Diagrid is a fast-growing startup founded by the creators of Dapr, the popular open-source project for building distributed applications. Based in the U.S., Diagrid provides Dapr support, and commercial tools, including Conductor, to simplify Dapr operations on Kubernetes.

Marc Duiker, Senior Developer Advocate at Diagrid, is responsible for creating content that educates developers and drives engagement across the open-source and commercial ecosystems.

Challenge

“With Instruqt, developers can try Dapr in minutes without installing anything locally. It’s a massive win for making learning & adoption easier.” – Marc Duiker, Senior Developer Advocate

As an open-source company, Diagrid needed better ways to identify and engage developers actively using Dapr. While community interest was strong, traditional content like blogs and videos didn’t reveal who was genuinely engaged or ready for the next step. Since developers can install and run Dapr without the need for registration or activation this does not provide any insight into who is interested in Dapr.

Diagrid needed a low-friction, measurable way to onboard developers, generate leads, and demonstrate clear ROI to internal stakeholders. Challenges included:

• Lack of visibility into user adoption: With open-source downloads widely available, it was difficult to know who was actually using Dapr and interested in further engagement.

• Difficulty capturing qualified leads: Traditional content formats like blogs and videos were effective for education, but didn’t provide a direct path to identifying interested users.

• Need for low-friction onboarding: Diagrid needed a way to let developers experience Dapr without installing anything locally, which could slow adoption.

• Proving value to internal stakeholders: Any new initiative needed to clearly demonstrate its ROI to get buy-in across the growing Diagrid team.

Solution

“It’s really obvious what kind of value Instruqt brings. It’s easy to create content — and it’s even easier to see the impact.” – Marc Duiker, Developer Advocate at Diagrid

Diagrid turned to Instruqt to create hands-on, browser-based learning tracks that allowed developers to experience Dapr quickly, safely, and without installation headaches.

Through Instruqt, Diagrid was able to:

• Launch a Dapr 101 learning track: Developers can now experience Dapr inside a virtual machine environment without needing to install anything locally.

• Capture contact information seamlessly: Users provide their name and email before starting a track, allowing Diagrid to sync qualified leads into Hubspot for nurturing.

• Enable low-barrier hands-on exploration: Developers interact with Dapr in a real-world environment immediately, reinforcing the value proposition through action, not just words.

• Simplify internal content creation: Instruqt’s easy-to-use platform enabled Marc’s team to build, launch, and update tracks without engineering support.

• Measure developer engagement and grow audience insights: By tracking participation and completion rates, Diagrid now has a clear window into their engaged user base.

Results

In just three months of using Instruqt, Diagrid achieved measurable success:

• 500+ new unique users in three months: Diagrid captured hundreds of developer leads — users who engaged with the Dapr learning tracks and opted to share their information.

• 13 minutes average time spent in the Dapr 101 learning track: Developers quickly learned to use Dapr without installation friction, reducing time-to-value and boosting community adoption.

• 4.68 out of 5 happiness score: By offering a simple, interactive learning path, Diagrid made it easier for developers to adopt and advocate for Dapr.

• Improved marketing visibility: Integration with Hubspot enabled better lead tracking, nurturing, and segmentation based on real product engagement.

• Validated internal buy-in: The clear ROI — in terms of new contacts and lower content creation overhead — made it easy to justify further investment in Instruqt.

Outlook 

Building on early success, Diagrid plans to expand its use of Instruqt by creating additional learning tracks to deepen engagement across more advanced Dapr topics. Long-term, they see hands-on learning as a core driver of open-source growth, commercial tool adoption, and stronger developer community loyalty.

Check out Dapr University here.