140: Jared DeLuca: Appcues’ Director of Ops on integrating demo bookings within your product and using AI to uncover incremental lifts from drip campaigns

Humans of Martech

What’s up everyone, today we have the pleasure of sitting down with Jared DeLuca, Director of Operations at Appcues.

Summary: Jared takes us inside the mad but amazing world of martech at Appcues – the top product adoption SaaS on the planet. We cover his transition from demand gen to ops, how he’s integrated demo bookings within the product using RevenueHero, the difference between ops and revops. We also cover a ton of ground on AI topics for marketers like machine learning lifecycle management, how to QA AI-driven messages and how to leverage AI to uncover incremental lifts in your campaigns.

About Jared

• Jared started his career with a few internships in PR before joining a Market Research firm
• That firm was later acquired by a UK based marketing data and analytics company where he worked his way up to Marketing Manager
• He then had a brief detour from SaaS at Keurig Dr Pepper in IoT Marketing Automation and Connected Panel Ops
• Finally Jared landed at Appcues, first in Demand Gen then Senior Martech and Ops Manager
• Today Jared is Director of Operations at Appcues

Moving from Demand Gen to Front-End Development

Jared’s shift from demand generation to front-end development was a mix of opportunity and curiosity. When his team’s operations lead left, he stepped in naturally. As the demand gen guy who relied heavily on those systems, Jared was the most logical choice. It wasn’t a calculated career move—it was about filling a gap. That’s how things go in startups, where you often find yourself doing a bit of everything.

His transition into front-end development had a different spark. Budgets were tight, and they didn’t have the luxury of hiring contractors. With years of HTML and CSS experience under his belt from working on emails and landing pages, Jared figured he could handle some of the coding work. AppCue supported the idea, allowing him to stretch into JavaScript. For small teams, having someone in-house with a broad skill set is invaluable, and Jared was more than willing to step up.

What made this shift special was Jared’s personal interest in coding. He enjoyed it. Coding wasn’t just a job; it was something fun to experiment with. One evening, while watching TV, he built a lead-gen magnet prototype in just an hour. It was born from a simple idea pitched by the content team, but Jared’s ability to quickly turn that into a working model showed the kind of spontaneous creativity that startups thrive on. The prototype may soon go live on their website.

Jared’s experience highlights the unpredictable nature of roles in smaller companies. You often find yourself taking on responsibilities you never planned for, and those unexpected opportunities can lead to new skills and career growth. For him, it wasn’t about following a clear path—it was about being adaptable and ready to learn.

Key takeaway: In a startup, being adaptable and willing to learn new skills can lead to unexpected career opportunities. It's less about having a perfect plan and more about being open to filling gaps when they appear.

How AI Tools Are Shaping HTML and CSS Learning

When asked if tools like ChatGPT make learning HTML and CSS easier today, Jared didn’t hesitate to agree. He pointed out how much simpler it is for anyone looking to pick up coding now compared to when he started. Back then, you had to figure things out manually, while now, AI tools can assist with the heavy lifting. However, there’s a caveat—knowing what to ask for is still crucial.

Jared challenged the idea that AI is replacing developers. Instead, he emphasized that understanding the underlying structure of HTML and CSS is still key. Tools like ChatGPT can help speed up the process, but without knowledge of where to apply that code, the benefits are limited. AI can’t tell you how to structure a website; it can only help fill in the blanks once you know what you need.

He highlighted that while AI can handle repetitive keystrokes, the real value comes when you already know what you're aiming for. It’s not about AI replacing junior developers—it’s about leveraging these tools to work more efficiently. If someone understands the basics of coding and web structure, AI can cut down the time it takes to implement those tasks significantly.

For Jared, the most significant takeaway is how much time he saves. What used to take him hours can now be done in minutes with AI. The difference is in the efficiency, not the replacement of skill. If you know what you're doing, ChatGPT and similar tools become an incredible resource for improving speed and output, but they don’t replace the need for foundational knowledge.

Key takeaway: AI tools can dramatically speed up coding tasks, but the real advantage comes when you already understand the basics of HTML and CSS. It’s not about replacing developers, but about working smarter with the right knowledge and tools.

Why Developers Avoid Marketing in Software Startups

When asked why developers often seem disinterested in marketing, Jared’s perspective was insightful. In his experience, particularly in software startups, it’s not that developers are “allergic” to marketing; they simply don’t think about it. Their focus is on building and coding—creating the product itself. Marketing, and the role it plays in attracting users, often doesn’t even cross their mind.

Jared pointed out that many developers operate with a clear mindset: give them the requirements, and they’ll build exactly what you need. They’re more concerned with functionality than how the product will reach customers. This differs from product teams, who tend to think more about market fit and bridging the gap between building something and getting it to the user.

However, Jared has worked with engineers who do think more broadly. In some cases, especially in smaller teams, developers will ask key questions about the user experience and how people will engage with the product. But this tends to fade as companies scale. Jared mentioned his time at Keurig, where engineers were more specialized—focused on delivering exactly what was requested, with little thought to the next steps.

In Jared’s view, it’s less about a lack of interest in marketing and more about developers not having the bandwidth or inclination to focus beyond the task at hand. Their job is to build, and for many, thinking about the next phase—how the product reaches customers—isn’t a priority.

Key takeaway: Developers in startups aren’t necessarily disinterested in marketing; they’re simply focused on building. For those seeking to bridge the gap between engineering and marketing, fostering collaboration and highlighting the user journey can encourage developers to think beyond their immediate tasks.

How Responsive Support Transforms Marketing Ops

Jared emphasized how crucial responsive support is in marketing ops. When discussing his shift to Revenue Hero, he highlighted the frustration many teams face when relying on traditional support teams. He described how long it can take to get a response—sometimes 24 to 48 hours—and how those responses are often unhelpful, requiring even more back-and-forth communication.

What made Revenue Hero stand out to Jared was its approach to customer support. The team integrated seamlessly into his company’s Slack workspace, offering real-time access to their expertise. This level of support was a game changer. For Jared, it wasn’t just about the product performing well (which it did), but about the reassurance of knowing that if something went wrong, help was just a Slack message away.

One example Jared shared was when a demo request system broke—a critical part of ...