APIs.Hardware.And the frontier tech that powers them.
I'm Kristopher. For more than a decade I've worked across every layer of the stack, from developer APIs to industrial hardware to the AI built on top of both, as a writer, engineer, marketer, event producer and team lead.
Ask anything about my experience.
It answers only from my career record, so you can skip the small talk and get straight to what you want to know.
AI answers can be wrong. For anything important, email kristopherleads@gmail.com.
Engineer's brain. Marketer's job. Community at heart.
Today I lead product marketing at FlowFuse, the industrial application platform built on open-source Node-RED, where I market to everyone from the engineer on the factory floor to the committee that signs off on the rollout. I've also been writing for API developers at Nordic APIs since 2015.
I lead from the trenches: I won't ask anyone to do something I haven't done or tried myself, and I love experimenting and failing fast. Outside work I'm often in Japan, I record music (I'm classically trained across 50+ instruments, from guitar and saxophone to violin and drums), I build a lot of LEGO, and I'm a passionate advocate for mental health accessibility.
Six functions. One career.
Every number here comes from work I did, with the teams I did it for.
Marketing
01Positioning, packaging and campaigns that move revenue.
- Lead all product marketing at FlowFuse. Repackaged one platform into three priced products for the 3.0 relaunch.
- Built a three-layer buyer persona framework covering users, champions and the enterprise buying committee.
- Directed worldwide marketing for Sky: Children of the Light at thatgamecompany, across multi-region acquisition and retention.
- Ran a B2C marketing portfolio at Amazon with Warner Bros., Apple, Disney and Sony, and built a $145M+ media partnership portfolio from the ground up.
Sales
02Enablement and tools that help sellers close.
- Rebuilt FlowFuse's battlecards, pitch decks, competitive pages and seller training around our AI agent as the core differentiator.
- Built an ROI calculator prospects use to quantify their own savings.
- Scaled monthly DevRel-attributed ARR from $25K to $158K+, and drove $575K+ in new business through developer relations.
- HubSpot Sales Enablement certified.
Engineering
03I ship code and hardware demos, not just copy about them.
- Engineered Pepper in JavaScript, Python, C++ and Go, unifying docs, reporting, partner data and tooling.
- Created AI nodes connecting Node-RED to Claude, GPT and Ollama, and wrote the factory simulation behind FlowFuse's trade show demos.
- Work hands-on with industrial protocols and hardware: MQTT, OPC-UA, Sparkplug B, QuestDB and Opto22 controllers.
- At Fandom, rewrote legacy Java, Scala and Kotlin services, architected the FanDNA data lake and built a Python compliance system for COPPA, CPPA and GDPR.
Events
04From trade show booths to four-country hybrid festivals.
- Built and ran the on-stage demo for ProveIt 2026, and represented FlowFuse at Hannover Messe and the Nordic APIs Platform Summit.
- Led a large cross-functional team to produce SkyFest for thatgamecompany.
- Led the post-pandemic revival of LeakyCon and BroadwayCon, with partnerships covered by The New York Times, Variety, People and CBS.
- Ran client activations at GenAI Week and GDC through DeveloperFirst.io.
Leadership
05Teams of 20 to 170, across functions and time zones.
- Built and directed a Fandom team spanning technical evangelism, product marketing and platform enablement.
- Founded and scaled Fandom's Anime/Asian Media vertical with partners including Nintendo, Viz Media and Shueisha.
- Founded DeveloperFirst.io, a DevRel consultancy serving WSO2, PuppyGraph, StackHawk, SingleStore, Moesif and Snyk.
- MBA, with experience owning budgets and running international launches.
Community
06Turning developers into fans, and fans into evangelists.
- Helped build one of the API industry's best-known practitioner communities at Nordic APIs since 2015.
- Grew FlowFuse's YouTube channel from under 1,000 lifetime views to 11.7M+ as sole creator, and hosted its monthly webinars.
- Co-developed the Twitch Rivals eSports brand, which generated $18M+ in ARR.
What the people I've worked with say.
Pulled from my LinkedIn recommendations, from product, design, sales, editorial and the teams I've managed.
"He built the on-stage demo for ProveIt 2026 and the demos for Hannover Messe, running them on a factory simulation he wrote himself. He also created AI nodes that connect Node-RED to Claude, GPT and Ollama, and his ideas there helped shape our AI product."
He has a great ability to connect technical knowledge with clear, engaging communication, whether he's creating content, presenting to an audience, or talking directly with users.
Very charismatic, extremely intelligent, and hardworking. I really enjoy working with him.
He has been our most prolific writer. He can take on complex topics with little guidance.
He always stayed calm under pressure, made quick and effective decisions, and ensured every aspect of the event ran smoothly.
Kristopher was always up for a new challenge. He was respectful and honest when he didn't agree with something.
As a manager, Kristopher is an excellent team leader and mentor who cared for all members of his team.
…making daunting and challenging work seem achievable and within grasp. Kristopher is as friendly as they are resourceful.
He's able to effectively organize a group of people in high-pressure environments while still remaining approachable.
There is no better colleague than Kristopher. He is one of the most dedicated professionals I've worked with.
Global, credentialed, and in it for people.
Nine countries, three continents
From Hannover Messe to SkyFest in Asia, I've run work on the ground across Europe, Asia and North America.
Based in San Francisco. Often in Japan, and always happy to meet in person.
Technical and commercial
MBA and B.S. in Information Technology, with an M.S. in Marketing (Digital Marketing) in progress.
Public sector and nonprofit
- US Air Force · 2009–2011Deployment readiness: family care, child support and education, and mental health support for deployed members. Held a Secret clearance.
- US Army Corps of Engineers · 2008–2009Contractor on fire clearance and maintenance.
- Japanese Red Cross Society · since 2011Donor and member; advocated for the JRCS in the US after the Tōhoku earthquake.
- The Hope Gain Center · since 2022Advisor on fundraising, grant writing and organizational development.
- Catchafire · since 2021Advising nonprofits on software, product lifecycle and business development.
72 tools I've built with. Not just written about.
Languages, frameworks, protocols and AI tooling from my own projects and production work.
Open-source package giving Node-RED flows one interchangeable interface to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini and Ollama.
Agentic DevRel platform unifying docs, reports, external APIs and partner data, with Asana, GitHub and Ahrefs integrations.
Prompt engineering frameworks and AI guardrails behind FlowFuse Expert's internal knowledge base.
Research-backed value model on the pricing page so prospects can quantify their own savings.
Led the full rebuild of FlowFuse's open-source website, migrating from Nunjucks to Nuxt.
Listen, build, launch.
Listen
Start with the people: customers, users, sellers and engineers. Customer interviews, usage data and seller feedback are what turned one FlowFuse platform into three priced products.
Build
Get hands-on. What engineers love isn't always what's marketable, so I build the story, the demos and the tools myself, then turn them into positioning, battlecards and training.
Launch and learn
Ship it, measure it, and tie results back to pipeline. Experiment, fail fast, and bring what we learn straight back to the product.
Let's stay in touch.
Whether you're building something, hiring, or just want to talk APIs, industrial AI or music, I'd love to hear from you.