Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech Leaders S11 Bonus: Spriha Baruah Tucker, Buildkite
Dec 5, 2025
Spriha Baruah Tucker, the Field CTO at Buildkite and former Google engineer, shares her journey from startup founder to shaping innovative CI/CD solutions. She discusses how customers’ enthusiastic feedback led her to Buildkite, and reveals her MVP focused on connecting technical contexts with engineering. Spriha talks about the balance between catering to power users versus creating curated experiences. She also predicts the future of CI as a risk-based system and offers invaluable advice for startup founders on maintaining enthusiasm and addressing major risks.
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Discovery Through Customer Enthusiasm
- Spriha found Buildkite through customers at her prior startup Aviator who adored the product and even made a jingle for it.
- She reached out to Buildkite's founder after seeing that customer-driven enthusiasm and got introduced to the company.
Primitives Versus Curated Flows
- Buildkite offers powerful primitives that some teams use raw while others want curated, opinionated flows.
- That creates a product dilemma of serving both sophisticated early users and newcomers on the same continuum.
Talk Broadly To Avoid Sampling Bias
- Talk to a diverse set of customers to avoid sampling bias and surface patterns across different maturity stages.
- Use lessons from advanced users to proactively guide others through predictable roadblocks.
