Docsie: From Developer Tool to Enterprise-Grade Technical Writing Workflow Solution
Technical Writing Capabilities
When Philippe Trounev and his co-founder started Docsie in 2017, it began as an internal tool to document their billing system project. Frustrated by the lack of good documentation solutions, they built their own – a familiar origin story for many successful startups today.
Initially launched 2019 as a free tool, Docsie quickly gained traction as users asked to pay for premium capabilities. As Trounev notes, “People kept saying, hey, can we pay you? Can we use it? Are there any commercial things that we can do with it?” This market pull inspired them to develop Docsie into a fully-fledged SaaS platform.
This article is based on my recent exclusive interview with Philippe Trounev, Founder and CEO of Docsie, on the Software Spotlight podcast.
Fast forward to today, and Docsie has over 15,000 users across 68 countries, serving over 5,000 businesses. But how did this developer-focused documentation tool evolve to meet the needs of larger enterprises?
Streamlining Technical Writing With Docsie
Docsie provides powerful tools to enhance technical writing workflows significantly. As the article notes, essential features like “customizable templates, version control, collaboration capabilities, and multi-format publishing make the documentation process significantly more efficient.” Docsie also offers advanced AI-based capabilities, with plans to expand integrations “to automate documentation processes fully.” Docsie has seen wide success in facilitating complex enterprise documentation needs across functions:
“We really went from this SMB developer-focused platform to this enterprise-grade platform that can be used to basically deliver documentation at scale.”
For technical writers specifically, Docsie enables easy content creation and formatting:
“With intuitive tools tailored for developers, Docsie eliminates the need for engineers to maintain documentation manually – freeing them up to focus on core coding.”
By centralizing control and streamlining collaboration, Docsie provides robust tools for technical writers to efficiently “create, publish, and maintain technical documentation.”
From Developer Tool to Knowledge Management Platform
In the early days, Docsie's primary target audience was software developers who needed to document their projects. However, over time, product managers in larger businesses began adopting the platform, too.
As Trounev explains, “Our initial target market for Docsie was developers. Eventually, we got a bunch of developers to try the platform. But for the commercial application, we got more from product managers.”
Docsie's breadth of features, including the ability to combine both internal documentation like SOPs and handbooks as well as external product documentation, appealed to these enterprise users.
The platform essentially grew into an all-in-one knowledge management solution that could handle the documentation needs of entire companies beyond just developer teams.
Custom Enterprise Portals and Complex Logic
Increasingly, Docsie found that larger businesses required tailored solutions and custom portals designed specifically for their use cases.
For example, multinational companies often need to deliver documentation targeted to different groups – across business units, geographies, partners, etc.
As Trounev highlights, “At the enterprise level, we're talking about multi-knowledge based deployments of like with complex enterprise logic that is needed for more mature clients that are servicing multiple geographies sectors clients groups and partners all of which need a unique knowledge base.”
To address these needs, Docsie provides the ability to create separate portals with access control, languages, and versions managed centrally. This simplifies managing and distributing documentation on a global scale.
Enterprise-Grade Capabilities
On the enterprise feature side, Docsie offers robust security, compliance, and permissions capabilities required by large companies. This includes support for single sign-on (SSO), role-based access control, and options to connect portals to existing authentication systems.
The platform also shines with its built-in multilingual support and AI translations. Trounev explains, “We have automated translations, and we have things like ghost translations, which means we can automatically translate your content as you work on it.” This further aids global documentation needs.
Additionally, Docsie provides enterprise-grade onboarding and migration services to help companies import existing content into the platform. The goal is to ensure customers can realize value quickly through expert guidance.
Conclusion
In just a few years, Docsie has rapidly expanded from a developer tool to an enterprise-grade knowledge management solution serving major multinational companies.
With robust security, global delivery capabilities, and extensive onboarding support, Docsie allows businesses to streamline documentation workflows globally. As the company continues enhancing its AI automation, the future looks bright for this startup turned enterprise leader.
Sign up for a Free trial of Docsie today.
Listen to our Exclusive podcast interview with the Founder and CEO of Docsie Philippe Trounev. This episode of the Software Spotlight podcast looks at Docsie, an enterprise knowledge management platform that helps businesses create, translate, and publish documentation to educate users and customers. Docsie was created out of Trounev's need for better documentation tools while building an internal billing system. The platform serves over 15,000 users globally, providing customizable knowledge bases, collaboration features, workflow systems, and AI capabilities like automated translation. Read our full Docsie Review: Knowledge Management Platform Vs 4 Top Alternatives
Docsie FAQ
What is tacit knowledge, and how can it be documented?
Tacit knowledge refers to the undocumented skills, insights, and experiences employees gain through practice and real-world experience. According to Docsie, over 80% of an organization's critical information is tacit knowledge within its workforce. Platforms like Docsie can help companies extract and document this invaluable tacit knowledge to be standardized, shared more efficiently, and leveraged across the organization.
How can technical writers benefit from using Docsie?
As a dedicated documentation platform built for technical writers, Docsie provides powerful tools to help create, publish, and maintain technical documentation. Essential features like customizable templates, version control, collaboration capabilities, and multi-format publishing make the documentation process significantly more efficient. Docsie also offers advanced capabilities like AI-based content generation and automated translation, which technical writers can utilize to scale documentation.
Why choose an online markdown editor like Docsie?
Docsie offers a convenient browser-based markdown editor for documentation writers to create and manage markdown files quickly. Its intuitive interface and collaboration features, like in-built chat and task management, help streamline markdown projects. Docsie also enables publishing markdown to multiple knowledge bases and offers capabilities like version control and translation. This makes it easy to reuse and repurpose markdown documentation.
How can Docsie assist with enterprise document management?
Docsie combines robust document management tools like access controls, versioning, and workflows with external knowledge-sharing capabilities. This provides enterprises a centralized platform to store, organize, control access and find documents globally. Features like permissions, audit logs, AI search, and analytics help manage electronic documents at scale more efficiently. Docsie also enables publishing docs externally as multilingual knowledge bases.
