DeepSet’s ‘Sandwich Motion’: How Open Source Created Enterprise Sales Champions
Converting developers into enterprise sales champions isn’t a new strategy. But DeepSet’s approach, which founder Malte Pietsch calls the “sandwich motion,” offers a masterclass in turning open source adoption into enterprise deals. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Malte revealed the strategic thinking behind this dual-track approach.
The Open Source Foundation Two years into their journey, DeepSet launched Haystack, their open-source framework. But unlike many companies that treat open source as an afterthought, DeepSet approached it strategically from day one.
“We more or less from day one, then thought, okay, what’s the commercial product like? What’s the business model that can really create here to have a sustainable business?” Malte explains. They studied successful open-source companies like Elastic and Databricks, seeking to understand how to balance community growth with commercial success.
The Developer Adoption Strategy The first layer of the “sandwich” focuses on developer adoption. “It’s really a lot of developers out there know it, tried it, like it and typically like the devs are not our buyers,” Malte notes. This creates a foundation of technical credibility within organizations before sales conversations begin.
The Enterprise Sales Layer The second layer targets business decision-makers. While developers may love the technology, they “don’t swipe the credit card and pay the check for this commercial platform,” as Malte puts it. But their advocacy proves invaluable during the sales process.
The ‘Sandwich’ in Action When DeepSet engages with potential enterprise customers, their open source presence creates a unique dynamic. “At some point, of course they ask the developers about hey, what is that technology? Does it make sense? Do you trust us,” Malte explains. Having developers already familiar with and supportive of their technology accelerates the technical validation process.
Beyond Demo Culture This approach proved particularly valuable during the recent AI hype cycle. “Last year, I think that was where a lot of this noise happened, where so much new things became possible. So a lot of cool ideas, great ideas, exciting demos,” Malte reflects. “But I think at some point, if you don’t want to become hype and just a bubble, you need to show the value coming out of things.”
Having real developers using their technology in production provided credibility that demos couldn’t match.
The Commercial Platform Evolution The commercial platform, DeepSet Cloud, was designed with this dual audience in mind. While it offers enterprise features that business stakeholders care about, it maintains the developer experience that made their open source offering successful.
Learning from Enterprise Feedback One crucial aspect of their strategy involved learning from early enterprise adopters. Rather than treating open source and commercial products as separate entities, they used insights from both to improve their overall offering.
Key Lessons for B2B Founders
- Open source isn’t just about community – it’s about creating internal champions
- Developer adoption should be strategic, not just tactical
- Enterprise sales conversations change when technical teams are already advocates
- Commercial features should complement, not compete with, open source offerings
The Future of the ‘Sandwich’ Looking ahead, Malte sees this developer-first approach becoming even more crucial. “In three to five years, I really believe AI will be embedded in all products, like in our daily life. All processes or products will have some AI feature embedded.”
For founders building developer tools or infrastructure products, DeepSet’s “sandwich motion” offers a powerful template. Their experience suggests that in complex technical sales, having developers as internal champions isn’t just helpful – it’s often the difference between a lengthy sales cycle and an accelerated path to closure.
The key isn’t just to launch an open source product and hope for the best. It’s about strategically using open source to create advocates who can speak to your technology’s value when business stakeholders start asking questions. In an era of increasing technical complexity, this approach to building trust through technical credibility might be the most efficient path to enterprise sales success.