tool startup simulator cost?
Building and previewing are free: make your own copy of this developer tool market, change anything in it and see what a steady tool ends up with without paying. Starting the simulation is $10, once, and your own seat is included.
Can I make it match my own developer tool?
Yes. Every number can be changed — the teams and what they pay, the rivals, the markets, the costs and the starting cash. Or describe your developer tool in a sentence or two and Nova, SparkTower's AI, fills every section in for one Nova action. If you already trade, upload a profit and loss or a month-by-month sales history and the simulation is fitted to your real numbers, starting from where your business stands today.
Are the numbers realistic for a developer tool?
The template is checked against what real ones do: played steadily, a believable one finishes year four turning over between $50k and $2.5m, with between 80 and 2,000 teams. This one's preview comes to about $775k and 617. Your own prices, costs and figures change that, which is the point of trying it here first.
Can I use it to test a developer tool business plan?
That is what it is for. Put your plan's prices, costs and starting cash in, play it forward quarter by quarter, and see whether the money lasts, how many teams you would need and what a rival's price cut does to you — before you put real money in.
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