Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech Leaders

Jens Neuse grew up in Germany, originally planning to be a carpenter. In his 2nd year as an apprentice, he was in a motorcycle wreck that thrust him into a process of surgery and healing. Eventually, he decided he wouldn't be doing carpentry, and got into sysadmin work. Once he got bored with this, he moved into startups, learned how to code, and starting digging into programming, API's and eventually - GraphQL federation. Outside of tech, he is married with 3 young kids. He loves to sit ski on the mountain - which is the coolest carbon fiber chair on a ski, where you steer with your knees and hips.After chasing building a better Apollo, Jens and his team ran into a point where their prior product and company was doomed to go under. When they accepted this fact, they started to think about what people actually wanted - and started to dig into the federation of GraphQL.This is the creation story of Wundergraph.SponsorsIncogniNordProtectVentionCodeCrafters helps you become a better engineer by building real-world, production-grade projects. Learn hands-on by creating your own Git, Redis, HTTP server, SQLite, or DNS server from scratch. Sign up for free today using this link and enjoy 40% off.Full ScalePaddle.comSema SoftwarePropelAuthPostmanMeilisearchLinkshttps://wundergraph.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jens-neuse-706673195Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/code-story-insights-from-startup-tech-leaders/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Brandon Card has always been involved in sports. In High School, he was a 3 sport athlete and still plays today, along side working out, doing yoga and pilates. He's heavily interested in holistic healing and alternative medicine, mentioning a big interest in quantum frequency healing, using the sun and ocean to add voltage to the body. He has also started a foundation around mental health, as sadly, he lost his co-founder to suicide, and wishes to remove the stigma from the mental health conversation.Brandon and his co-founder realized that all software platforms around contracts were directed towards lawyers - not towards finance. This was mind blowing, as negotiations are mostly finance driven, not based on the paragraphs of legal jargon. Brandon wanted to build something to serve this need.This is the creation story of Terzo.SponsorsIncogniNordProtectVentionCodeCrafters helps you become a better engineer by building real-world, production-grade projects. Learn hands-on by creating your own Git, Redis, HTTP server, SQLite, or DNS server from scratch. Sign up for free today using this link and enjoy 40% off.Full ScalePaddle.comSema SoftwarePropelAuthPostmanMeilisearchLinkshttps://terzo.ai/https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonrcardSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/code-story-insights-from-startup-tech-leaders/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Juan DeAngulo was born and raised in South America - then eventually, came to the status in 2017 for college to play Tennis. He kept playing throughout college and into his 40's, at which point he switched to golf and never picked up a racket again. He's been married for 25 years, with 2 older kids - one in law school, and one studying software development. As a family, they enjoy comedy, which funny enough was an acquired taste for Juan. They also love being outdoors, anywhere they can get out and about.At a prior company, Juan and his team created proprietary algorithms to intelligently predict and tie revenue. These models were based on tried and true processes. While Juan was obtaining an advanced degree at Harvard, his current venture was incubated around predictive revenue, and these algorithms.This is the creation story of Inselligence.SponsorsIncogniNordProtectVentionCodeCrafters helps you become a better engineer by building real-world, production-grade projects. Learn hands-on by creating your own Git, Redis, HTTP server, SQLite, or DNS server from scratch. Sign up for free today using this link and enjoy 40% off.Full ScalePaddle.comSema SoftwarePropelAuthPostmanMeilisearchLinkshttps://inselligence.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/juandeangulo/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/code-story-insights-from-startup-tech-leaders/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Today, we are continuing our series, entitled Developer Chats - hearing from the large scale system builders themselves.In this episode, we are talking with Petr Petrenko, Senior PHP Backend Engineer. Petr will take us through his developer journey, in working on large scale backends, managing the tension between stability and innovation, and designing systems to interact with culturally different economies.QuestionsYou’ve worked on large-scale backends that serve millions of users. At what point do systems start to outgrow the teams that built them?At some point, every mature backend reaches a stage where rewriting is no longer realistic. How do you recognize when a system has crossed that line, and what’s the right way to handle it?There’s always this tension between stability and innovation. How do you decide when a system needs refactoring versus when you just need to live with the technical debt?Let’s talk about the human side of legacy systems — what have you learned about culture, documentation, and knowledge transfer that keeps old systems alive and reliable?You’ve also built and maintained complex payment systems for global users. What’s something most engineers underestimate about cross-border transactions?When you’re designing systems that deal with different currencies, laws, and tax regulations, how do you balance the technical with the ethical — for example, user privacy or data sovereignty?For engineers listening who want to build something durable — not just fast — what advice would you give about writing code that will still make sense years from now?One of your most impressive projects is a high-performance image-matching system you built yourself, capable of scanning tens of millions of images with sub-second results. Can you walk us through the moment you realized you needed to redesign the system — and what engineering choices made that level of performance possible?You’ve also worked on billing systems and fraud mitigation at scale. Was there ever a moment when you had to choose between a technically “clean” solution and a solution that better protected users or the business? How did you make that call?SponsorsIncogniNordProtectVentionCodeCrafters helps you become a better engineer by building real-world, production-grade projects. Learn hands-on by creating your own Git, Redis, HTTP server, SQLite, or DNS server from scratch. Sign up for free today using this link and enjoy 40% off.Full ScalePaddle.comSema SoftwarePropelAuthPostmanMeilisearchLinkshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/petr-petrenko-006534150/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/code-story-insights-from-startup-tech-leaders/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Sarah Lucena, Founder and CEO of MAPA, shares her journey from feeling unfulfilled in her career to creating behavior-mapping technology that enhances hiring processes. She discusses how analyzing voice and biomarker data can predict team compatibility and shares insights into her early days with an artisanal MVP. Sarah emphasizes MAPA's mission to foster genuine human connections and the importance of feedback-driven product development. With plans for a 2026 public API launch, she highlights the value of relationships and a people-first approach in her tech vision.

Tucker Callaway, CEO of Mezmo and former sales engineer, dives into his journey from log management to revolutionizing observability. He discusses how Mezmo aims to leverage AI and real-time telemetry for better context engineering. Tucker shares insights on team-building, emphasizing curiosity over credentials, and reflects on hiring mistakes with empathy. He also talks about scalability lessons from his experience with IBM Cloud and highlights the importance of resilience and joy in leadership, drawing inspiration from athletes like Steph Curry.

Hojjat Jafarpour, Founder and CEO of DeltaStream with a PhD in databases and an early engineer at Confluent, shares insights on simplifying cloud-based stream processing. He discusses his journey from building kSQL to creating DeltaStream's serverless platform. Hojjat emphasizes the importance of solutions over mere technology and highlights features like real-time materialized views. He also reflects on recruitment challenges, scalability decisions, and the importance of early market feedback. Exciting plans for integrating real-time data with AI agents are also on the horizon!

Svyatoslav Babinets, an Engineering Manager at Meta, boasts a rich background in large-scale multiplayer games and 3D systems. He delves into the intricacies of building architectures that support millions of users, highlighting the balance between high development velocity and user experience. The discussion covers effective strategies for fostering cross-functional collaboration through virtual mission squads. Svyatoslav shares insights on designing reliable platform ecosystems, emphasizing the importance of trust in engineering decisions while envisioning the future of human-digital interaction.

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.

Gajus Kuizinas, the founder and CTO of Contra, discusses his unique journey from a non-traditional upbringing in Lithuania to developing a commission-free talent marketplace. He highlights the creative process behind Contra’s redesign, emphasizing user feedback and competitive analysis. Gajus also shares insights into hiring strategies, such as using Stack Overflow for recruitment, and reflects on critical decisions like prioritizing feature parity. He reveals ambitious plans for integrating AI and personalized identity while advising entrepreneurs to trust their vision.