Evil Martians

When Evil Martians positioned themselves as a developer tools agency, they made a strategic bet on Ruby and Rails—not because of trends or corporate mandates, but because these technologies deliver results. Fast shipping, joyful developer teams, and outsized impact became their calling cards as they built a consultancy that doesn't just use Ruby, but actively shapes its future through open source innovation and community leadership.

The Agency That Builds Ruby's Future

Founded by Alexander Tishchenko and Yaroslav Markin, Evil Martians operates with a unique philosophy under CEO Irina Nazarova's leadership: engineer products and developer tools with Ruby and Rails while contributing back to the ecosystem that powers their success. Their approach combines client work with open source development, creating tools that benefit both their projects and the broader Ruby community.

Developer Tools Focus

Unlike traditional consultancies that simply deliver code, Evil Martians specializes in developer tools and infrastructure. This focus allows them to tackle complex technical challenges while building reusable solutions that strengthen the Ruby ecosystem for everyone.

Open Source as Core Strategy

Evil Martians treats open source development as integral to their business model, not just a marketing activity. Their tools solve real problems they encounter in client work, then become community resources that establish their technical authority and attract new opportunities.

Client Success Stories Powered by Ruby

StackBlitz: Scaling AI Development

Evil Martians has been tech partners with StackBlitz since 2021, helping scale their WebContainers platform from pioneering browser IDE to bolt.new—the AI-powered tool that hit $20M+ ARR in just 2 months. Using Rails for the backend, they've built core infrastructure powering 3M+ monthly developers, from backend Rails to enterprise features and performance optimization.

Doximity: Real-Time for Healthcare

Doximity connects 80% of US doctors through a platform powered by Rails and AnyCable—Evil Martians' own real-time technology. This massive scale deployment proves that Ruby can handle mission-critical applications in highly regulated industries like healthcare.

Playbook: Serverless ML Infrastructure

Since 2021, Evil Martians has collaborated with Playbook to build a next-generation cloud platform for creatives serving 700,000+ users worldwide. They've developed core platform features from ML-powered visual search and AI-assisted file management to Figma plugin and third-party integrations, all built with Ruby-powered scalable analytics and image processing systems.

Enterprise Consulting Excellence

Working with companies like BetterUp (AI coaching for enterprises), Rootly (incident management for scale), ClickFunnels, Fountain, and Wawa Fertility, Evil Martians consistently delivers Rails solutions that handle enterprise scale, performance, and reliability requirements.

Open Source Innovation That Powers the Ecosystem

AnyCable: Real-Time Rails Revolution

AnyCable solves one of Rails' most significant limitations: real-time communication at scale. Used by Doximity, Whop, and numerous other platforms, this technology enables Rails applications to handle millions of concurrent WebSocket connections—something previously impossible with standard Rails infrastructure.

imgproxy: Image Processing Excellence

Their imgproxy tool provides secure, ultra-fast image processing capabilities that have become essential infrastructure for modern web applications. This Go-powered tool integrates seamlessly with Ruby applications while delivering performance that rivals specialized services.

Action Policy: Advanced Authorization

With over 2,000 GitHub stars, Action Policy brings sophisticated authorization capabilities to Rails applications. This gem demonstrates Evil Martians' ability to identify common problems in the Rails ecosystem and create elegant, widely-adopted solutions.

Developer Experience Tools

Their toolkit includes Yabeda (monitoring), Logidze (audit trails), Turbo Mount (frontend integration), Typelizer (type generation), DIP (development environments), Overmind (process management), and Lefthook (Git hooks)—each solving specific developer productivity challenges.

Community Leadership Through Technical Excellence

RailsConf Thought Leadership

Evil Martians' team members regularly deliver keynotes and technical talks at major Rails conferences. At RailsConf 2025, Svyatoslav Kryukov presented Rails Frontend Evolution: It Was a Setup All Along, Irina Nazarova spoke on Startups on Rails in Past, Present and Future, and Vladimir Dementyev & Albert Pazderin discussed The future of Rails begins in the browser.

Conference Speaking Legacy

Irina Nazarova delivered the keynote Startups on Rails in 2024 at RailsConf 2024, while Vladimir Dementyev presented From slow to go: Rails test profiling hands-on and Rails as a piece of birthday cake at RailsConf 2023. At Rails World 2023, Vladimir spoke on Untangling Cables and Demystifying Twisted Transistors and Irina presented Wildest Dreams of Making Profit on Open Source.

SF Ruby Conference Organization

Evil Martians organizes the SF Ruby Conference, a major new Ruby event that brings together community leaders and practitioners. This initiative demonstrates their commitment to growing and supporting the Ruby community globally.

Global Meetup Network

Through the SF Bay Area Ruby Meetup, organized by Evil Martians and hosted by companies like GitHub, Chime, Cisco Meraki, New Relic, Y Combinator, and Sentry, they create networking and learning opportunities that strengthen the Ruby community.

International Speaking Circuit

From RubyConf to Rails World to Kaigi on Rails, Evil Martians' experts share knowledge about Ruby WebAssembly, advanced real-time features, developer experience, and cutting-edge Ruby applications across global conferences.

The Business Model That Works

Specialized Expertise Premium

By focusing specifically on developer tools and Ruby/Rails expertise, Evil Martians can command premium rates while working on the most technically interesting projects. Their specialization creates a sustainable competitive advantage in an increasingly commoditized consulting market.

Open Source as Differentiation

Their significant open source contributions serve multiple business functions: they demonstrate technical capability, solve problems for potential clients, and create tools that make their own consulting work more efficient and effective.

Community Investment Returns

Evil Martians' investment in community building—through conferences, meetups, and educational content—creates a network effect that generates client referrals, attracts top talent, and establishes market leadership in Ruby development.

Technical Innovation Through Real-World Application

Bridging Modern Frontend with Rails

Projects like Redprints CFP showcase how Evil Martians combines Rails with modern frontend technologies like Inertia.js, proving that Ruby can remain relevant in the era of JavaScript-heavy applications.

Performance and Scalability Solutions

Through tools like AnyCable and their consulting work, Evil Martians consistently demonstrates that Ruby applications can handle enterprise-scale performance requirements when properly architected.

Developer Experience Focus

Their toolkit prioritizes developer happiness and productivity—values that align perfectly with Ruby's philosophy while addressing modern development workflow needs.

Measuring Success Beyond Revenue

Ecosystem Impact

Evil Martians' open source tools are used by thousands of Ruby applications worldwide, creating value that extends far beyond their direct client work. Their contributions strengthen the entire Ruby ecosystem.

Community Growth

Through conferences, meetups, and educational initiatives, they've helped grow and sustain Ruby communities from San Francisco to Tokyo, ensuring the technology's continued relevance and adoption.

Technical Authority

Their consistent thought leadership at major conferences and through technical writing establishes Evil Martians as authorities on Ruby best practices, modern Rails architecture, and developer tools innovation.

The Strategic Ruby Advantage

Evil Martians' success demonstrates that deep specialization in Ruby can create a thriving, differentiated business in the modern development landscape. Their approach proves several key principles:

Quality Over Quantity

By focusing exclusively on Ruby and Rails projects where they can deliver exceptional value, they've built a more profitable and sustainable business than generalist consultancies.

Community Investment

Their commitment to open source and community building creates a virtuous cycle: better tools attract better projects, which enable more innovation, which strengthens their market position.

Technical Leadership

By pushing the boundaries of what's possible with Ruby through tools like AnyCable and imgproxy, they've established themselves as innovators rather than just implementers.

The Continuing Ruby Renaissance

Evil Martians represents the evolution of Ruby consulting: not just using the technology, but actively advancing it while building successful businesses. Their model shows that Ruby's future isn't just about maintaining existing applications—it's about innovating new solutions that keep the ecosystem vibrant and competitive.

Their continued success with major clients, consistent open source innovation, and community leadership proves that Ruby remains a strategic choice for sophisticated technical projects. Evil Martians doesn't just bet on Ruby—they help ensure that bet pays off for the entire community.

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We chose Ruby and Rails for results—fast shipping, happy developers, and real impact. Our open source work and community leadership aren't just good citizenship; they're how we help ensure Ruby's tools and ecosystem remain the best choice for building great software.

— Evil Martians Team

Technical Innovation Highlights

Open Source Leadership

• AnyCable: Enables real-time Rails at massive scale for platforms like Doximity
• imgproxy: Ultra-fast, secure image processing used across the Ruby ecosystem
• Action Policy: Advanced authorization with 2K+ GitHub stars
• Developer toolkit: Yabeda, Logidze, Turbo Mount, and numerous productivity tools

Client Success Metrics

• Scaled StackBlitz infrastructure serving 3+ million developers with bolt.new hitting $20M+ ARR
• Powered real-time communication for 80% of US doctors through Doximity
• Built platform serving 700,000+ users worldwide for Playbook's creative ecosystem
• Delivered Ruby solutions across healthcare, AI, and high-scale consumer applications

Evil Martians proves that Ruby specialization can build a thriving consultancy while advancing the entire ecosystem through innovation, community leadership, and technical excellence.