About Kubegrade
Kubegrade is a platform focused on automating and simplifying Kubernetes cluster management and upgrades across cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments.
Objective
Tim (Founder & CEO of Kubegrade) aimed to validate market interest and gather early-stage feedback from relevant developer segments interested in Kubernetes-related solutions, despite the product still being in development.
Strategy & Execution:
Tools Used:
- Reo.Dev (intent signal identification)
- La Growth Machine (for LinkedIn & Email outreach automation)
Intent Signal Setup in Reo.Dev: Tim created a precise developer segment named "Developers Very High Relevance", leveraging GitHub intent signals to identify potential early adopters and market research candidates.
Segment Criteria:
- GitHub repository activity in the last 180 days
- Specifically targeted repositories:
KUBE-NO-TROUBLE,KUBEPUG, andPLUTO
Campaign Audience:
- Total Audience Size: 113 developers with LinkedIn & Email Handles
All the Repositories Tracked in Reo.Dev
To identify high-intent Kubernetes practitioners, Kubegrade configured a mix of complementary and competitor GitHub repositories inside Reo.Dev.
Complementary Repositories
These include widely adopted projects in the Kubernetes ecosystem like Istio, KubeScape, Consul, and Traefik—enabling discovery of developers already working on related infrastructure.
Competitor Repositories
Kubegrade also tracked GitHub activity in repositories of overlapping solutions like Komodor, Pluto, KubePug, and Terraform-based Kubernetes providers. By monitoring contribution and engagement across these repositories, Reo.Dev helped Kubegrade identify developers facing real-world upgrade and compliance challenges—making their outreach both timely and relevant.
Outreach Campaign Flow
Step 1: LinkedIn Connection Request
Tim initiated outreach by visiting profiles and sending personalized LinkedIn connection requests.
Connection Note Message Used:
"Hi, I'm a founder building a dev tool for Kubernetes cluster upgrades. Purely looking for feedback to make sure my initial traction is not a fluke."
Step 2: LinkedIn DM after Connection Request Aceepted
If connection requests were accepted, Tim sent personalized LinkedIn messages to engage prospects and solicit feedback.
Message Copy Used:
"Thanks for accepting my invite. Based on your profile, I'm taking a gamble that you work with k8s, but let me know if I'm mistaken. I'd love to pick your brain on a product I'm building to solve Kubernetes cluster upgrades. Absolutely not trying to sell, just aiming to gather feedback. Would you be willing to chat?"
Step 3: Follow-Up Message #1 on LinkedIn (if no reply)
If the prospect accepted the connection request but didn’t respond to the first message, Tim followed up with a second note. This message added context about why he reached out and made a clearer ask—emphasizing the problem his product solves and his intent to gather feedback, not sell.
Message Copy Used:
"Maybe I should give you more context {{firstname}}. Working with companies running k8s over the last 8 years, we noticed that anyone running 10+ clusters, a service mesh, or custom controllers had long, complex, and costly upgrade cycles (even worse if SOC2, ISO, HIPAA compliant). We built a tool that automates most of the work, helps with compliance, limits downtime, and removes manual work from platform/devops teams. I'm trying to gather as much feedback about the product before we launch, which is why I reached out to you. Would love to pick your brain. Happy to compensate for your time. Cheers, Tim"
If no LinkedIn response was received, Tim followed up via email.
Step 4: Email Follow-Up Used:
Subject: simple k8s cluster upgrade
Hey {{firstname}},
FYI: Absolutely not trying to sell you anything.
Not sure if you saw my LinkedIn messages earlier. I don't mean to bother you but having reviewed {{companyName}} and some of your repos, I figured you are currently using K8s and might have been feeling the pain of upgrades.
I'm building a tool that helps automate most of the upgrade cycle and currently looking to gather feedback from potential users. Happy to compensate for your time.
Let me know if we can book some time to chat. Cheers, Tim
Results
- Audience Contacted: 112 out of 113 (99%)
- Response Rate: 22% (25 responses)
- Positive Demo Requests: 5 prospects requested a demo
Remarkably, these results were achieved pre-product, purely for market validation.
Key Takeaways & Playbook
- Devtools building on top of widely-used open-source technologies (e.g., Kubernetes, Kafka, Docker, or React) can effectively leverage GitHub repository activities as highly accurate intent signals. Companies engaging developers who actively interact with these repositories can identify warm, relevant prospects who are likely in-market for complementary solutions.
- Example Use Cases:
- A monitoring tool for Apache Kafka could track activity in Kafka or Kafka-related repositories to find engineers struggling with data streaming or event processing challenges.
- Security tools built around Docker can engage developers actively contributing to container orchestration repositories.
- Companies offering UI component libraries for React could identify frontend engineers contributing to popular React-based frameworks.
In Kubegrade’s scenario, this strategy helped successfully identify developers experiencing the complexity of Kubernetes upgrades, demonstrating the strong value of using open-source project engagement as a reliable market intent signal.
- Tim’s personalized, non-salesy outreach effectively resonated with technical audiences, resulting in high engagement.
- Even minimal implementation in Reo.Dev (simple repository activity tracking and date filters) provided outstanding results, suggesting potential for even greater outcomes with more sophisticated setups in Reo.Dev when they combine this data with their first-party assets.
Summary
This campaign by Tim Grassin at Kubegrade demonstrates the powerful combination of targeted intent signals from Reo.Dev and authentic, user-centric outreach.
