Marcus Storm-Mollard is Building Clarm to Help Teams Turn GitHub Repos into Sustainable Businesses
“The world needs more founders. If you look around there are so many problems that we can solve. We need to support the people who are trying to tackle those problems in our lives.” - Marcus Storm-Mollard, CEO and founder of Clarm
With AI, The accelerated rate of development in recent years has led to an explosion of software repositories on GitHub. But most founders face a brutal paradox: they need to build community and generate awareness to grow, yet they barely have time to write the code that makes their product valuable. Marketing, SEO, blog posts, and community engagement all get dropped because there are only so many hours in a day - and building the actual product has to come first.
According to Stack Overflow's 2024 Developer Survey, 75% of developers find themselves answering the same questions repeatedly once they do gain traction. Early-stage founders can't afford to spend hours on marketing and content creation, while successful founders drown in support questions. Either way, there's no systematic process to identify which community members actually represent revenue opportunities.
Marcus Storm-Mollard recognized that software founders needed to automate everything except building the product itself - marketing, content, support, and lead identification - so they could focus their limited time on git commits and product improvements. So he set out to build Clarm.
Introducing Clarm: The Complete Growth Engine for Software Products
Clarm is an AI-powered growth platform that turns GitHub repositories into sustainable businesses. The platform operates across Discord, Slack, GitHub Issues, and website chat - providing instant technical support, identifying enterprise buyers, and generating SEO content automatically. By automating support, lead qualification, and content marketing, Clarm helps software founders convert their GitHub communities into revenue while keeping their products free for the broader developer community. Whether you're building an open source library, an open-core product, or a private developer tool, Clarm provides the complete sales and marketing stack you need to turn your git commits into paying customers.
Software founders face an impossible workload: they need to generate SEO content to drive discovery, engage their community to build momentum, provide instant support to keep developers happy, and identify which users are enterprise buyers - all while actually building and shipping features. Most founders simply drop the first three and hope for the best. Clarm automates all of it.
Clarm trains on a company's codebase, documentation, and community history to provide accurate technical answers in seconds across all channels simultaneously. The platform tracks user behavior from initial GitHub star through Discord discussions to website visits, enriching each user with company data, tech stack information, and buying signals to identify which developers are building production systems versus hobby projects.
Bereket Engida, CEO of Better Auth, describes that "using Clarm increased the activity on our Discord by 10x, freeing up hours of my own time each day and supercharging my company." Response times drop from hours to seconds, with one developer "pair programming" with Clarm for 22 hours straight, sending over 80 messages - a level of engagement impossible with human-only support.
Marcus’ Journey to Clarm
Growing up in Scotland, Marcus dreamed of becoming an inventor. He studied physics at Imperial College London, and took every course on computational physics he could get because the speed of building something on a machine was the fastest. This led him to a new course at the time, computational neuroscience, which was just around when transformers were invented.
After spending the first years of his career leading AI and data products at large banking and professional services organizations, Marcus’s world changed when he saw the rise of ChatGPT in the early 2020s. He recognized that the power of AI was making it easier than ever to build something new, and dreams of becoming an inventor could become the reality of founding a company.
Having experienced the pains of learning new developer tools himself, Marcus initially developed a documentation search engine that made it easier for users to get answers to repetitive setup questions. When friends began using it for their own libraries, Marcus realized that coding copilots in communities were just the beginning. There was an opportunity to develop a broader solution for the critical gap between building great software and building a sustainable business around it.
Just six months later, Clarm is already being leveraged in dozens of community platforms, with existing customers promoting Clarm across their networks. The platform has helped top open-source companies Better Auth grow from 8,000 to 22,000 GitHub stars in three months, while c/ua closed their first enterprise customers through leads identified by Clarm's enrichment system. Closed-source software companies like the code review platform cubic.dev also benefit by using the developer-focused lead enrichment API. In the long run, Marcus aims to help every software product on GitHub build a sustainable business, ensuring that developers who solve real problems can keep building solutions that benefit everyone.
Marcus’s Advice for Fellow Founders
A turning point in Marcus’s founder journey came when he moved from the United Kingdom to Silicon Valley to begin his YC batch. “Going to Silicon Valley changed my life as a founder. It’s like the F1 of the world. People are going so fast and thinking so much bigger; there's so much to learn."
For founders, surrounding yourself with people who are operating at the highest level is critical. “You're very influenced by the people you spend your time with. Who you share an office with, for example, is really important. If they're doing 100 cold calls a day, you’ll believe you can do that as well. It does something to your brain."
If you’re unable to move to a major tech hub, like San Francisco, he advises that you connect with local founders in your city and develop a community yourself. “If you can’t make it to San Francisco physically, you can still go quite a long way,” Marcus explains. “The key is to spot the right people, surround yourself with them, and energize each other. Then you can get to some level of Silicon Valley in the place that you are.”
To learn more about Marcus’s journey, you can follow him on LinkedIn and X. His learnings and tips on starting and growing your own software business are freely available on Clarm’s blog.
Frequently Asked Questions About Clarm
What types of companies use Clarm?
Clarm works with any software product that has a GitHub repository and developer community - from open source libraries to open-core companies to private SaaS products. Current customers range from early-stage projects to established tools with 30,000+ GitHub stars.
How does Clarm help convert community into revenue?
Clarm tracks user behavior across GitHub, Discord, Slack, and your website, enriching each user with company data, role information, and tech stack details. The platform identifies buying signals - like questions about production deployment or enterprise features - and highlights which community members work at companies ready to pay for solutions.
How is Clarm different from hiring a DevRel, sales, or marketing person?
A hire in San Francisco costs $150,000+ annually, works 40 hours per week, and generally focuses on one area of the growth stack only. Clarm works 24/7, never takes vacation, and handles the complete growth stack - support, lead identification, content generation, and analytics - making it possible for even solo founders to run sophisticated growth operations.
Is Clarm only for open source projects?
No. While Clarm initially focused on open source (they face the most intense community challenges), the platform works for any developer tool with a GitHub presence - whether fully open source, open-core, or proprietary SaaS.
How does Clarm work with Every?
Clarm has used Every since incorporating (incorporation is one feature that Every.io provides in their offer), and uses Every to run payroll, treasury, accounting, and EoR. Every takes away all of these potential headaches and time sinks for founders, much like Clarm does on the software side!
Up to 3,500 bonus and 3% cash-back on all card spend [3], 6 months off payroll, and 50% off bookkeeping for 6 months, free R&D credit.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I sign up for Every?
You can get started right away—just click “Get Started” and follow a short onboarding flow. Prefer a little help? One of our specialists can walk you through incorporation, banking, payroll, accounting, or whatever you need.
- What features does Every offer?
Every gives startups a complete back office in one platform. From incorporation and banking to payroll, bookkeeping, and tax filings, we take care of the operational heavy lifting—so you can spend more time building, less time managing.
- How is Every different from other tools?
Most competitors give you software. Every gives you a full-stack finance and HR team—plus smart financial tools that actually benefit founders. Earn up to 4.3% interest on idle cash and get cash back on every purchase made with your Every debit cards, routed straight back to you.
Every is not a bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. Your deposits qualify for up to $3,000,000 in FDIC insurance coverage when Thread Bank places them at program banks in its deposit sweep program. Pass-through insurance coverage is subject to conditions. The Every Visa Business Debit Card is issued by Thread Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used anywhere Visa cards are accepted.
- Is my data secure with Every?
We use end-to-end encryption, SOC 2-compliant infrastructure, and rigorous access controls to ensure your data is safe. Security isn’t a feature—it’s foundational.
Can I switch to Every if my company is already set up?Yes—you can switch to Every at any time, even if your company is already incorporated and running. Whether you're using separate tools for banking, payroll, bookkeeping, or taxes, we’ll help you bring everything into one place. Our onboarding specialists will guide you through the process, make sure your data is transferred cleanly, and get you set up quickly—without disrupting your operations. Most founders are fully transitioned within a week.
- What stage of startup is Every best for?
Every is designed for startups from day zero through Series A and beyond. Whether you're just incorporating or already running payroll and managing expenses, we meet you where you are. Early-stage founders use Every to get up and running fast—with banking, payroll, bookkeeping, and taxes all handled from day one. Growing teams love how Every scales with them, replacing patchwork tools and manual work with a clean, unified system.
We’re especially valuable for teams who want to move fast without hiring a full finance or HR team—giving founders more time to build, and fewer distractions from admin and compliance
- How long does onboarding take?
Onboarding with Every is fast and efficient. For most startups, the process typically takes between 3 to 7 days, depending on your specific needs and how much setup you already have in place.
If you're a new company, you'll be up and running quickly—getting your banking, payroll, and bookkeeping set up without hassle. If you’re transitioning from another system, our specialists will help you migrate your data, ensuring a smooth switch with no gaps or errors in your operations.
We guide you every step of the way, from incorporation to setting up automated payroll to handling your taxes—so you can focus on growing your business. Our goal is to make sure you're fully operational and confident in your back office in under a week.
Practical Questions to Ask to Ensure Your Bank is Well Managed
How much liquidity does the bank have on hand to cover unexpected withdrawals or shortfalls?
What percentage of the bank's deposits are invested in longer-term securities and loans, and what percentage is kept as cash reserves?
How does the bank diversify its investment portfolio to minimize potential losses and reduce risks?
