Fractional GTM for devtools founders who need a senior marketer before they're ready to hire.
I work the way an in-house hire would: in your Slack, on your standups, deep enough in the product to shape messaging before a feature ships instead of explaining it after.
Most devtools companies lose their first year of compounding growth waiting for a hire who was already one quarter too late.
The window between early traction and a full-time marketing function is where organic authority and brand credibility either get built or don't. Companies that start later spend years catching up to whoever started earlier.
Rare Bird Lab works in a specific category: devtools, observability, database infrastructure, AI developer tooling. Technical products for technical buyers. Generalist marketing does not survive the scrutiny of a senior engineer audience. Knowing what a Terraform provider is, how SREs evaluate new tooling, and why "platform" language kills conversion with this buyer, that's the job.
What an engagement typically includes:
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Sharpen how your product speaks to technical buyers so it holds up across every channel and stands apart from competitors.
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Original technical content mapped to search intent and the buying journey, built to an editorial bar that earns trust with developers.
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Launches, events, sales enablement, and AI surface visibility, coordinated around your calendar so nothing falls through the cracks.
Who Am I?
I grew up in a small Appalachian town, the kind of place where you learn early to pull your bootstraps up and figure things out yourself. That scrappy, do-it-yourself mentality has stayed with me through every chapter since. I studied advertising at Virginia Commonwealth University, then global marketing at Emerson College, and spent the years that followed moving around the country, Boston, Portland, San Francisco, and a few places in between, building a career across agencies, brands, and the full range of go-to-market work.
In 2018, I stumbled into the developer tools world as an early marketing hire at Instana, and something just clicked. The complexity of reaching technical buyers, the precision the space demands, the culture of the ecosystem, I knew I had found my niche. By 2023, I had gone all in on my own, and Rare Bird Lab was born.
Since then, I have partnered with upwards of 30 clients across the devtools landscape, from observability platforms and database tooling to infrastructure startups gearing up for a first major launch. That kind of focused repetition has given me a strong read on the competitive dynamics, acquisition trends, and positioning that actually resonates with SREs and platform engineers. The methodologies and playbooks behind Rare Bird Lab were not built in a vacuum. They came from doing the work, over and over, and refining what sticks.
I bring a neurodivergent mind to every engagement, which means I see patterns and connections that others tend to miss, and I am not afraid to challenge conventional thinking when the data points somewhere better. Pair that with genuine creativity and an Appalachian stubbornness about getting things done, and you get a consultant who is not going to hand you a generic playbook and walk away.
I currently live in the Chicago area with my husband and two dogs. I have been fully remote since 2018, before it was cool, and I work seamlessly across time zones with clients around the world. When I am not deep in a client engagement, I am usually planning the next trip abroad.
Ready to talk about your GTM?
Engagements run on a monthly retainer, typically ranging from $2,000 to $7,000 depending on scope.
We define the scope together at the start and revisit it quarterly.
Contracts run six months with option to renew, and the first step is always a free call to assess your needs.
Prefer to email directly? Reach out to summer@rarebirdlab.com