Zip Co’s Post

A lesson that has profoundly shaped my professional journey. One of the biggest "Decisions" I made early in my career was leaving the comfort of a large MNC to join a fast-paced mid-size startup. While it felt risky at the time, this move allowed me to bring invaluable knowledge of good SOPs which I seamlessly implemented at my new company, York IE. Little did I know, this "Decision" would pave the way for immense growth and opportunity. I've learned to embrace a mindset of resilience. I take a brief pause, reflect on the situation, and devise multiple contingency plans - Plan A, B, C and beyond. This approach has taught me not to rely solely on idealized future outcomes but to be prepared for every situation. The biggest lesson? Proactively mitigating risks rather than reactively addressing them. At York IE, we firmly believe that mistakes are catalysts for growth when approached with the right mindset. If we're truly innovating and pushing boundaries, setbacks are inevitable. But it's how we respond that matters most. We foster a culture of transparency, where mistakes are openly discussed, analyzed through post-incident reviews, and learned from collectively. I vividly recall a project where a simple misunderstanding of the client's vision initially led us astray. However, through collaborative efforts, open communication, and a willingness to course-correct, we not only realigned our strategy but successfully launched their MVP - a breakthrough that paved the way for future successes. To those hesitant to take risks or make mistakes, I urge you to embrace the unknown. It's through these challenges that we truly discover our potential and unlock transformative growth. The path may be winding, but the journey is what shapes us. Reflecting on my career, I can confidently say that my mistakes have been instrumental in shaping the leader I am today. They've cultivated patience, empathy, and an unwavering commitment to enabling success - in myself and those around me. Mistakes are inevitable, but how we respond to them is what matters most. So, let's continue to champion a culture where mistakes are not just accepted but celebrated as catalysts for innovation and progress. Together, we can redefine failure as a stepping stone towards unparalleled growth and achievement. #YorkIEAPAC

Companies get hurt by people leaving - but a lot of their pain is self-inflicted 🤕... Again, thanks LinkedIn Collaborative Articles for giving me this opportunity 😉 - This time, the question was: How do you manage the risks of turnover in your company? My take: you can never prevent turnover, but you can extend your elasticity to be able to cope with it. Here's how: ✅ See anyone's position in your company as temporary by definition, and agree on 'walking the same path' for a while. A company is not a family, but more like a sports team (Reed Hastings - Netflix). ✅ Lead by example: if management is known to be transparent, this will reflect on the employees. This is harder than you think, because it also applies to less positive messages, which are often swept under the rug. ✅ Actively work on avoiding becoming dependent on individuals. Know your 𝗕𝘂𝘀 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿.... ✅ Make Knowledge Sharing a core element of your culture, and actively work on psychological safety by listening to your employees empathetically. ✅ Work on digitally recording your company's valuable assets and knowledge in a corporate wiki, and make everyone contribute. ✅ Make sure documenting is part of a role's official responsibilities, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. ✅ Identify individuals who tend to hoard knowledge and seem to value feeling important, and coach them. ✅ Identify existing incentives and recognition systems in your company, that inadvertently promote knowledge hoarding. ✅ Reward any initiative that enhances knowledge sharing. ————————————— By the way, as a side effect of some of these measures, you might just get less people leaving ☺️. #turnover #culture #documentation #knowledgemanagement #busfactor #strategy #hr #cto #fcto 🚀I provide CTO-as-a-Service to Startups and Scaleups 🏅I mentor aspiring CTOs 💡I write about startups & the CTO life 🔔Ring the bell on my profile to see when I post 🔗neerventure dot com ✒️Find me on Medium: @neerventure

In the world of tech, where innovation meets relentless change, it's easy to feel like we're constantly riding a roller coaster. As someone who's journeyed through roles at Disney, Amazon, and multiple startups, I've experienced firsthand the highs and lows depicted in this image. Your feelings will fluctuate. Your wellbeing will fluctuate. Your performance will fluctuate. But your worth will not. This visual is a reminder that despite the inevitable ebbs and flows, our intrinsic value remains steadfast. From managing technical debt to leading global teams, my path has been anything but linear. Each challenge has been a stepping stone, shaping my resilience and fortifying my commitment to excellence. Whether it's spearheading the development of ESPN products or extensive optimizations at Amazon, the constant has been the unwavering belief in my worth and the worth of those I lead. To my fellow innovators, leaders, and dreamers: Embrace the fluctuations. They are the rhythm of growth and progress. Your worth is your anchor, keeping you grounded as you navigate the waves of change. Let's continue to inspire and support each other, knowing that while the journey may be unpredictable, our value is unshakeable. #Innovation #TechLeadership #Resilience #GrowthMindset #SoftwareEngineering #MentalHealthMatters

Marc has a brilliant starter list, inspired by retention as a goal, aimed at improving your engineering culture. The aspect I would encourage you to consider as you think about your engineering and product employees while reading this list is this: does the engineering culture differ from the rest of the company? If so, is that healthy or is that a symptom of something else? In general (so a good rule of thumb, but not universally true) I recommend that you align engineering culture as closely as you can to the rest of the business. You still need to acknowledge the differences in the creative workflow and mentality needed to produce great software products though. It can be a tough balancing act, especially if you haven't focused much on curating the work environment before, but it is absolutely possible with some deliberate planning and a dash of experience.

Here's a tip I heard a long time ago when discussing how to create a culture of action, iteration and speed: 🔄 Stop debating scope. It's a moving target that will keep your timelines in limbo. Instead, fix your time and let the scope adapt. Time is non-negotiable and immovable. This approach forces simplicity and purpose, bringing clarity and focus to your projects. How many times have you debated the scope of the MVP only to have it moved again and again! ⏳ Time-boxing your efforts ensures you prioritize what truly matters and deliver impactful results. When you set a fixed timeline, you create a sense of urgency and drive that pushes your team to focus on the essentials. This method not only enhances productivity but also fosters innovation as constraints often lead to creative solutions. 💡 Why does this work? Because when time is fixed, every decision becomes more deliberate. You’re compelled to strip away the non-essential and zero in on what will truly move the needle. This clarity is invaluable, especially in the fast-paced world of startups where agility and speed are critical. Just like "necessity is the mother of invention," constraints can breed the best creativity!

There seems to be a common belief that having experience in an industry is beneficial. Being in the startup industry for more than a decade has taught me that bright young minds can disrupt established industries. The ones who get disrupted are much larger industry incumbents who have way more experience. Approaching my mid-40s now, I’m no longer the young upstart I was when I first began. As the companies kept growing and we kept optimizing our processes, I made some mistakes with critical strategic or key operational decisions drawn from previous experiences that may have held my team back. Hence, I want to be more aware of this possible trap and prevent it from happening again as much as possible. I then took a step back and went up the chain of my thought process. Did I develop a fear of failing? Am I giving myself excuses by telling myself I have to make decisions faster now that the company is bigger and has more decisions to make? F*ck, am I getting lazier??? I am in no doubt that we need to continue to disrupt; otherwise, we will be disrupted ourselves. How do I become even more aware, and are there tools out there that can help categorize these thoughts for me? How do I use my experience to help my team and company without hindering their spark and progress? My opinion is that having experience is definitely beneficial - only if used correctly. However, it can also easily lead a person into falling into the trap of comfort zone without sufficient awareness.

Driving the other day, I reflected on my evolving habits. Younger me would zoom past the speed limit, but maturity has seen me appreciating the value of pacing. Rushing saves me little time but increases risk and costs. This mirrors software development. Teams have a natural speed – exceed it, and you risk bugs, poor choices, and burnout. As technical leaders, our role is to discern this speed, ensuring efficiency while watching for signs of strain. In a #startup like remx, multitasking is the norm. Priorities need constant management, and expectations require calibration. Recently, we've sped up our releases, beneficial for short-term product-market fit but perhaps taxing in the long run. A retrospective revealed a trade-off; the fast pace improved prioritization but affected our remote team dynamics. We sidelined some team bonding, which we now recognize as crucial. In essence, we've found a new speed limit – a tad higher, yet sustainable with the right balance. #technicalleadership #startup #teamculture

Came across this very insightful note from James Everingham regarding processes in teams. Having been in startups(early & late stage) and large-scale enterprises, I'm reflecting on what was simplified through processes for me and what challenges I faced when there were none. Couldn't agree more with the 5 he lists. Reassured that 3 of these were already on my radar, this gives me another 2 to look more carefully at now. Thank you for putting this out there, James. 1. Centralized guidance - Localized decision-making - such a must for speed. 2. Clarity in goals - help the team know exactly what they need to do 3. Rectify bad hiring asap - Couldn't agree more - have seen this time and again. To paraphrase "Do they value feedback? How do they deal with conflict? How do they influence?" 4. Culture of feedback at a cadence - big game changer with the right manner and motivation 5. Governing principles - When people know the 'how' on decisions, it is easier for them to find answers to the 'what' in actions. It is incredibly difficult and slow to have a mature team, then start adhering to processes. The earlier they're in, the more effective processes are for all.

I’ve scaled companies from a start-ups to large organizations. These are the 11 biggest challenges that I faced: 1.    Maintaining our company culture was extremely challenging. As the company grew, preserving the core values and culture that defined the early days became increasingly difficult. The intimate atmosphere of a small team changed with new hires and expanded departments. 2.    With growth, communication became more complex and less effective. Ensuring that information flowed efficiently and accurately across different levels and departments was a significant challenge. 3.    It was really hard, after a point, to scale leadership. The leadership skills required in a small start-up differed vastly from those needed in a large organization. This led to many grueling hours of discussion about who to bring in for those leadership positions. It was impossible to only promote from within because we were growing so fast, so we had to hire from external sources. 4.    Rapid expansion can strain financial resources, especially free cash flow. Balancing between investing in growth and maintaining healthy cash reserves became all-consuming and critical. 5.    Finding the right talent that fitted the company culture and retaining them as the organization changed was a tough task. The competitive job market made this even more challenging. 6.    As the business grew, processes that worked for a small team may become inefficient. Constantly refining operations to handle increased scale was crucial. We were literally changing and adapting processes every several weeks. 7.    Ensuring a consistent customer experience was no easy task.  Things slipped through the cracks and service scores dropped at some points. 8.    As we grew and adopted new processes and programs, we faced more scrutiny and had to comply with a broader set of regulations and compliance initiatives. Managing these risks became increasingly complex and time consuming. 9.    When we first started we were nibble and innovative but as we grew maintaining that level of innovation became challenging amidst the focus on operations and management. 10. When we went international, that opened up a whole can of worms, dealing with different market dynamics, cultural nuances, legal frameworks, and business practices was daunting. 11. Balancing short-term and long-term goals was like walking on a tightrope. Aligning the immediate operational needs with the long-term strategic vision of the company was a delicate balancing act which only became more and more challenging as we grew. For more insights like these, follow me Simon Crawford-Welch, Ph.D. #scaling #scaleups #scaleyourbusiness #growthstrategy #growth

From the first day of building topmate.io, Dinesh & I were focused on having the right team.🤝 Because, even if you're a genius, your business can still fail spectacularly by not having the right people on your team. Why? Because no matter how smart you are, you can't do it all alone. Building a successful startup takes a talented crew with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Think about the greatest businesses out there. They didn't get to the top by having one brilliant mind call all the shots. They invested in assembling teams of creative thinkers who could approach problems from different angles. Many of the team members are my college mates. So, obviously the trust factor is high. If you have the best team then you can.. ➡️Have better results ➡️Be more creative ➡️Work in happier environment At the end of the day, our team is our most vital asset on the path to success. ✨ So, you should also prioritize hiring people who bring new skills and ideas to the table. Please give them the autonomy and support to shine. Be humble enough to learn from them daily. What's your experience when it comes to assembling a stellar team? #teambuilding #leadership