About the Role
- sparQ is building the WordPress of business software - a free, self-hostable operations platform for small businesses that replaces Slack, QuickBooks, Jobber, and a dozen other SaaS tools with one system. We're pre-launch, our product is ready, and now we need to build the audience that will drive it.
- This is a rare opportunity for a sharp, creative, self-driven marketer to own the entire content presence of a product from day one. You won't be managing a content calendar that someone else built. You'll be building it. You'll be writing, producing, publishing, and iterating - and working directly with the founder and dev team.
- We produce technical content for developers and self-hosters, and practical content for small business owners. You'll do both - with AI tools as your force multiplier.
What You'll Do
Writing & Publishing (your core output)
- Publish 3 blog posts per week - a mix of SEO-driven how-tos, opinion pieces, product updates, and thought leadership targeted at SMB owners and self-hosters
- Help publish technical architecture posts and developer guides in collaboration with the dev team (they'll give you the knowledge, you give it narrative shape)
- Produce comparison pages, landing page copy, product release notes, and newsletter content
- Maintain a consistent voice across all written properties: sparqone.com, developer.sparqone.com, help.sparqone.com
Video & Animation
- Produce short-form explainer and tutorial videos using AI tools (Synthesia, HeyGen, Kling, or similar) for YouTube and social
- Create product walkthroughs, feature highlights, and "how sparQ replaced X" style videos
- Build a YouTube channel presence from scratch - thumbnails, titles, descriptions, channel optimization
Community & Distribution
- Drive organic growth via Reddit (r/selfhosted, r/smallbusiness, r/HVAC, r/Python), Hacker News, Product Hunt, and niche forums
- Help manage the sparQ community forum (Flarum at community.sparqone.com) - seeding discussions, responding to users, surfacing feedback
- Support beta tester outreach for the Ignition program - writing DMs, forum posts, and cold emails
Analytics & Iteration
- Track content performance in Google Analytics 4 across all sparqone.com subdomains
- Use data to figure out what's working and write more of it; kill what isn't
- Report weekly to the founder: what published, what performed, what's next
What We're Looking For
Hard Requirements
- Strong writer - clear, opinionated, and able to calibrate between "talk to a plumber" and "talk to a Python developer"
- Comfortable using AI tools productively (not just aware of them - actively using them in your workflow)
- Can read and understand technical documentation well enough to explain it to a non-technical audience
- Self-directed - this role has high autonomy and requires someone who creates their own structure
Strong Signals (nice to have)
- Personal blog, newsletter, YouTube channel, or other content property you've built
- Experience with video production or AI video generation tools
- Familiarity with developer communities (GitHub, HN, r/selfhosted, Product Hunt)
- Experience with SEO - keyword research, on-page optimization, link building basics
- Background in or genuine interest in small business / field service / trades industries
- Degree in marketing, communications, journalism, or computer science - or no degree at all with great work to show
Role Details
Tools & Environment
We use AI extensively. You should too. Expected stack for this role:
Writing -Claude, ChatGPT, Notion or similar for drafting and editing
Video / Animation - HeyGen, Synthesia, Kling AI, CapCut, or equivalent
SEO - Ahrefs or Semrush (we'll provide access)
Analytics - Google Analytics 4 across sparqone.com subdomains
Design - Canva, Figma basics, or whatever you use
Community - Discourse forum, Reddit, Hacker News, Product Hunt
What Success Looks Like
30 Days
- You know the product well enough to demo it to a stranger
- First 12 blog posts published across 3 content pillars you defined
- YouTube channel created and first 2 videos published
- Actively posting in 5+ relevant communities
90 Days
- Content machine running at 3 posts/week without prompting
- 10+ YouTube videos live with growing watch time
- At least one piece of content driving meaningful inbound traffic or signups
- Ignition beta program has 50+ engaged testers partly from your outreach
6 Months
- sparQ has a recognizable voice and growing audience in self-hosted and SMB communities
- SEO footprint established - ranking for at least 20 target keywords
- YouTube channel at 500+ subscribers with consistent upload cadence
- Content directly attributable to trial signups and managed hosting conversions
How to Apply
A short intro (3–5 sentences) about why this role and why now
Links to writing samples, a portfolio, a YouTube channel, a blog - anything you've produced
One piece of content you'd pitch for sparQ's first week - just a title and 2-sentence angle is enough
We do look at every link you send.