Entrepreneurs are often seen as tech rockstars due to their grandiose keynotes and lavish lifestyles. But just like their frontmen counterparts, entrepreneurs often overshadow the true geniuses who are crafting the product.
If a gifted drummer or bassist is the backbone to a song’s success, it takes a knowledgeable listener to recognize their contribution. And the same can be said for the unsung engineers who craft a brilliant piece of software.
For every Jobs there’s a Wozniak and for every Daltrey there’s a Townshend.
But unlike these unheralded band members, your dev team needs to grow as your company finds success. So how do you find that perfect balance between staying lean and hiring who you need to take the company to the next level?
We spoke with established New York tech companies to find out how they transitioned from a lone engineer to a small dev team while keeping everyone on the same page:
Answers provided by COO and co-founder, Alex Poon
What was the transition like when your company went from a lone engineer or co-founder to a team?
What were you looking for in new hires during those early days?
How did you craft a lineup of developers to meet all of your needs?
Answers provided by CTO Liming Zhao
What was the transition like when your company went from a lone engineer or co-founder to a team?
"I am fortunate that on day one, the founders recruited a very solid founding engineering team which stayed with us up until today and are motivated by seeing Compass achieve its future successes. However, Compass did go through that process of having a few people that owned everything to a team of 50+ Engineers with team structures and clarified ownerships. The key of a smoother (or less painful) transition is being transparent with the team and acknowledge any system or structural shortcoming up front, which is only natural in a rapid growing startup. Sometimes it's fixing an issue from a failure, and sometimes it's anticipating a upcoming issue and addressing it preemptively."
What were you looking for in new hires during those early days?
How did you craft a lineup of developers to meet all of your needs?
Answers provided by co-founder and SVP of Product and Engineering, Mark Kornfit.
What was the transition like when your company went from a lone engineer or co-founder to a team?
"Deeply satisfying. Working with a team of smart people that truly care about our mission, and that are far better than us at what they do, is an infinite source of inspiration."
What were you looking for in new hires during those early days?
"We were looking for builders. People that are obsessed with creating new products, that want to make a difference, and that identify with what we're trying to achieve."
How did you craft a lineup of developers to meet all of your needs?
"We've always been on the lookout for great developers and referrals are always the best source of talent."
Another struggle of scaling your dev team is knowing if your product is performing as well as it should. To learn more about harnessing software analytics, check out what New Relic has to offer.
