Heroku’s Resurgence with Adam Zimman
Corey Quinn welcomes Adam Zimman back to Screaming in the Cloud for a sponsored episode featuring Heroku by Salesforce. As Head of Product Marketing, Adam discusses after years of stagnation following its Salesforce acquisition. Recent investments and a dedicated team signal a renewed focus on developer experience. The duo explores Heroku's impact on modern app development, its role in popularizing the 12-Factor App model, and the decision to retire its free tier. Adam highlights key updates, including Kubernetes replatforming, .NET support, and AI tools for managed inference and agents. He also teases his upcoming book, Progressive Delivery, set for release next year. Show Highlights (0:00) Intro (1:01) Heroku sponsor read (1:39) How Heroku became resurgent (5:46) Heroku’s legacy (9:53) Adam’s thoughts on people’s response to the free tier going away (10:55) Heroku’s target customer(s) (13:51) Heroku sponsor read (14:19) How Heroku saves organizations money and developed over time (20:08) Heroku’s re:Invent announcements (24:53) How modern-day developers have reacted to Heroku’s resurgence (27:47) Where people can learn more about Heroku About Adam Zimman Adam Zimman is Technologist and Author currently serving as the Head of Product Marketing at Heroku by SalesForce. Previously, he was a Venture Capital Advisor providing guidance on leadership, platform architecture, product marketing, and GTM strategy. He has over 20 years of experience working in a variety of roles from software engineering to technical sales. He has worked in both enterprise and consumer companies such as VMware, EMC, GitHub, and LaunchDarkly. Adam is driven by a passion for inclusive leadership and solving problems with technology. He is a co-author of Progressive Delivery: Build the right thing, for the right people, at the right time. His perspective has been shaped by a degree (AB) from Bowdoin College with a dual-focus in Physics and Visual Art, an ongoing adventure as a husband and father, and a childhood career as a fire juggler. Links Heroku’s website: https://www.heroku.com/ Adam’s Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/azimman.bsky.social Adam’s Mastodon: https://hachyderm.io/@az Adam’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamzimman/ Personal site: https://progressivedelivery.com/ Sponsor Heroku: http://heroku.com/