For HashiCorp’s global team of over 500 solutions engineers (SEs), a reliable demo environment is essential. This past year, the team decided it needed a standardized demo environment instead of having pockets of SEs create bespoke demo environments that were full of friction and, oftentimes, reinventing the wheel.
We called this new self-service internal platform “Demos done right” (DDR) and powered it with HCP Terraform, Vault, and Boundary. Here are some of the ROI stats from the project:
- $12M+ in new/renewal and $20M+ in total ACV influenced
- Over 70% SE and SA platform adoption
- More than 2,300 demos provisioned
- Spin-up time reduced from 8-10 hours to under 10 minutes
- 800+ hours of SE organization time saved monthly
- New hire ramp time reduced from 3-6 months to 30 days
This post dives into the challenges and outcomes that our SEs and solutions architects (SAs) experienced from this “eating our own dogfood” project.
»The challenge: Bespoke demo processes, friction, and waste
SEs at HashiCorp had a demo sprawl problem.
- Many hours spent manually creating bespoke demos from scratch
- Orphaned environments all over the place
- A heavy onboarding process for new hires that need to start running demos fast
- Inconsistent pitch experiences
“Every time we needed to do a demo, it wound up being built from scratch. We were doing bespoke efforts constantly and building the same thing over and over again.”
— Eric Reeves, Staff Solutions Engineer, HashiCorp
Sometimes it was taking teams 8-10 hours to build complex demos, and new-hire onboarding to the demo-building patterns could take as long as 3-6 months before they were fluent in the workflows.
However, our teams understood the problem well. It’s the same challenges we see our customers facing when they come to us: developers are bottlenecked by a central infrastructure team when they want to provision environments. They often have a manual-review ticket queue and manual rebuilds that delay delivery, create drift, and make onboarding harder.
»The solution: A Terraform-powered self-service platform (DDR)
We knew we had the tools to solve this problem. That’s what led us to build our own internal demo platform called “Demos done right”. The DDR platform provides a fully self-service experience built with:
- Standardized no-code Terraform modules hosted in HCP Terraform’s private registry
- Governance guardrails like Sentinel policies and destroy plans
Users can choose from a growing library of demo modules featuring real-world narratives, each packaged with instructions and a recorded walkthrough. All modules are version-controlled, security-compliant, and easily customized.
These Terraform-backed reusable modules serve as internal ‘building blocks,’ similar to the patterns platform engineering teams give to developers for governed, self-service access to infrastructure — no tickets, no bottlenecks, and full platform team control over lifecycle management.
With paved paths and seamless integrations with external services like GitHub and Slack, even complex demos are ready to run in minutes.
“The SEs look at what's available and click a button — they don’t have to request anything. They take care of themselves on their own schedule. And we're servicing users that are working all over the globe.”
— Justin Clayton, Platform Architect, HashiCorp
While DDR is used for sales demos today, its architecture reflects a pattern widely applicable across engineering organizations: standardized Terraform modules, policy as code guardrails, and click-to-provision workflows that give teams more speed and autonomy while ensuring compliance and cost control.
»The results: A demo factory
Since DDR’s launch, over 70% of SEs and SAs have adopted the platform, with more than 2,300 demos provisioned. The payoff for HashiCorp? DDR has directly influenced over $12 million in new/renewal and $20 million in total ACV.
But the platform’s impact goes far beyond the company’s bottom line.
»Efficiency that frees up focus
Manual demo provisioning once drained valuable SE time. Today, most demos spin up automatically in minutes, freeing up time for high-value customer conversations.
“Before, when we knew a demo was coming up, it was a fire drill. I would have to clear my calendar for several days in advance to make sure I had sufficient time to prepare. I no longer have to; DDR removes a lot of stress.”
— Eric Reeves, Staff Solutions Engineer, HashiCorp
Productivity outcomes:
- 80% of demos spin up in less than 10 minutes
- 800+ hours of SE organization time saved monthly
- Reduced demand on solution architect (SA) time
These efficiency gains look very familiar — they’re the outcomes that our customers consistently achieve when implementing internal self-service platforms built on HCP Terraform modules. By eliminating ticket queues and replacing manual provisioning with reusable patterns, engineering teams reclaim significant time and reduce operational overhead.
»Consistency and dependability without stifling creativity
Before standardized modules and governance, SEs built demos in isolation, leading to inconsistencies and greater risks of demo failure or infrastructure waste. DDR used a hardened module menu and helpful HCP Terraform features like drift detection and resource cleanup to ensure consistency and reliability.
“Now we have a menu of demos that are maintained by a central team, and there's regular testing done on them. I know reliably that these are the things I have at my disposal. It's been life-changing in that regard.”
— Eric Reeves, Staff Solutions Engineer, HashiCorp
Usability outcomes:
- Validated, regularly tested demos cover 95% of use cases
- Platform reliability rated 4 or 5 out of 5 by 80% of users
- Alignment with high-impact sales plays and key focus areas for tech leaders
- Narratives speak to value versus just features and functionality
- Ability to fork and tailor modules within safe guardrails
We took inspiration from our customers’ platform engineering teams by following similar patterns for building standardized Terraform modules to ensure consistent, secure, and compliant infrastructure while still allowing developers to customize within guardrails.
»Built-in governance without bottlenecks
DDR’s embedded governance capabilities (via Sentinel, HCP Vault, and HCP Boundary) have allowed it to keep costs and risk within defined parameters without hindering productivity.
“DDR makes sure users are working within the bounds of what the company deems to be appropriate. Having these guardrails in place is really critical to ensure users are not spinning up cloud components that are costly or negatively impact the production environment.”
— Adam Cavaliere, former Platform Owner, formerly HashiCorp
Risk reduction outcomes:
- Less than $3 cost per demo on average
- Automated infrastructure decommissioning via destroy plans
- Risk mitigation through security-compliant modules and Sentinel policies
This reflects a broader shift many HashiCorp customers are making: from ticket-driven, manual approvals to automated, policy as code governance using Terraform and Sentinel. DDR demonstrates how organizations can scale safely without slowing teams down.
»Fast-tracked onboarding
HashiCorp’s product portfolio was expanding to the point that onboarding time for new SEs — even those with extensive experience in the space — had become a significant roadblock. With DDR as the default starting point for SE enablement, onboarding time has been cut by at least two-thirds.
“DDR is an incredibly effective learning platform. SEs are able to come on board, go through our standard onboarding, and then get hands-on with our entire portfolio within the first few weeks. It is a game-changer for us.”
— Corrigan Neralich, Sales Engineering Leader, HashiCorp
Onboarding outcomes:
- Ramp time reduced from 3-6 months to 30 days
- 75+ new hires onboarded through DDR since launch
- Applications beyond sales, e.g. product and marketing team training
Terraform-based self-service platforms offer the same onboarding acceleration for engineering organizations: new developers can provision secure environments immediately, reducing ramp time and enabling contribution far earlier.
»What’s next?
DDR has quickly proven its value. But HashiCorp is just getting started.
The platform is facilitating collaboration, unifying teams and regions that once worked in silos. And it’s accelerating multi-product storytelling, which is key for a company with a comprehensive suite of offerings.
As HashiCorp expands its product ecosystem, DDR’s module-based architecture allows new capabilities — including those from IBM and Red Hat — to be integrated rapidly using the same standardized Terraform patterns.
“The DDR platform really opens up a whole new world of possibilities. We can effectively work across the aisle with our new peers and start to speak to the extended value these new products provide to our customers.”
— Corrigan Neralich, Sales Engineering Leader, HashiCorp
»The future is self-service
Self-service infrastructure like DDR holds tremendous potential. Organizations can use similar implementations in a variety of domains to reduce costs and risk while accelerating innovation and delivery.
In this context, DDR serves as a blueprint for customers building internal platforms: use Terraform modules, policy as code, and shared workflows to deliver governed self-service infrastructure at scale.
Ready to make the leap? Here are some best practices:
- Treat the platform like a product. Focus on the user experience and build in feedback loops for continuous improvement.
- Design for scalability. No matter where you start, be prepared for adoption beyond your initial expectations.
- Balance autonomy and governance. Build in cost, compliance, and access controls.
- Measure what matters. Track ramp time, hours saved, business influenced, and adoption by other teams.
And if you’d like to learn more about how we can help, let’s talk.
