How Koala writes documentation for their sales funnel

At Koala, documentation goes beyond just technical specs — it’s a key tool in helping their sales and go-to-market teams close deals. As a company that empowers sales teams to target the right opportunities, Koala has found that their developer documentation is not just a resource for users but also an indicator of serious customer interest.

We caught up with Koala’s co-founder, Tido Carriero, to dive into how the team approaches documentation and how GitBook helps them turn it into a powerful go-to-market tool.

Documentation as a Sales Tool

At Koala, the engineering team owns the creation of documentation, but what makes the company unique is how their go-to-market (GTM) team uses insights from their docs to engage with prospects.

“Documentation at Koala is owned by engineering, but the GTM team leverages the insights coming from our docs,” explains Tido. “Koala at its core is a GTM tool; helping sales teams pinpoint the right opportunities to go after. What we discovered is that documentation is an extremely valuable source of intent. When a prospect is diving deep into your tech docs, it’s a strong indicator of serious interest.”

Koala uses its own platform to track and analyze how prospects engage with their documentation, enabling their sales team to make timely, informed outreach. By monitoring which pages prospects are visiting and which actions they’re taking, Koala’s sales team can zero in on leads when they’re most engaged.

Keeping Documentation Up-to-Date

To ensure their documentation remains valuable, Koala focuses on responding quickly to customer needs.

“We make a strong effort to update what’s missing,” Tido says. “If we see a particular theme coming up with our users, we sprint to get that doc up.”

This proactive approach ensures that their documentation not only serves existing customers but also helps attract new ones by answering common questions early in the buying process.

The Power of Visuals in Documentation

When it comes to technical documentation, visuals are crucial. Whether it’s a diagram showing system architecture or a visual demonstration of a concept, Tido believes visuals make it easier for users to understand how a product fits into their own context.

“We’re big believers in the show vs. tell concept,” he says. “How can we show you how something works instead of just describing it? Interactive tours are a fantastic way to do this for different use cases and functionality.”

Koala uses tools like Arcade and Navattic to create interactive demos that allow users to experience product features first-hand. These demos, combined with detailed documentation, provide prospects with a complete picture of how the product works — all while Koala tracks engagement to identify potential leads.

The Foundations of Great Documentation

So what makes for great documentation? For Koala, it comes down to simplicity, alignment with the ideal customer profile (ICP), and ease of navigation.

“Great documentation provides a comprehensive technical perspective on how to get things set up. It’s written in a tone that aligns with the ICP that you’re selling into, and it’s simple and easy to navigate,” Tido explains.

Koala’s docs are designed to speak directly to the technical needs of their users, providing clarity while staying approachable.

Insights: The Secret Weapon for Sales Teams

One of the standout aspects of Koala’s documentation strategy is how they use it as a sales tool. By tracking how prospects interact with their docs, the team gains valuable insights into which leads are most engaged and where they might be getting stuck.

Resourcely has experienced the value of these insights firsthand. “We were able to leverage the Koala <> GitBook integration to track identified accounts, identified people, and anonymous visitors on our documentation page,” explains Ryan Cartwright from Resourcely. “I have an Intent Signal for anyone that views our documentation for more than 30 seconds and leverage the Slack notifications feature for real-time alerts. We also use the Spaces feature to test different GTM experiments to uncover high intent signals.”

With Koala, teams like Resourcely can uncover which specific docs people are spending time on and identify where prospects might need support. For example, if a prospect spends significant time on API documentation, a technical team member can proactively reach out to offer help. These small, timely interactions can move deals forward just when interest is peaking.

Treat Docs Like a Product

At Koala, documentation isn’t static — it’s treated like a living product that evolves based on customer and prospect feedback.

“Treat your docs like a product,” Tido advises. “Continually evolve them based on what you’re hearing is missing or needs more depth from customers and prospects.”

This philosophy has helped Koala ensure their documentation remains relevant and up-to-date, making it more valuable for both users and the sales team.

A User-Centric Welcome Page

The first page of any documentation site is critical, as it sets the tone for the user’s journey. For Koala, the welcome page needs to be polished, easy to navigate, and valuable to users at the early stages of their exploration.

“Step into your user’s shoes — what’s going to be valuable at this part of the journey? Make it easy to navigate the other sections in a logical order and make it look polished to maximize engagement,” says Tido.

Balancing Marketing and Technical Content

When it comes to drawing the line between marketing content and technical documentation, Koala takes a clear approach: marketing serves the individual contributors like Account Executives and Sales Development Reps, while the documentation serves the admin users responsible for setting up Koala.

“The admin users are where we have our docs, and it covers more technical elements of configuration,” Tido explains.

Collaboration Across Teams

Thanks to Koala’s deep integration between their documentation and GTM efforts, their entire organization sees the value in having a robust documentation experience. What was once the responsibility of just the engineering and product teams is now a shared priority across all departments.

“With the tight integration between our docs and Koala, it’s really helped our GTM team see the value and actionability of what’s happening in our docs,” says Tido.

Documentation as a Strategic Advantage

Koala’s approach to documentation is more than just technical — it’s strategic. By using GitBook to create clear, actionable docs and integrating insights from their own platform, they’ve transformed documentation into a powerful tool for their go-to-market team. Whether it’s tracking prospect activity, updating content based on user needs, or making information easy to navigate, Koala is setting the standard for how developer-first documentation can drive sales.

A huge thanks to Tido and the Koala team for sharing their insights with us. At GitBook, we’re proud to support innovative companies like Koala in making documentation a core part of their business strategy.