Welcome to Code Campfire! The Atlassian Ecosystem Marketing team is launching a new content series: Code Campfire. We’re interviewing developers who build Atlassian apps to find out what makes them tick and how they got where they are today. Think of it like meeting a new friend and hearing about their story — only on the developer blog instead of over a coffee.
When Nar Kumar Chhantyal was a business student at Pune University, he never expected that in 10 years he would be selling some of the most popular Forge apps on the Atlassian Marketplace. Back then, Nar wanted to help people traveling to Nepal with an informative travel website. So he started building it using a CMS, but in the end, the app didn't work out. However, this fueled Nar's passion for software development.
Discovering Atlassian Products
Soon after graduation, Nar started working full-time as a programmer on complex back-end projects. After working at a few companies, Nar realized that even though it was a great experience, the teamwork itself was not so well organized. So, in the next company he applied to, he made sure that there were proper processes and that things were well organized. Needless to say, the new workplace was more productive, partially thanks to Jira and Confluence.
This is also the time when Nar realized that there were some functions missing in Confluence, specifically the code highlighting feature. One day, he was scrolling through Reddit where he learned that he could build apps to improve the functionality of Confluence. This sparked a fuse, and in his free time, he started building an app to improve the code highlighting feature, so it is more flexible than the default code, which includes supporting multiple languages and custom themes.
The app was not a great success on the first release, though it was a big learning opportunity for him. It turns out many Confluence users were also looking for a solution to such problems, so even though the app was not polished and featured completely, he got to know his customers and understand their pain points. Additionally, he learned how to navigate the Atlassian Marketplace and publish apps, something that would prove invaluable to him in the future.
Turning a Side Hustle into a Business
This early experience fueled the development of more apps as Nar learned his way around the Marketplace. Today, he has 12 different apps, including one of the most popular Forge apps on the Marketplace, Issue Templates for Jira. With over 2,200 downloads, this app has helped many Atlassian customers use templates to streamline ticket creation in Jira.
Nar and his team are increasingly adopting Forge apps. Forge's Atlassian-maintained hosting environment results in less work for Nar and his team, which has allowed them to focus their efforts on improving their apps.
Nar isn't stopping here, though. Now, publishing apps on the Marketplace is his livelihood. As of last year, the Marketplace has turned into his full-time job, which is now supporting him and his two colleagues. This wouldn't have been possible without the Marketplace as it provided Nar with a platform, which makes it easier for entrepreneurs to publish and sell their products efficiently, even without sales and marketing experience.
"It's perfect for beginners like me."
Words of Guidance
Throughout his journey in the developer community, Nar has learned a lot about managing a business and promoting it. He offered a key piece of advice to new developers: "Spend money on marketing." While the distribution power of the Marketplace is a good starting point, it’s difficult to reach your full growth potential without investing in reaching the right customers. Nar expressed his gratitude to the Marketplace platform at the end of the interview and mentioned that without the Marketplace he wouldn't be where he is today. Thank you to Nar for sharing his story about the origin of Narva Software. You can learn more about his company on the Atlassian Marketplace.