Geeks Who Lead Podcast

Sites like Squarespace and Shopify have simplified the design and engineering process for people who either don’t have the technical skills or the resources to hire a team of engineers. However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach for the tools a business will need. Julien Lemoine is the co-founder and CTO of Algolia, a hosted search platform. He joined Peter for a discussion on API and customization.Listen as Julien discusses why things are trending toward customization and greater flexibility. He also shares why getting the architecture right is one of the most important aspects for anyone managing a team of engineers. (01:11) - How Julien got interested in technology(03:15) - Small team management(05:53) - Becoming CTO at MASA Group(07:10) - Simplifying search at Algolia(10:26) - Build and buy(25:37) - Evolution of the problem(33:40) - Choosing the right APISpecial thanks to our global partner – Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS offers a broad set of global cloud-based products to equip technology leaders to build better and more powerful solutions, reach out to aws-cto-program@amazon.com if you’re interested to learn more about their offerings.CTO Connection is where you can learn from the experiences of successful engineering leaders at fast-growth tech startups. Whether you want to learn more about hiring, motivating or managing an engineering team, if you're technical and manage engineers, the CTO Connection podcast is a great resource for learning from your peers!If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to CTO Connection in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.Podcast episode production by Dante32.

When Justin Dean was placed as a network engineer in the Marine Corps, he had no idea that this would lead to a career helping legacy and emerging businesses shape what is possible in network engineering. Justin is currently the CTO and CIO of Weedmaps, a website that helps customers find local weed dispensaries and helps dispensaries stay in compliance with state regulations.Today, Justin takes us through his jobs at Shopzilla and Ticketmaster before arriving at the industry changing Weedmaps. Listen in as he talks to Peter about both the evolution and future of network engineering.(01:10) - The road to Weedmaps(08:37) - The secret sauce at Shopzilla(15:10) - Transforming Ticketmaster(25:49) - The World Wide Web of Weed(34:30) - Product prioritization(36:10) - Business unit organization(46:52) - Attracting and hiring staffSpecial thanks to our global partner – Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS offers a broad set of global cloud-based products to equip technology leaders to build better and more powerful solutions, reach out to aws-cto-program@amazon.com if you’re interested to learn more about their offerings.CTO Connection is where you can learn from the experiences of successful engineering leaders at fast-growth tech startups. Whether you want to learn more about hiring, motivating or managing an engineering team, if you're technical and manage engineers, the CTO Connection podcast is a great resource for learning from your peers!If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to CTO Connection in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.Podcast episode production by Dante32.

Rob De Feo has spoken to more than 500 startups over the last few years in his role as a startup advocate. These experiences have given him insider knowledge on the patterns leaders in startups face as well as best practices that have helped businesses reach scale.This week on CTO Connection, Rob takes Peter behind the curtain of life as a startup advocate. They also discuss their biggest career advice: searching for roles based on tasks rather than titles. Tune in for Rob’s insights.(01:10) - How Rob got into the tech world(01:55) - Joining Expedia(05:37) - Becoming a co-founder and CTO(07:20) - Moving to Amazon Web Services(09:54) - Speaking to start-ups(10:45) - Building for now(20:17) - Lead geek personalities(22:37) - Patterns for early-stage teams(29:57) - Getting good advice(32:50) - Balance in mentorship(35:18) - Becoming a start-up CTO(36:51) - Training, coaching, and mentoringSpecial thanks to our global partner – Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS offers a broad set of global cloud-based products to equip technology leaders to build better and more powerful solutions, reach out to aws-cto-program@amazon.com if you’re interested to learn more about their offerings.CTO Connection is where you can learn from the experiences of successful engineering leaders at fast-growth tech startups. Whether you want to learn more about hiring, motivating or managing an engineering team, if you're technical and manage engineers, the CTO Connection podcast is a great resource for learning from your peers!If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to CTO Connection in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.Podcast episode production by Dante32.

If you’re a startup or any company that doesn’t have vast name recognition, attracting top talent can be a key concern. Ashish Aggarwal cut his teeth at Microsoft, Amazon, and Postmates so when the time came to start his own company, Productiv, he knew how to get the right people for the job.Ashish spoke candidly about his past experiences and how they have helped shape Productiv. He shared with Peter the two things that attract top talent: challenging problems to solve and the opportunity to work with other high performers. Listen for more of his insights.(01:12) - Growing into people management(03:39) - Management training at Microsoft(06:15) - Attracting great talent at Ebay(08:50) - Geo-distributed offices(11:53) - Amazon's customer obsession(18:23) - Next-level ownership at Postmates(24:22) - Founding Productiv(34:30) - Principles for start-up team buildingSpecial thanks to our global partner – Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS offers a broad set of global cloud-based products to equip technology leaders to build better and more powerful solutions, reach out to aws-cto-program@amazon.com if you’re interested to learn more about their offerings.CTO Connection is where you can learn from the experiences of successful engineering leaders at fast-growth tech startups. Whether you want to learn more about hiring, motivating or managing an engineering team, if you're technical and manage engineers, the CTO Connection podcast is a great resource for learning from your peers!If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to CTO Connection in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.Podcast episode production by Dante32.

According to Raj Sethuraman, good technology cannot be a successful technology unless it solves customer problems and drives great business outcomes. Raj is currently CTO at Wolters Kluwer and got his start at Intuit. The common thread throughout his career has been establishing customer-centricity to better inform technical decisions.He is our guest this week on CTO Connection and talked to Peter about a program he likes called “Follow Me Home” in which he and other team members sit down with customers to find out how they use products and what could make them work better. Listen for his insights.(01:21) - Transitioning to leadership(03:48) - Customer centricity(05:16) - Follow me home(12:26) - Co-creating value(16:57) - Badass: Making Users Awesome(18:24) - Achieving quick wins faster(22:01) - Appetite for change(24:51) - Managing pushback (28:01) - Hiring for culture fit(30:30) - Engineer rotation(32:29) - Innovation priorities Special thanks to our global partner – Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS offers a broad set of global cloud-based products to equip technology leaders to build better and more powerful solutions, reach out to aws-cto-program@amazon.com if you’re interested to learn more about their offerings.CTO Connection is where you can learn from the experiences of successful engineering leaders at fast-growth tech startups. Whether you want to learn more about hiring, motivating, or managing an engineering team, if you're technical and manage engineers, the CTO Connection podcast is a great resource for learning from your peers!If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to CTO Connection in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.Podcast episode production by Dante32.

Greg Thomas is the author of the book, Code Your Way Up. Over the course of his 20 years in software development, he found that there was a void when it comes to developing individuals on a team into leadership and management roles.Greg joined Peter to talk about some of the most important principles discussed in his book. He discusses why feedback isn’t always a pat on the back and shares three questions you should be asking when you join or build a new team. Listen for his advice.(01:32) - Code Your Way Up (03:10) - How to grow individuals(06:24) - Identifying the right track(09:51) - Selecting feedback(14:18) - Continuing to code(16:25) - Candidates for career change(22:29) - Training to become a competent manager(25:20) - The Making of a Manager(25:33) - Seth Godin's "altMBA" workshop(26:37) - Succession planning(28:50) - Touchpoints for reflection(31:43) - Helping teams help themselvesSpecial thanks to our global partner – Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS offers a broad set of global cloud-based products to equip technology leaders to build better and more powerful solutions, reach out to aws-cto-program@amazon.com if you’re interested to learn more about their offerings.CTO Connection is where you can learn from the experiences of successful engineering leaders at fast-growth tech startups. Whether you want to learn more about hiring, motivating or managing an engineering team, if you're technical and manage engineers, the CTO Connection podcast is a great resource for learning from your peers!If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to CTO Connection in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.Podcast episode production by Dante32.

In any industry, communication is a key factor in a team’s success. For CTOs navigating complex problems, effective communication between all stakeholders is paramount. David Subar is both a Chief Product Officer and Chief Technology Officer at Interna Consulting. He joined Peter to discuss common patterns that result in communication breakdowns.David shares some of the clashes that can happen when a CEO’s vision is not in alignment with the metrics or working style of the team. He also discusses why having a hybrid position for a CTO and Product Officer eases workflow. Listen for his advice on diffusing these communication issues.(01:25) - David's first jobs out of college(03:27) - Transitioning to management(07:14) - Interna Consulting(09:43) - Common CEO failure patterns(12:13) - Relative strengths of C-level executives(16:26) - Building credibility and communication paths(18:41) - Helping the CEO focus on what matters(25:53) - Patterns in failing CTOs(28:35) - First time at bat(31:45) - Off-handed comments Special thanks to our global partner – Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS offers a broad set of global cloud-based products to equip technology leaders to build better and more powerful solutions, reach out to aws-cto-program@amazon.com if you’re interested to learn more about their offerings.CTO Connection is where you can learn from the experiences of successful engineering leaders at fast-growth tech startups. Whether you want to learn more about hiring, motivating or managing an engineering team, if you're technical and manage engineers, the CTO Connection podcast is a great resource for learning from your peers!If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to CTO Connection in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.Podcast episode production by Dante32.

Fleming Shi has been with Barracuda Networks for more than 15 years. In that time, there has been a profound shift and evolution in the tools and security systems that power his engineering team. He joined Peter for this week’s edition of CTO Connection to discuss his journey to CTO as well as the many changes he’s witnessed over the years.Listen for Fleming’s thoughts on keeping up with trends as well as the character traits of 10xer engineers.(01:27) - Fleming's career journey(04:17) - Moving to Barracuda(08:07) - Sustainability after launch(14:18) - Motivation for the long-term(19:39) - Sustaining a culture of innovation(24:25) - Advanced technology group(29:46) - What makes a 10XerSpecial thanks to our global partner – Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS offers a broad set of global cloud-based products to equip technology leaders to build better and more powerful solutions, reach out to aws-cto-program@amazon.com if you’re interested to learn more about their offerings.CTO Connection is where you can learn from the experiences of successful engineering leaders at fast-growth tech startups. Whether you want to learn more about hiring, motivating or managing an engineering team, if you're technical and manage engineers, the CTO Connection podcast is a great resource for learning from your peers!If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to CTO Connection in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.Podcast episode production by Dante32.

Data science has increasingly become an integral part of the technical makeup of organizations. However, most CTOs don’t have experience building a data science component from scratch. Jon Morra got his start in data science at eHarmony when most technical teams did not have any researchers. He joins Peter today on CTO Connection to offer advice on how to build a research team from the ground up.Jon discusses why you want to bring on researchers who are generalists and why it is imperative that you have a clear problem you want to solve before assembling a team. He also explains why you should look at problems as oracles and offers guidance on the hiring process for data scientists. Listen to get ideas on starting a research team for your organization. (01:26) - Jon's path to becoming Chief Data Scientist at ZEFR(02:40) - Balancing competing priorities at eHarmony(04:30) - Where to start building up a data science team(08:16) - Approaches for making the first hire(11:14) - Beyond full stack(13:07) - Filling the gaps(16:18) - Thirsty to learn(17:56) - Promoting to manager(19:41) - Minimizing business risk(22:16) - Defining success(24:11) - Where should the team live within an org?(27:42) - Initial goals and expectations(29:32) - What is senior?(32:16) - Managing senior data scientistsSpecial thanks to our global partner – Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS offers a broad set of global cloud-based products to equip technology leaders to build better and more powerful solutions, reach out to aws-cto-program@amazon.com if you’re interested to learn more about their offerings.CTO Connection is where you can learn from the experiences of successful engineering leaders at fast-growth tech startups. Whether you want to learn more about hiring, motivating or managing an engineering team, if you're technical and manage engineers, the CTO Connection podcast is a great resource for learning from your peers!If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to CTO Connection in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.Podcast episode production by Dante32.

VP of Engineering is an expansive position. But what is it really like on the granular level? Alexandra Paredes is the VP of Engineering at Code Climate and joined Peter to discuss how she approaches the hiring process, keeps her team on track, and navigates metrics such as cycle time and code review involvement.Tune in to hear Alexandra’s thoughts on communication and transparency as well as mentoring new engineers to ensure they ask the right questions from the start. [01:28] - Alexandra's rise to VP of Engineering at Code Climate[07:21] - Internal metrics[12:02] - Milestones without estimates[18:40] - Cycle time[20:29] - Reliability requirements[21:59] - Code review involvement[23:29] - Incremental pull requests[26:34] - Tracking key abilities[29:58] - Communicating metrics to non-technical managementSpecial thanks to our global partner – Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS offers a broad set of global cloud-based products to equip technology leaders to build better and more powerful solutions, reach out to aws-cto-program@amazon.com if you’re interested to learn more about their offerings.CTO Connection is where you can learn from the experiences of successful engineering leaders at fast-growth tech startups. Whether you want to learn more about hiring, motivating or managing an engineering team, if you're technical and manage engineers, the CTO Connection podcast is a great resource for learning from your peers!If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to CTO Connection in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.Podcast episode production by Dante32.