UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF
Charlie Rivas
UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF
Charlie Rivas
Crystal DBA
Crystal DBA
From Zero to Repeatable GTM and Acquisition
From Zero to Repeatable GTM and Acquisition
DURATION
8-Month Engagement
DURATION
8-Month Engagement
CLIENT
CrystalDBA — A DevTools Startup for PostgreSQL Performance Optimization
CLIENT
CrystalDBA — A DevTools Startup for PostgreSQL Performance Optimization
SOLUTION
Fractional GTM Partner
SOLUTION
Fractional GTM Partner
DATE
Oct 2024 – May 2025
DATE
Oct 2024 – May 2025
BRIEF
A seed-stage DevTools startup that went from founder-led chaos to a repeatable GTM motion, developer adoption, and acquisition by a leading cloud infrastructure company.
BRIEF
A seed-stage DevTools startup that went from founder-led chaos to a repeatable GTM motion, developer adoption, and acquisition by a leading cloud infrastructure company.
OUTCOME
Built CrystalDBA’s first repeatable GTM motion from zero, secured design partnerships, generated strong GitHub traction through a developer-led strategy, and positioned the company for acquisition by a leading cloud infrastructure platform.
OUTCOME
Built CrystalDBA’s first repeatable GTM motion from zero, secured design partnerships, generated strong GitHub traction through a developer-led strategy, and positioned the company for acquisition by a leading cloud infrastructure platform.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARy
EXECUTIVE SUMMARy
CrystalDBA was a seed-stage DevTools startup focused on AI-powered PostgreSQL optimization. Despite strong technical differentiation, the company entered the market without a structured go-to-market motion. Early efforts included a failed outbound email campaign and founder-led LinkedIn outreach that had largely exhausted the founder’s immediate network, leaving uncertainty around whether the issue was deliverability, messaging, ICP definition, or channel fit.
GTM Nexus was brought in to rebuild CrystalDBA’s go-to-market foundation from first principles. The initial focus was not only on refining ICPs across engineering, DBA, and platform roles, but on identifying reliable market signal that indicated real buyer urgency. Through testing and analysis, companies actively hiring PostgreSQL engineers and DBAs emerged as the strongest signal of near-term pain, allowing GTM efforts to prioritize accounts already experiencing performance and scaling challenges.
Over eight months, CrystalDBA transitioned from ad-hoc, founder-led outreach to a repeatable, persona-driven GTM system. This included a hiring-signal–driven targeting strategy, a developer-led acquisition motion anchored in GitHub and open source, and tighter alignment between outbound conversations, community engagement, and product feedback loops. The result was consistent enterprise meetings, secured design partnerships, meaningful developer adoption, and a GTM foundation that ultimately supported CrystalDBA’s acquisition by a leading cloud infrastructure company.
CrystalDBA was a seed-stage DevTools startup focused on AI-powered PostgreSQL optimization. Despite strong technical differentiation, the company entered the market without a structured go-to-market motion. Early efforts included a failed outbound email campaign and founder-led LinkedIn outreach that had largely exhausted the founder’s immediate network, leaving uncertainty around whether the issue was deliverability, messaging, ICP definition, or channel fit.
GTM Nexus was brought in to rebuild CrystalDBA’s go-to-market foundation from first principles. The initial focus was not only on refining ICPs across engineering, DBA, and platform roles, but on identifying reliable market signal that indicated real buyer urgency. Through testing and analysis, companies actively hiring PostgreSQL engineers and DBAs emerged as the strongest signal of near-term pain, allowing GTM efforts to prioritize accounts already experiencing performance and scaling challenges.
Over eight months, CrystalDBA transitioned from ad-hoc, founder-led outreach to a repeatable, persona-driven GTM system. This included a hiring-signal–driven targeting strategy, a developer-led acquisition motion anchored in GitHub and open source, and tighter alignment between outbound conversations, community engagement, and product feedback loops. The result was consistent enterprise meetings, secured design partnerships, meaningful developer adoption, and a GTM foundation that ultimately supported CrystalDBA’s acquisition by a leading cloud infrastructure company.
Highlights & Key Contributions
Highlights & Key Contributions
Built GTM from Zero:
Designed CrystalDBA’s first GTM system, including ICP definition, persona segmentation, messaging frameworks, and execution workflows. Replaced founder-led outreach with a repeatable motion across email, LinkedIn, and developer channels.
Introduced Signal-Driven Targeting:
Identified high-intent buying signals beyond static ICP definitions. Prioritized companies actively hiring PostgreSQL engineers and DBAs, using hiring activity as a proxy for performance pain, scale pressure, and budgeted urgency. This signal layer significantly increased reply quality and meeting conversion across outbound and partnership motions.
Secured Design Partnerships:
Targeted early adopters across engineering, DBA, and platform teams to establish design partnerships. These partnerships informed product direction, validated real-world use cases, and anchored early enterprise credibility.
Launched a Developer-Led Acquisition Motion:
Authored and launched PostgresMCP strategy, an open-source protocol aligned with CrystalDBA’s core value proposition. This GitHub-centric GTM strategy generated over 100 stars in the first week and positioned CrystalDBA within the PostgreSQL developer ecosystem.
Aligned GTM With Product Feedback Loops:
Integrated outbound conversations, community engagement, and product feedback into a single loop. This ensured GTM insights directly informed roadmap decisions while reinforcing CrystalDBA’s technical authority.
Created Acquisition-Ready GTM Infrastructure
Standardized messaging, reporting, and CRM workflows to create a clean, transferable GTM system. This infrastructure supported due diligence and positioned CrystalDBA as a scalable platform rather than a founder-dependent product.
Built GTM from Zero:
Designed CrystalDBA’s first GTM system, including ICP definition, persona segmentation, messaging frameworks, and execution workflows. Replaced founder-led outreach with a repeatable motion across email, LinkedIn, and developer channels.
Introduced Signal-Driven Targeting:
Identified high-intent buying signals beyond static ICP definitions. Prioritized companies actively hiring PostgreSQL engineers and DBAs, using hiring activity as a proxy for performance pain, scale pressure, and budgeted urgency. This signal layer significantly increased reply quality and meeting conversion across outbound and partnership motions.
Secured Design Partnerships:
Targeted early adopters across engineering, DBA, and platform teams to establish design partnerships. These partnerships informed product direction, validated real-world use cases, and anchored early enterprise credibility.
Launched a Developer-Led Acquisition Motion:
Authored and launched PostgresMCP strategy, an open-source protocol aligned with CrystalDBA’s core value proposition. This GitHub-centric GTM strategy generated over 100 stars in the first week and positioned CrystalDBA within the PostgreSQL developer ecosystem.
Aligned GTM With Product Feedback Loops:
Integrated outbound conversations, community engagement, and product feedback into a single loop. This ensured GTM insights directly informed roadmap decisions while reinforcing CrystalDBA’s technical authority.
Created Acquisition-Ready GTM Infrastructure
Standardized messaging, reporting, and CRM workflows to create a clean, transferable GTM system. This infrastructure supported due diligence and positioned CrystalDBA as a scalable platform rather than a founder-dependent product.