alphalist.CTO Podcast - For CTOs and Technical Leaders

How to build sustainable open source projects by commercialising them Mike Perham, the creator of Sidekiq 🦵🏼 (a background job managers for Ruby) shares how he commercialised the open-source as a solopreneur doing what he loves 💙 without the costs & management headaches 🤦 of a team or the pressures of a VC investment. Discover tips for building sustainable software (e.g. minimise dependencies) and choosing the right business model that enables you to support and maintain your software for years to come. Listen to find out:: How to get to $4M ARR with 20% YoY growth by creating a helpful add-on ➕ to a popular open-source framework (i.e. Rails). Why you should avoid dependencies originating from a 💸VC-backed company or non-commercialized OS project Why you activate a ticking time-bomb 💣 when you get VC funding (better to bootstrap and get the revenue without the pressure) Listen here BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Deazy and Sastrify Deazy Scaling? Not enough devs around? Thinking of nearshoring but not sure how to make it work? Deazy makes nearshoring work for you with their global ecosystem of vetted developers to flexibly augment your team. Even after their platform matches you with the right developers for your tech and cultural needs, their experienced UK-based team remains at your side proving oversight and support. Now you can deliver your vision with ease with nearshore devs who work well with your in-house core team. Kick off your next project in as little as 2 weeks with Deazy's streamlined hiring. Plus , you can get a10% discount on your first 3 hires with the code EasyDev2022 Try it out and see why many European scale-ups trust Deazy with their nearshoring needs. Learn more about Deazy Sastrify Sastrify helps companies to optimize the cost of software procurement by negotiating with suppliers of each software. They saved OMR around €20.000 a year. A lot for a company of 150 people using tools like GSuite, Adobe Creative Cloud, NewRelic, and more. It is a simple and hassle-free process. They promise to save more money than they cost. And as an alphalist.CTO podcast listener, you get a 50% discount for the first 3 months! So give them a try. Learn more about Sastrify

Insight Into the World of Innovative Computing Michael Kagan, the CTO of computing giant Nvidia and co-founder of Mellanox shares insight into the world of hardware, software, AI, and of course computing. Listen to find out: Why you should ditch deep hierarchy and allow those close to the product to make the decisions. 🧑‍⚖️ The benefits of working with inexperienced engineers 🐤 How to retain employees by hiring them every day 😃. Why instead of fighting for a bigger slice of pie 🍰 - we should just bake a bigger pie Listen Here BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Sastrifyand Deazy Sastrify Sastrify helps companies to optimize the cost of software procurement by negotiating with suppliers of each software. They saved OMR around €20.000 a year. A lot for a company of 150 people using tools like GSuite, Adobe Creative Cloud, NewRelic, and more. It is a simple and hassle-free process. They promise to save more money than they cost. And as an alphalist.CTO podcast listener, you get a 50% discount for the first 3 months! So give them a try. Learn more about Sastrify Deazy Scaling? Not enough devs around? Thinking of nearshoring but not sure how to make it work? Deazy makes nearshoring work for you with their global ecosystem of vetted developers to flexibly augment your team. Even after their platform matches you with the right developers for your tech and cultural needs, their experienced UK-based team remains at your side proving oversight and support. Now you can deliver your vision with ease with nearshore devs who work well with your in-house core team. Kick off your next project in as little as 2 weeks with Deazy's streamlined hiring. Plus , you can get a10% discount on your first 3 hires with the code EasyDev2022 Try it out and see why many European scale-ups trust Deazy with their nearshoring needs. Learn more about Deazy

How to Restructure Your Tech and Org as You Scale I spoke with Daniel Krauss, the Chief Organisational Plumber at FlixBus - a leading Mobility-as-a-Service 🚍🚆. Learn how to grow a company from a ‘fastest-shippable-product monolith’🙃 to a neat ‘independent service’ architecture 😀 with ‘Team Self Design’ events, empowered teams & domain-orientated org structure. Listen to find out: How to push technological innovation in a highly-regulated industry⛔ (and its limits). How to adapt your tech architecture and organizational structure of your product as you scale ⇗ Why you should never compromise on hiring the best 💪 engineers. How he chose FlixBus tech stack Listen here BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Sastrify, Deazy and Google Cloud Sastrify Sastrify helps companies to optimize the cost of software procurement by negotiating with suppliers of each software. They saved OMR around €20.000 a year. A lot for a company of 150 people using tools like GSuite, Adobe Creative Cloud, NewRelic, and more. It is a simple and hassle-free process. They promise to save more money than they cost. And as an alphalist.CTO podcast listener, you get a 50% discount for the first 3 months! So give them a try. Learn more about Sastrify Deazy Scaling? Not enough devs around? Thinking of nearshoring but not sure how to make it work? Deazy makes nearshoring work for you with their global ecosystem of vetted developers to flexibly augment your team. Even after their platform matches you with the right developers for your tech and cultural needs, their experienced UK-based team remains at your side proving oversight and support. Now you can deliver your vision with ease with nearshore devs who work well with your in-house core team. Kick off your next project in as little as 2 weeks with Deazy's streamlined hiring. Plus , you can get a10% discount on your first 3 hires with the code EasyDev2022 Try it out and see why many European scale-ups trust Deazy with their nearshoring needs. Learn more about Deazy Google Cloud Take advantage of the booming app industry by using the cloud that saves you time, money and also scales well. Power up your app or serverless function fast using Google Cloud. You also get to keep your cloud costs down by leveraging their many native tools to keep your product lean as you develop, deploy, or integrate it into your ongoing operations. Now you can save on management costs, reduce downtime and protect your data with Google Cloud’s many maintenances and security features. And as you scale and your business requirements change - Google Cloud will adapt with you. If you out-scale their App Engine Platform, the managed Kubernetes will help you reach the next level. What to know more about the best way to deploy an App using the cloud? There will be a FREE webinar about “Modern Application Delivery on Google Cloud” on March 3rd 2022 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Central European time. Register to watch it live or on-demand at g.co/appwebinar. P.S. Google Cloud is the best cloud platform for Data Analysis. Try it out and tell us if you agree. Find out more about Modern Application Delivery on Google Cloud

How to make millions with an open-source product and why JavaScript is not the best language for full-stack engineering Taylor Otwell, Creator and CEO of Laravel (a popular PHP framework) - gives tips on how to commercialize an open-source by sharing his winning recipe of a lean team, great UX/UI, time management, product management, and of course, commercial products. He also gives insight into the use of the various frameworks for full-stack engineering (SPOILER ALERT: Full-stack bootcamps should be teaching more than Javascript). Listen to find out:: How to get to 6M$ ARR starting with an open-source project (HINT: It’s not through sponsored repositories) Why to build a SaaS with a single full-stack engineer 🦸 you need to abandon Javascript Why it's better to follow product vision 🧭 and ROI when building features rather than detractors' requests. What goes on behind the scenes 🛠️ at Laravel (product management, team structure, async etc.) A day in the life ⏰ of Taylor Otwell Listen here BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Dell and Google Cloud Dell Dell Technologies offer IT-Technology solutions for companies of any size, tailored to their needs. The experts that guide you are equipped with both the know-how and a huge product portfolio of possible solutions. Their end-to-end IT Solutions range from laptops, PCs and workstations to server, storage, cloud and IoT solutions. Learn more about Dell Google Cloud Take advantage of the booming app industry by using the cloud that saves you time, money and also scales well. Power up your app or serverless function fast using Google Cloud. You also get to keep your cloud costs down by leveraging their many native tools to keep your product lean as you develop, deploy, or integrate it into your ongoing operations. Now you can save on management costs, reduce downtime and protect your data with Google Cloud’s many maintenances and security features. And as you scale and your business requirements change - Google Cloud will adapt with you. If you out-scale their App Engine Platform, the managed Kubernetes will help you reach the next level. What to know more about the best way to deploy an App using the cloud? There will be a FREE webinar about “Modern Application Delivery on Google Cloud” on March 3rd 2022 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Central European time. Register to watch it live or on-demand at g.co/appwebinar. P.S. Google Cloud is the best cloud platform for Data Analysis. Try it out and tell us if you agree. Find out more about Modern Application Delivery on Google Cloud

#45 - David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails, discusses the benefits of remote work, bootstrapping, small teams, and skipping product discovery. He shares insights into technical leadership, talks about capping Basecamp's size, and why he doesn't work on Ruby on Rails full time. He also discusses the productivity benefits of reducing Twitter use by 97%.

What goes into building autonomous vehicles (+ CTO time management) Laura Major - CTO at motional (an autonomous vehicle company 🚗) and author of the book ‘What To Expect When You Are Expecting Robots’🤖 - talks about what it takes to build a commercially-viable SAE Level 4 self-driving vehicle 🚘. The motional team has been working with Hyundai and Lyft to get robotaxis on the streets of Las Vegas by 2023. You don't want to miss this inside scoop on the AV industry from a robotics expert with a background in the aerospace industry🚀. Listen to find out: What goes into making AVs: sensing, data processing, testing, maintenance and more. Why they released their NuPlan dataset as a virtual driving test for AVs What its like competing in the autonomous vehicle industry. How to manage your time ⌚ as a CTO -How she deals with the (unfortunate) challenges inherent in being a #WomenInTech 👩‍💻 Listen here BROUGHT TO YOU BY: viadee IT Consulting and Moss viadee IT Consulting Love variety? Speak German? Want to help a mix of companies in different sectors with their IT needs? If you have a background in business informatics, computer science, mathematics, physics, etc. and want to help clients navigate IT challenges as a consultant and freelancer - listen up. viadee IT Consulting is looking for someone with your expertise to join their team. In addition to technical know-how, the ideal candidate will possess a strong team spirit. analytical mindset, openness, and a good dose of curiosity. They offer a growth-oriented and flexible environment (ranked Top 3 for the ‘ Beste Arbeitgeber in der ITK 2020’), warm colleagues (who also grew up with the internet and share many nerdy memories), and a people-centric company culture in which people deal constructively, openly and honestly with one another. As the core of their clients is from the North Rhine-Westphalia, working knowledge of German is essential. Let's work together to transform the digital future of companies in the North Rhine-Westphalia region viadee IT Consulting Moss Save time and money with Moss - an all-in-one solution for company expenses. With Moss companies manage all expenses in one place from anywhere. Moss allows you to automate your accounting by digitizing incoming invoices, pre-accounting receipts, and easy data export. With Moss, your monthly reports can be ready within minutes! Plus, you can tackle high cloud costs with the powerful Moss credit card which allows you to optimize your cash flow. Moss offers card limits of up to half a million Euros and payment terms of up to 60 days. Plus you also get 0.4% cashback on every payment. Find out what it's like to stay on top of all your expenses when you try Moss free of charge for 2 months using the coupon code: ALPHA. Moss

How to Optimise your Web Performance for Speed Our next guest has a serious need for ⚡ speed ⚡! I spoke with Ilya Grigorik, Principal Engineer at Shopify, founder and former CTO of PostRank (acquired by Google), former co-chair of W3C Web Performance working group. Learn how to optimize your website for speed 💨 with tips from the web performance engineer who worked on Google’s ‘Make Web Faster’ team (y’know, the one that brought you Core Web Vitals and Page Speed Insights). Listen to find out: Why every CTO needs how mobile networks operate 📲 before building anything mobile. How to use perceptual latency 👁️ to your advantage What features you should be using to #MakeTheWebFaster ⏩ How Shopify is pivoting to serve developers with its new Hydrogen and Oxygen frameworks. Why headless eCommerce isn’t actually head-less - it's got many heads (omnichannel). Listen here BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Valantic Valantic Deciding on the right eCommerce software for your company is tough. There are so many options available out there -each with its own implementation complexities. Valantic is a technology-agnostic service provider for the eCommerce industry that helps you to find the right solution for the job. They are experts in over 70% of the available technologies so you can be assured they will find the ideal product for your needs. They then implement it for you in accordance with your commercial, organizational and technical specifications. Read more: Valantic

Chrome Extensions, Zero-Knowledge Engineering and Half Baked Agile I spoke with Frédéric Rivain, CTO at Dashlane, the market-leading password management 🔐 solution. Learn about the future of passwords, why they are focussing on browsers instead of platforms, and how ‘half-baked agile’ works at Dashlane. Listen to find out: Why they are moving towards browser-centric delivery (away from OS 🖥️) The impact of **ManifestV3 **on the extensions 🧩 community. Why the future🔮 won’t be entirely passwordless How they minimize the impact of breaches with their** zero-knowledge🗃📦 approach** to engineering How they structure their teams👥�, processes📕 and OKRs ✔️ at Dashlane. Listen here BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Moss* and viadee IT Consulting Moss Save time and money with Moss - an all-in-one solution for company expenses. With Moss companies manage all expenses in one place from anywhere. Moss allows you to automate your accounting by digitizing incoming invoices, pre-accounting receipts, and easy data export. With Moss, your monthly reports can be ready within minutes! Plus, you can tackle high cloud costs with the powerful Moss credit card which allows you to optimize your cash flow. Moss offers card limits of up to half a million Euros and payment terms of up to 60 days. Plus you also get 0.4% cashback on every payment. Find out what it's like to stay on top of all your expenses when you try Moss free of charge for 2 months using the coupon code: ALPHA. Moss viadee IT Consulting Love variety? Speak German? Want to help a mix of companies in different sectors with their IT needs? If you have a background in business informatics, computer science, mathematics, physics, etc. and want to help clients navigate IT challenges as a consultant and freelancer - listen up. viadee IT Consulting is looking for someone with your expertise to join their team. In addition to technical know-how, the ideal candidate will possess a strong team spirit. analytical mindset, openness, and a good dose of curiosity. They offer a growth-oriented and flexible environment (ranked Top 3 for the ‘ Beste Arbeitgeber in der ITK 2020’), warm colleagues (who also grew up with the internet and share many nerdy memories), and a people-centric company culture in which people deal constructively, openly and honestly with one another. As the core of their clients is from the North Rhine-Westphalia, working knowledge of German is essential. Let's work together to transform the digital future of companies in the North Rhine-Westphalia region viadee IT Consulting

Data-Driven Technical Recruiting I spoke with Snir Yarom, CTO at Codility,🧑‍💻 - a leading technical assessment platform about the world of data-driven, technical recruiting 💼, the typical hiring process and how to** attract talent** in a competitive market. Listen to find out: How to use data 📊 to optimise each stage of your technical recruiting pipeline (e.g. sourcing, screening, interviews, assessment etc.) How to lead different tech teams across cultural divides 🇹🇭 🇮🇱 🇩🇪 (e.g. confrontational vs. non-confrontational culture). Why ‘Meeting the Team’ 🤝 is a key step in the hiring process. The best sources of engineers (by conversion rate). Listen here BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Dell* and Storyblok Dell Dell Technologies offer IT-Technology solutions for companies of any size, tailored to their needs. The experts that guide you are equipped with both the know-how and a huge product portfolio of possible. Their end-to-end IT Solutions range from laptops, PCs and workstations to server, storage, cloud and IoT solutions. Dell Storyblok Finally, a headless CMS that works for both developers and business users. Storyblok offers a combination of visual editing tools and highly customizable content blocks. This is built on a modern headless architecture that gives developers the flexibility to build fast and reliable digital platforms. The big benefit of headless CMS is that content can be streamed to any platform via API without having to manage the content multiple times. For example, customers use Storyblok for their websites, online stores, apps, or send the same content to Twitter, WeChat or Alexa skills. Find out why Storyblok is used by over 50,000 developers, product owners and managers in over 80,000 projects in 130 countries. Customers include Adidas, Marley Spoon, Deliveroo and more. Storyblok

How to Build an API, how to commercialise an open-source project & the evolving CTO role I spoke with Marco Palladino, Co-Founder & CTO at Kong 🐒, the market-leading API management gateway Solution. Learn deep insight into APIs, the future of the API Economy, and what it takes to build a great API from someone who has been involved in the API industry since its infancy. Listen to find out: How to build an API for each use case (external, microservice & mobile). Why it's only the beginning of the API economy 💹 Why the best infrastructure software has its roots in the open-source ☸️. How he managed to commercialise💸 an open-source project without alienating its community 👥 Listen here BROUGHT TO YOU BY: **Sastrify ** and Storyblok Sastrify Sastrify helps companies to optimize the cost of software procurement by negotiating with suppliers of each software. They saved OMR around €20.000 a year. A lot for a company of 150 people using tools like GSuite, Adobe Creative Cloud, NewRelic and more. It is a simple and hassle-free process. They promise to save more money than they cost. And as an alphalist.CTO podcast listener, you get a 50% discount for the first 3 months! So give them a try. Sastrify Storyblok Finally, a headless CMS that works for both developers and business users. Storyblok offers a combination of visual editing tools and highly customizable content blocks. This is built on a modern headless architecture that gives developers the flexibility to build fast and reliable digital platforms. The big benefit of headless CMS is that content can be streamed to any platform via API without having to manage the content multiple times. For example, customers use Storyblok for their websites, online stores, apps, or send the same content to Twitter, WeChat or Alexa skills. Find out why Storyblok is used by over 50,000 developers, product owners and managers in over 80,000 projects in 130 countries. Customers include Adidas, Marley Spoon, Deliveroo and more. Storyblok