How to Scale Your Influence in an Engineering Organization

On this episode of the Leadership Exchange, Rob Ocel talks with Ivan Burazin, co-founder and CEO of Daytona. Ivan shares how his company is building “computers for agents,” what he’s learned from years of developer tooling and event organizing, and why trust, context, and long-term relationships matter more than chasing star résumés. They also dig into cultural differences in engineering talent and what it really takes to grow a resilient team in the AI era.

Key Points from this Episode:

• Daytona is building infrastructure that gives AI agents workspaces similar to how a MacBook serves a human.

• Strong teams form through trust, shared context, and long-term relationships rather than stacking résumés with big names.

• Eastern Europe has exceptional engineering talent but often lacks emphasis on sales, branding, and communication.

• Experience organizing developer conferences built a network that continues to fuel Daytona’s growth.
  

Ivan Burazin on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivanburazin/

Rob Ocel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robocel/

Danny Thompson on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dthompsondev/

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