The Baseline

I joined a startup where engineering velocity was crawling—and no one could quite explain why. - Features took weeks instead of days -...

He was the most senior. He knew the code inside out. He had some lead experience at a previous job. So when we needed a manager - I...

A founder once asked: “Why are we moving slower now than when we were half the size?” At 15 engineers, systems that used to “just work”...

I got this question a lot from founders and engineering leaders trying to scale. The Spotify model—tribes, squads, chapters,...

I’ve worked with teams where the manager was the biggest blocker—not because they lacked skills, but because they believed the title did...

Early engineers love to build. It’s why they joined a startup: to create, invent, solve from scratch. But there’s a trap founders rarely...

I’ve seen both sides go sideways: Teams sink 18 months into building “table stakes” tools SaaS solutions that looked fast… until...

A founder once asked me, “What’s the best architecture for a fast-scaling SaaS company?” My answer? It depends. (Not because I'm being...

A founder once asked me: "Should we rewrite the whole thing, or just refactor it piece by piece?" My answer? Depends on what you're...

The way you ship. The way you communicate. The way you hire, plan, lead. If your startup feels messy, it’s not a failure — it’s a sign...

It’s not always burnout. It’s not always compensation. It's not always micro management. Sometimes, it’s something quieter: No clear...

A founder once told me: “We need to start measuring how fast our developers are coding.” I asked, “Why?” He said, “Well… how else do I...

I believe in servant leadership. But here’s what most leadership books miss: It works differently across cultures. In low power-distance...

A manager once asked me, “Aren’t you being too soft with the team?” I had just rolled out: - Weekly 1:1s with engineers - Roadmap...

A founder once asked me if they should let an engineer go. “He’s completely burned out,” the founder said. “He’s not producing. I think...

I get this question from time to time: "How much Agile do we really need?" My answer: Enough to serve the team  and the product  — not...

One of the most common things I see in early-stage startups is a title mismatch. A great engineer joins early. They build the MVP. They...

Early in my career, I thought being a leader meant having all the answers. Driving the roadmap. Setting the pace. But the real turning...

A startup had a familiar problem: Great vision, solid engineers, and zero momentum. They had three developers. But they were running...

Every startup takes it on. The question isn’t if—it’s how you manage it. There’s good tech debt and bad tech debt. Good tech debt is a...