The Challenges of Managing a Small Data Team and Team Alignment for Growth

As a self-described “gainfully unemployed data person”, Josh Wills is an angel investor and has worked on and led data teams at Slack, Cloudera, WeaveGrid and Google. We discuss:

• How to get started with angel investing without a ton of $$

• Attributes that define great engineering managers

• What’s it like transitioning from management back to IC

• Challenges in Climate Tech from a software perspective

• And more

[0:01:35] Transitioning from management to individual contributor (IC).

[0:10:19] Emotional intelligence and its role in engineering management.

[0:25:21] Contrasting the hard power of management with the soft power of senior individual contributors.

[0:37:18] Addressing challenges in climate technology.

[0:51:34] The importance of practicality and how to assess it in interviews.

[0:56:01] Josh's journey into angel investing.

[1:12:59] Criteria used by Josh to evaluate whether to invest in a startup.

• Josh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/josh_wills

• The “Touchy Feely” course at Stanford: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/experience/learning/leadership/interpersonal-dynamics

• Jason Calacanis’s book on angel investing: https://www.amazon.com/Angel-Invest-Technology-Startups-Timeless-Investor/dp/0062560700

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