CodeViz

What do they actually do

CodeViz makes a Visual Studio Code extension that turns a repository into interactive visual maps, from high‑level architecture down to function call chains, inside a side panel. Developers can click nodes to jump to source and use plain‑English queries to highlight specific APIs, paths, or data flows they care about Marketplace features. The VS Code Marketplace shows roughly 73k installs, and the company lists usage by engineers at large companies on its site and YC page Marketplace installs YC company page.

Common uses today are onboarding to unfamiliar codebases, speeding up pull‑request reviews, and navigating large or legacy repos. Users can export and share diagrams (Mermaid/Draw.io/png), and teams get shared workspaces and versioned diagrams. Pricing is a Free tier, Pro at $19/month, Teams at $50/seat/month, and Enterprise with SSO/on‑prem options Pricing Homepage.

Under the hood, CodeViz leans on local/static analysis and existing language servers to build call graphs, with LLMs assisting in labeling higher‑level architecture views. The company states it does not store customer code and reports zero‑day retention for third‑party LLM providers; heavier processing and some AI‑assisted features sit behind paid tiers Marketplace privacy Pricing.

Who are their target customer(s)

• New engineers joining a large or unfamiliar codebase: They struggle to find the right files, functions, and flows to start contributing, which slows onboarding and creates dependence on teammates for context YC company page Marketplace features.
• Engineers and reviewers doing pull‑request reviews: They need to understand cross‑file or cross‑service impact quickly; call paths and dependencies are hard to see in code review tools, so reviews take longer and issues slip through Marketplace features.
• Maintainers of large or legacy systems with poor or stale documentation: They need an up‑to‑date view of architecture and data flows to make safe changes; current docs are out of date and knowledge is siloed, making refactors risky Homepage YC company page.
• Engineering managers and team leads at growing teams: They must onboard hires consistently, standardize reviews, and meet compliance; they need reproducible diagrams, access controls, and deployment options like SSO/on‑prem Pricing / enterprise.
• Developers on small teams or open‑source contributors with strict privacy needs: They want quick, local insights without sending code to hosted services; they need free/basic functionality and options to use local models or their own API keys Pricing HN discussion.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Identify the most active marketplace users and those who left public feedback, then offer free Pro access and white‑glove onboarding to gather concrete feedback and secure early case studies Marketplace installs.
• First 50: Extend outreach to maintainers of large OSS projects and active GitHub orgs with complimentary Pro for maintainers and help embedding exported diagrams into READMEs/PRs; amplify wins via targeted posts on HN, Dev.to, and relevant Slack/Discords HN launch thread.
• First 100: Run evidence‑driven pilots with small engineering teams focusing on onboarding/PR improvements using shared workspaces and exports; convert to Teams/Enterprise with short pilots, onboarding help, and early case studies, then use those logos in outbound to larger orgs needing SSO/on‑prem Pricing YC company page.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

There are roughly 25–30M professional developers worldwide; VS Code is used by about 74% of surveyed developers. Because CodeViz is a VS Code extension, the current addressable base is the VS Code user segment Evans Data Stack Overflow 2024.

Bottom-up calculation:

Using 28M developers × 74% VS Code share gives ≈20.7M addressable seats. At list prices ($228/year Pro, $600/year Teams), the theoretical upper bound ranges from ≈$4.7B to ≈$12.4B per year Pricing.

Assumptions:

• Developer population is ~28M and representative of CodeViz’s potential buyers Evans Data.
• VS Code share (~74%) approximates the share among professional developers who could install a VS Code extension Stack Overflow 2024.
• Seat‑based TAM assumes all seats pay list price and ignores free usage, discounts, and segmentation Pricing.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• CodeSee: Interactive maps and tours for understanding large codebases; closest in focus to visual code maps and onboarding.
• Sourcegraph: Enterprise code search and navigation with a code graph and AI assistant; widely used for code understanding and PR review context.
• GitHub (Code Search & navigation): Built‑in code search, symbol navigation, dependency graph, and PR tooling that help developers explore repos without extra extensions.
• JetBrains IDEs: Alternative IDEs with powerful code navigation and built‑in diagrams/call hierarchies, reducing the need for separate mapping tools.
• AppMap: Records runtime traces to generate architecture and call maps; different approach (dynamic analysis) to similar "see the system" goals.