Prioritizing Gatsby Cloud's 2022 Roadmap: Customer Needs, Technical Focus, and Growth

Context

In early 2022, GatsbyJS gave me a paid take-home exercise during the interview process. They asked me to prioritize eight possible features for Gatsby Cloud against their public roadmap and KPIs.

The Challenge

Gatsby's commercial goal for 2022 was to 3X ARR and 2X the number of paid sites. The feature list ranged from a WordPress starter to an On-Premise GitHub integration. My job was to cut through the noise and recommend where to focus.

How I Approached It

• Pulled directly from Gatsby's roadmap themes and KPIs
• Measured features against relative effort vs. likely impact
• Connected each decision to ARR growth, retention, or adoption
• Outlined success metrics so impact could be tracked after launch

Prioritization

1. On-Premise GitHub - unblock large enterprise deals already waiting.
2. Public API - top customer request, unlocks developer productivity and scale.
3. Web Performance Budgets - strengthen Gatsby's performance story.
4. Limit Free Tier to Personal Git Repos - wedge to push orgs toward paid.
5. Prebuilt Site on Account Creation - helps non-technical users but less ARR impact.
6. WordPress Starter - useful but not urgent.
7. Agency Plan Creator & Directory - low impact on revenue in the short term.

Key Insight

Instead of spreading the team across eight features, I recommended two focus tracks: On-Premise GitHub and a Public API. These directly supported Gatsby's biggest revenue goals.

Impact

• Gatsby appreciated the clarity and focus.
• I was hired as a Product Manager for Growth & Onboarding.
• I still use the same approach today: connect features to company outcomes, make tradeoffs explicit, and define success measures up front.