Topline SPOTLIGHT: Untangling Tech Debt and Finding Product-Market Fit with Russ Mikowski of SurePeople
May 1, 2025
In this discussion, Russ Mikowski, CEO of SurePeople and a seasoned revenue leader, shares insights from his journey to leadership. He addresses the complexities of managing technical debt while focusing on a clear market strategy. Russ emphasizes the importance of saying 'no' to legacy customers to build a robust product. He also highlights innovative psychometric assessments to boost company culture and performance. Dive into his thoughts on transparent communication and the essential traits of leadership in tech environments.
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Democratizing Psychometric Data
- SurePeople disrupts traditional psychometric assessments by making them accessible throughout entire organizations.
- This democratized data fuels integration within workflow tools like Slack and Zoom, enhancing work dynamics.
CEO Navigates Technical Debt
- Russ has product experience as a tinkerer and coder but relies on trusted technical partners for complex engineering.
- He sees technical debt as a key issue requiring focus to enable growth and scalability.
Choose Rebuilding Over Refactoring
- Sometimes rebuilding a product is faster and better for scalability than refactoring old technical debt.
- Prioritize building a solid foundation even if it means divergence from legacy code and approaches.