The challenge
Developers needed a clearer route from a first Teams app to useful experiences across Microsoft 365. Tooling friction and a changing platform story made that journey harder.
The decisions
- Use developer feedback to help engineering prioritize improvements to the tools.
- Make getting started simpler through better tooling, examples, and guidance.
- Demonstrate a working AI plugin live, then give interested developers a way to try it.
My contribution
I owned worldwide marketing for the Teams developer platform and helped shape the first AI-plugin launch programs. I worked with engineering on developer tools, led the technical live demo for the 2023 Build keynote, and helped open early access to interested organizations.
The outcome
Monthly active developers using Teams Toolkit grew ~40%. Apps with sustained development activity rose from 1.2K to 1.75K per month. These were shared outcomes across product and marketing. Early access attracted interest from approximately 1,000 customer organizations.
