You create, we grow. Hypergrowth is the growth hacking agency accelerating startups and enterprises across Europe. We use metric-driven marketing to put your business in front of the right people. We drive your success. Growth is a process and we can help you make sense of it. From the freshest ideas on the frontlines of emerging technologies like AI, Blockchain, and the Internet of Things, to the companies shaking up traditional industries, we want to hack your growth. Our battle-hardened analysts, marketers, and entrepreneurs deliver data-driven, content-powered and ROI-focused campaigns, and we don’t like to mess around.

Hypergrowth

hypergrowth

The Hidden Cost of Hypergrowth: Scale Without Sacrificing Stability

Karat CTO Neil Kumar shares techniques for hitting hiring targets without sacrificing product deadlines In 2018, total venture capital (VC) funds invested totaled , surpassing invested during all of 2017. Compared to 2017, the median VC deal size experienced double-digit percentage growth across all investment stages — the highest jump since 2015. $131 billion $84 billion The primary investment targets of these funds are software-driven companies whose products and solutions are expected to change the way we do everything, from how we commute to the way we’re treated for cancer. These funds are often invested in companies that show huge potential in the short term, pushing them into hyper-growth mode. If these hyper-growth phase companies funnel their capital into the right teams and develop the right products, they will propel significant revenue growth in the very near future. For many companies, this means hiring software engineers to do that product development. But two challenges quickly rear their heads: 1. Software engineering talent isn’t as plentiful as capital. 2. There isn’t enough current engineering capacity internally to conduct the interviews needed to hire new engineers and hit product goals. At Karat, we see that the average company in a high growth or hyper-growth phase will increase the size of its software engineering team by 117% in 2019. Many have teams that are 100% dedicated to software development to begin with, with no available time for interviewing. As a result, engineering leaders are fielding questions about the ability (or inability) to hire as well as reach product deadlines. Who among us hasn’t heard these questions like these, only moments apart: “Your team needs to hire 20 new engineers this quarter, but you’ve only extended 5 offers so far. What’s going on?” Followed by: “Why is the deadline for X feature being pushed? Customers are begging for this.” The answer may be tough to swallow. The fact is that you can rarely achieve both when you only have a portion of the existing team size you need to achieve product and corresponding revenue goals. Due to this Catch-22, companies often miss hiring goals by as much as 40%. This leads to a significant amount of anxiety among tech hiring managers and recruiters. feel that the tech talent shortage has hurt their business through lost revenue, slower product development, market expansion and/or increased employee tension and burnout. 83% I’ve been responsible for growing software engineering teams in a variety of circumstances as talent and capital markets have fluctuated. I helped grow the software engineering team at Yelp from 12 to over 200 software engineers. I conducted thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of first-round interviews and onsites in the process. It wasn’t easy then and it’s not easy today. Yet, there are techniques you can use to get through it and optimize the hiring process while climbing a steep growth curve. Here are a few approaches I’ve taken in the past and continue to find helpful today. 1. Streamline the hiring funnel and reduce the number of onsites per hire. When I was the VP of Engineering at Yelp, I created a recruiting team within my software engineering team. This was necessary because the skills we were looking for were incredibly specialized. We found that building strong relationships between these two teams helped them make informed decisions on the cultural add and technical skills candidates would bring to the table. Recruiters and hiring managers should be able to speak about these topics early in the interview process. If they wait until the onsite interview to figure this out, they’re wasting time. However, if you’re trying to increase the size of your team by 50% or even 150%, you’ll probably need to look at other options to gain efficiencies throughout the hiring funnel. These options may include decreasing the number of onsite interviews you need through more and more rigorous first-round technical interview. 2. Pair a structured and consistent interview with a flexible candidate experience. Investing in candidate experience will leave a big (and positive) impression on candidates. Consider that say a negative interview experience can change their mind about a role or company they once liked, while 87% say a positive interview experience can change their mind about a role or company they once doubted. 83% of talent Dedication to establishing interview success criteria early in the recruiting process and quickly responding to candidates give you a speed advantage that other companies might not have. Also, recruiters who build relationships with candidates can more easily keep track of those who took offers at other companies, helping you better understand your hiring bar. Technical interviews should be structured and consistent across your organization so that candidates can be evaluated on their merit and skills. Structure and consistency make repeatability possible. If multiple engineers are aware of this process and the criteria for success, then they should be able to assess each skill with equal reliability in the onsite loop. As a result, interviews won’t get delayed by scheduling. Interviewing 24/7, giving candidates the option to redo the interview and the ability to schedule their interview directly with the interviewer will make your company stand out — no matter how sexy or unsexy you may feel your product is. Speed and flexibility are both critical to the candidate experience. At Karat, we see that when given the opportunity, 60% of candidates interview outside of business hours and 14% will redo their interview. 3. Unlock software engineering time and put it into product development. Software engineers are motivated by solving problems. Interviewing can be a major distraction from that primary motivation. I’ve heard software engineers say that when interviewing, they only get about one and a half to two productive coding hours in a day. That’s a shame. You can take steps to mitigate the amount of time software engineers spend interviewing and reward those that do. To help maximize productive coding time, consider accommodating schedules. This approach to scheduling recognizes that creative employees, like engineers, are most productive when they aren’t interrupted by meetings and interviews. Instead, it may be better to book them for blocks of time, rather than 30-minute interviews sporadically placed throughout the day. Schedule interviews in blocks of time: maker Your team will ultimately decrease the number of onsite interviews software engineers need to participate in. Then, the creativity and time of a happy and focused team can be unlocked and reinvested into product development. Test your technical interviews to verify they can accurately identify candidates that meet your hiring bar: It can be very demotivating for software engineers to spend time interviewing and feel that it’s a tax on job performance, rather than a benefit to themselves and the team. Consider recognizing and evaluating interviewing skills on performance reviews. This way, you can reward it as well as look for opportunities to team members to improve. Recognize interviewing as a skill in performance reviews: Tech companies claimed the top five spots in the U.S. for R&D spending in 2017, investing a combined total of . In order to keep up with the largest tech companies, it’s imperative to be strategic with how you motivate your software engineers and allocate their time. $76 billion Getting out of the hyper-growth catch 22 It’s true that there isn’t enough software engineering talent to meet demand. The tech talent shortage is real and the competition is not going to relent. However, you can find competitive advantages by: Working in lockstep with recruiting to streamline the process Testing your first-round technical interviews to ensure they identify talent that meets your bar Ensuring your interviews are structured, consistent, but are part of a flexible and fast process Reducing the amount of time software engineers spend interviewing altogether As you look forward to your growth plans in 2019, you may feel like achieving your hiring targets while reaching product development deadlines isn’t possible. To be frank, if nothing changes in the existing process, that might be the case. To achieve your hiring targets and product development goals you’ll have to do what you’ve always done as a tech leader: experiment, innovate and lead by finding a better way to solve a very big problem. To learn more about Karat and what we’re doing to increase interviewing capacity on software engineering teams, visit us at Karat.com .

Are you stuck in the Catch-22 of hiring for hyper-growth?

Credits: Advancing Women in Product Team, Alok Gupta , Kanika Kapoor Traditionally, companies in the enterprise software industry have been known to be significantly different from their consumer based counterparts. While consumer companies are focused on quick iteration cycles, with extreme focus on user experience, and consumer virality, enterprise companies have been stereotyped to be far slower moving with more emphasis on pure functionality for enterprise clients. However, the enterprise industry has recently been undergoing major developments and change as the industry shifts more towards cloud and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based solutions, with Salesforce as the pioneer. Notably, this allows for faster iterations of the product, more metrics (as a faster rate) to help drive data-driven decisions, and more predictable recurring revenue models. In addition, building these SaaS products for hypergrowth has required Product Managers to rethink how they build and ship these products to their customers in order to maximize immediate value for the customer and be sticky in order to maintain and grow their revenue stream. To share their stories and discuss their approaches to building SaaS products for hyper growth, (AWIP) hosted a panel of Product Managers at the inaugural South Bay Chapter event at Rubrik’s HQ in Palo Alto. The panel featured speakers (SVP of Product, Rubrik), (Director of Product at Nutanix), and (VP of Product at Applitools) with (Senior Product Manager at Google) as the moderator. The following are some of the highlights of the panel’s discussion. Advancing Women in Product Shay Mowlem Nikita Maheshwari Aakrit Prasad Judy Chang How do you define a successful B2B product? What are some trends you’ve been seeing in the space? From our hunch 10 to 15 years ago that customer experience was probably important, we’ve evolved to thinking that it’s absolutely foundational to the success of the product. The shift has gone to almost maniacal focus on the customer, their experience using the product, and helping them understand the true value of the product as quickly as possible, Shay shared. Enterprise customers today expect their enterprise product design and experience to be as simple to use as consumer products. To that end, Nikita shared that at Nutanix, they have an entire team that is focused on setting up and installing the product as quickly as possible. In addition, it’s absolutely critical to make it easy to try new product offerings and get upsold on the value of these additional offerings. To do so, minimizing the friction to try these new products and services is tantamount to the growth of the business. The companies that are able to scale rapidly have products that are quick to setup, install, and start using. Can you think of an example SaaS company that has done really well in this area of ease of use and great experience, besides Salesforce? One great example of another company that has excelled in this area is Atlassian. Although some of their products didn’t do so well, such as their Slack competitor Stride, they nonetheless hit their target user bases needs very well. Specifically, they have done a great job in building a versatile suite of dev tools that resonate really well with their core users. Their main products (JIRA, Confluence, Bitbucket, etc.) have taken off so well and provide great end to end solutions for problems their customers face in their day to day. The products are well designed, easy to use, and Atlassian has done an awesome job in making it easy to try and purchase additional services/add-ons, which shows considering the impressive growth of the company over the years. Another great example of a company with high focus on ease of use and customer experience is AppDynamics. As a part of a research study that Nikita and her team conducted, it was found that AppDynamics’ setup process involved only three clicks to get started with the product. Minimizing the friction in order to get started with the product helps the customer quickly understand the true value proposition of the product and how it can solve their problems for them. For businesses, this can mean faster sales cycles, more product stickiness, and far more opportunity to upsell customers beyond their traditional offerings and into their new services or addons, generating additional growth through this loop. With SaaS products, you can get metrics/results quickly and iterate upon this. With all of these different data points, how do you most effectively prioritize features? Indeed, with faster feedback loops that SaaS products offer, getting metrics, results, and general performance indicators of the product is easier than ever before. You can see how your product is performing, how your customers like the product, if it creates value for these customers, and if it’s a sticky solution. Having been at Nutanix when it grew from 250 employees to over 4,000 employees today, Nikita explained how the company made it easy to prioritize features that your large customers wanted since that would most easily push your metrics, particularly revenue figures. However, it’s still extremely important to also focus on the tail end of your customers (in size) to build features that work across all customers rather than ad-hoc solutions for larger individual customers who often may have specific, customized needs. While in the short term you may not notice the direct impacts of this, you’ll notice it over a period of time as these features that work across multiple types of customers will help attract new customers and further fuel your business. It’s important to be aware and cognizant of your customers needs but you can’t let that entirely dictate your product roadmap and planning. In order to stay ahead in the market, it’s important to plan for the future and get to where the puck is going instead of only focusing on where the puck is today. In addition, the ability to try things, fail fast, and validate releases with a subset of customers before rolling out to all customers is important for staying ahead. Customers will always give their requirements, but as a Product Manager it’s important to be able to distill that into your roadmap that maps to the strategy you have based on the company’s business goals. How do you make time to think 10x for your product and put together a strategy to get there? It’s often too easy to have tunnel vision as you focus on the growth and success of your product, losing sight of the larger picture and landscape. It’s definitely important to take a step back and understand how your product strategy of today aligns with the goals you have outlined for the business moving forward over the next X years. At Rubrik, Shay is focused not only on becoming a multibillion dollar company but also understanding where they need to be in the next 4–5 years. The goal isn’t just to have a high valuation but rather focus on how to become a staple company in the Enterprise market, joining the likes of Salesforce and Oracle. The main question then revolves more around how to keep delivering incremental value on top of the core backup and recovery over the years to keep growing at such a rapid scale, therefore building exponential value over time. How many women PMs are there in your company? What percentage of the PMs in your company are women? The general consensus here seemed to be “lower than it should be.” At AppDynamics, The story remains similar at Nutanix, where only 3 out of the 20 Product Managers were women. only 4 out of 60 Product Managers are women. Clearly, there’s an imbalance in the ratio of women PMs in these companies, which is fairly reflective of the industry as a whole, especially in B2B companies. However, it’s important to have women in Product as it helps contribute to the diversity of thought and provides additional viewpoints that are impactful to the success of the product and therefore, a businesses’ bottom line. Nikita explained how originally, she was intimidated as a female Product Manager in a room full of men but turned this into her advantage as she found she was able to provide new perspectives and viewpoints that her male counterparts didn’t have. On the topic of scaling, how do you help assist the rapid growth of a company as a Product Manager and how do you keep up with your goals? It’s easy to get into the day to day doing deep dives on your product and develop a sort of tunnel vision in this way. However, it’s important to push yourself out and understand the larger picture and landscape of the industry. Nikita does this by attending conferences to understand the shifting of trends and learn about new developments in the field. To further broaden her understanding of her customers, she spent 3 months in the Amsterdam office of Nutanix to better understand her European customers, which often had different needs than the traditional American customers she was used to interacting with. When acquiring companies, it helps to sit down with the CEO to understand their story, background, and where they’re coming from to better understand the company’s context, mission, and user base. In addition, working at rapidly growing companies provides the unique opportunity of having many new people to speak with to learn from and help further broaden your understandings. Overall, the inaugural South Bay chapter event for AWIP was a success and there were many insightful takeaways from these Product Managers who are working on scaling these B2B products for hypergrowth. Key Takeaways: Have extreme focus on your customer, their needs, requirements, and feedback. Make the process of getting started with your product as simple as possible — let your customer spend more time using the product to understand the value of it rather than merely setting it up. It’s important to have a broad set of perspectives — while it’s easy to get lost in the day to day of your product, take time to step out and understand where the industry is today, where it’s going, and better understand the landscape as a whole. To watch the full panel discussion that was hosted by AWIP, you can . watch the full video here How to stay updated with future events: // Follow us on , and Sign up! Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Like the AWIP Facebook Page Follow the AWIP Twitter Sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter updates

Scaling B2B SaaS Products for Hypergrowth — An event by Advancing Women in Product (AWIP)

I joined Skyscanner in 2009. At the time the team was less than 30 people working on the flights meta-search product that had just enough Product-Market-Fit. Following continuous year-on-year double-digit growth in both users and revenue; reaching 60 million travellers, using 30 languages and who were booking 2 million flights, every month; and growing a team of 900+ across 10 offices worldwide — . Skyscanner was acquired by CTrip in November 2016 for £1.4 Billion ($1.74 Billion) In late 2017, I was asked to speak at , giving them insights into what it was like to experience that level of hyper-growth seen at Skyscanner. The topic in question was around navigating the stages that organisations go through as they grow. This is a summary of that talk. . a knowledge sharing forum for ambitious start-ups in Scotland The slides are also available on Slideshare Navigating the stages of hyper-growth Hockey Stick Curve of Growth The is the aspiration of every ambitious / scale-up business. However, this smooth curve fails to accurately represent the reality. It’s zoomed out, smoothed macro-view allows us to intellectually apply models of business maturity and define the stages over the course of entire life of the business. perfect hockey-stick of growth achieved by those leading technology-led businesses start-up The reality is that at any point in time, it is never this perfect exponential curve. Living through it is different. For a business undergoing significant , the truth is actually more like a number of much more granular, smaller, cycles of hockey-stick growth. Skyscanner’s growth in monthly active users from 2003–2016 is a far more accurate representation. growth Skyscanner’s growth monthly active users from 2003 to 2016 Each year represents a new evolution or a new stage in the journey. There are points in the journey where conscious effort was required to ensure that we actively continued on that trajectory. The stages and cycles are much shorter and more numerous than a single lifetime model suggests. In his 1981 book, Only the Paranoid Survive, Andrew Grove, Intel’s co-founder introduced the concept of an Inflection Point: A strategic inflection point is a time in the life of business when its fundamentals are about to change. That change can mean an opportunity to rise to new heights. But it may just as likely signal the beginning of the end. In a high growth organisation these inflection points happen frequently — some are localised to one product area but some affect the entire organisation. Each one creates new conditions, new norms and requires different approaches. There may only be months between them, particularly early on as the organisation accelerates. Rarely, do you get years. Whether it is because you discover new insights that require a in your product destination or whether it is growing pains that come from doubling the team size, the fundamental shifts are . significant pivot inevitable Each inflection point is also unique to you and your business. There is no defined playbook for winning in your new context — to continue to thrive and grow requires your full investment in working through these challenges. Experience can help you recognise them, and help identify what may have worked in a similar situation but must be applied with caution. Continuously Improve , a Pre-Socratic philosopher who lived during the 6th century BC, is credited with this fragment. Heraclitus Everything changes and nothing remains still … and … you cannot step twice into the same stream As a software engineer, I have always known that has had a significant bearing on our discipline. As processors get faster, storage gets cheaper, new approaches and new systems are being built at an unprecedented rate. It is impossible to keep up with every advancement. Moore’s law What I have come to recognise is that it is not just a technological evolution. The technology is only a tool we use in achieving our goals. Our approaches to problems and the process that drive those solutions, must evolve as we scale in conjunction with the technology. We have to increase the effectiveness of the whole system. As organisations, teams and individuals, we have to continually improve — accepting that, in our new context, what was previous working for us, will begin to limit our success. What worked Yesterday, is Painful Today, Will be Broken Tomorrow As we open ourselves up to challenging our existing approaches, we will begin to look at problems from different, more original, angles and experiment as a way to discover the new approaches that will work today. We begin to recognise that failure really is just an opportunity. The essence to reflect and continuously improve is pervasive throughout Skyscanner. For the small agile squads, it has been natural for us to ask ourselves — “What worked well and what didn’t go so well” on a regular basis. What was considerably more difficult was when we started looking at large scale delivery problems spanning multiple teams. One such was our translation processes —when operating in 30+ languages this can slow us down significantly. We had to discover techniques and assess the whole rather than the localised problems a team faced. We stopped the flow of work and focussed on working through the problems. We applied Lean and Theory of Constraints techniques to review the weed out some of the bottlenecks and create a whole new approach that moved us from >2 weeks turnaround in translations to <2 days and subsequently <24 hours. Time it right. Look to Leading Indicators. One of the most used (and perhaps overused) clichés is Wayne Gretzky’s famous quote: I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. It has been re-used by the likes of Steve Jobs and Warren Buffet on occasion and is somewhat of a rallying cry for . However Gretzky’s ability to see where the puck is going has rarely been matched in the history of the National Hockey League — and he retired in 1999! It can only be asserted, that seeing where the puck is going to be is actually really hard. The intent of the statement, however holds true, which is why I suppose the quote is widely used. Product Management he still holds 60 NHL official records One of the keys to navigating inflection points is recognising, you are coming up to one, particularly when you are winning. If you have already passed the point and can see the decline, it is probably too late. Timing is crucial. Unfortunately, the ways in which we traditionally measure the success of a business, such as revenue, are lagging indicators. Lagging indicators are clearly valuable, but they are “after the fact” measures that tell you the results, but not the status in an actionable timescale. A dip in revenue growth may indicate a shift in the businesses foundations, but this might happen months after the development of the root cause. It is then considerably harder to arrest the decline. Leading indicators are better predictors of future events and can exit in near real time. They are most likely to be behaviour driven, rather than results driven. If you can understand the link between your customers behaviours and the end results then leveraging your leading indicators to affect the outcome is crucial. Leading Indicators equally apply to your day-to-day operations. Ask yourself: “What is changing, what is becoming more difficult for the team? Where is the pain in the team?” Given their closeness to the problem, your frontline teams are very much going to feel the pain that the beginning of an inflection point brings before you are even aware. Some of these symptoms will be immeasurable, intangible or based on a feeling — there maybe nothing concrete in your measures. But knowing your teams are feeling pain, is a signal to find out why, and fast. They are the essential part of your early warning system. During one period with Skyscanner, we were making decisions to deal with increased pain during releases, by reducing the frequency, increasing the overall size, but seemingly taking the pain more often. We were about to make a decision to replace a tactical 4 week release cycle with a 6 week one. Enough was enough. While product would get released, and monthly pain would reduce, we would create further challenges. Conventional wisdom applied that the same effort every 6 weeks was better than every 4 weeks. Ultimately the team, led the conversation to change the paradigm. We had an inflection point in our product delivery mechanisms. It took a significant amount of capacity and a number of months to vastly improve, but the path we set ourselves on resulted in hundreds of experiments being run every week by Skyscanner’s Product development team. Your team is critical Our organisation is a team and is made up of the people we hire to be the experts we are not. They bring their own uniques set of experiences and approaches. To move through inflection points we need the whole team to be supportive supported. Your team is the most critical asset when navigating inflection points. and Hiring the right people is therefore a critical to your overall strategy. No matter what the stage of your business, a quality that you want to look for in every candidate is a . Growth Mindset Growth vs Fixed Mindset Introduced by Carol Dweck, she argues that our mindset determines whether we believe we can learn and change and grow. People with a growth mindset believe they are capable of learning to achieve anything, they welcome problems and see them as obstacles to be circumvented and overcome. It is this kind of approach that you need to be able to constantly adapt to the changing circumstances created by growth. By looking for it in yourself and your team, you will naturally have the desire and resilience in the organisation to adapt as the business goes through a shift in it’s fundamentals. For one of the largest inflection points Skyscanner experienced, it necessitated stopping all active product development for a number of weeks to fix some core issues. This is not a decision taken lightly, it dramatically impacted everything. We were slowing down, not specifically caused by anything but the team felt it, the organisation felt it. There were frustrations building with our approach. This was the trigger — not a measurable item. Only through listening to those colleagues at the front-line, who’s growth mindsets were telling us we could find a better way and were willing to help guide us, did we identify we were hitting some significant blocks that we had to change our approach again. Conclusion Being an active leader in an organisation going through hyper-growth is a very special and invigorating experience. Most businesses will not see the type of success that Skyscanner has. But for those who aspire to be that successful, these are my 4 lessons to help you navigate hyper-growth: Inflection points are and . Embrace the constant change. inevitable frequent everything, recognising that things that previously worked are unlikely to work again. Continually Improve You have to by looking at your Time it Right Leading Indicators. Your is critical and your most valuable asset. Hire those with a Growth Mindset and empower them to be successful. Team

Navigating the Stages of Hyper-growth

At this exclusive event, attendees will learn how to take their from growth to to billion dollar exit from the Maven team and our — an incredibly talented group of the top experts in scaling consumer software businesses. We’ll focus on practical tips and tactics about consumer growth hacking, viral marketing, and network effects that will have immediate impact. We’re excited to announce our inaugural Hypergrowth Retreat on September 23rd in the Presidio of San Francisco. startup hypergrowth speakers The Hypergrowth Retreat will not be your typical boxed-lunch, sit-and-listen conference. We promise that attendees will leave with practical advice and meaningful new connections to make their startups more successful. Over the past several years, we’ve organized dozens of events connecting the best consumer growth mentors with our portfolio companies. Those events taught us a lot about how to effectively connect growing companies to critical resources, and we will utilize these learnings at the retreat. Here’s what we promise: An intimate event — not a traditional conference — at a beautiful venue with great food and company. Meaningful time with speakers through roundtable lunches, effective networking breaks, and a happy hour reception. Experts who have committed to spending significant time at the event. , relevant to every attendee, that won’t be found anywhere else. Targeted growth content An affordable price, set with the goal of covering our costs rather than generating a profit. Our team is very enthusiastic about hosting this day-long retreat. Founders can get away for the day and get help with their biggest growth challenges, alongside Mentors who have direct experience in their areas of need. With a relatively concentrated portfolio of 25 Maven companies, we saw this as an incredible opportunity to give back to and support the broader Maven community by making a few seats available to consumer software startup founders in our network. If you’re a founder (or have a portfolio company) interested in spending a day with Maven Ventures to unlock the viral growth of your own startup, we invite you to join us. Limited tickets are still available and early bird sales end tomorrow. This post was originally featured on JimScheinman.com

Unlock Hypergrowth at the Maven Retreat

One of the most repeated questions I get is: how do I evaluate whether I should join an early seed-stage startup? Embarking on a journey with a startup is akin to taking a leap of faith. While there's no guarantee of success, conducting due diligence can significantly mitigate risks. Having been in such a position a couple of times myself, I wanted to share the framework I use that may help you make your decision. For a quick background, the first startup I joined after my undergrad, MIME360, was acquired by Flipkart to build out its digital store. The four years I worked at Flipkart, it went through a hyper-growth phase to become India's biggest eCommerce company. After doing my Masters in Computer Science from Columbia University, I was fortunate to find another set of high performers with TellApart. TellApart ended up being Twitter's biggest acquisition, and I was fortunate to be part of that journey too. After spending 6 years building ad products at Twitter, I wanted to get back to early-stage companies, which led me to join Frec as a founding engineer. Frec is a fintech startup, democratizing complex financial instruments which were previously accessible to a wealthy few. Unlike MIME360 and TellApart, where I was very early in my career and also just at the right place at the right time, Frec was a very intentional decision. I had worked with some of the other founding engineers before, so I was confident the team was capable of executing. Josh McFarland (TellApart founder) was the lead investor from Greylock, so that was another huge vote of confidence. When I spoke to Mo Al Adham, the founder of Frec, his thoughts about the team and product-market fit complimented mine, and I was convinced I was making the right decision. Given my prior experience with small and medium-sized start-ups, some of my friends/colleagues reach out to me to help evaluate a startup they’re considering joining. Joining a new company is a big step, both personally and professionally. Making an informed decision is much easier with public companies since a lot of resources/metrics that you might need are already available like revenue growth, median salary for your role, opinion of current and past employees, etc. Such data is generally not available for most startups, especially the early-stage ones (pre-series B) which makes it quite a risky prospect. We know start-ups are inherently hard, and while there is no guarantee of success, you can definitely mitigate some risk by doing your own due diligence. Most start-ups are aware of this and are willing to share information with potential employees within reasonable limits. It's essential to remember that joining a startup is not just about being hired; it's a mutual exploration where you are interviewing the company as much as they are interviewing you. Before saying yes to joining a startup, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of what you aim to gain from the experience. With the hope that it can help others as well, I am sharing some of the things I considered when making my decision to join Frec. Product Understanding the product is fundamental as it forms the cornerstone of the startup's existence. What problem are you trying to solve? What positions you to best solve this problem? Do you have product-market fit (PMF)? If not, what does PMF look like to you? In other words, what metrics will convince you that you've attained PMF? Who are your primary competitors, and what differentiates you from them? What is the biggest pain point for your product/customers right now? Who is the target audience?

As a side note, it always helps if it’s a product you believe you will actually use (now or in the future) Company Evaluating the company's overall health and trajectory is vital for long-term commitment. You don't want to join a company for 6 months for it to run out of money. These questions will help evaluate the health of the company and what are their plans for the next 1-2 years. What's your burn rate and what are your future funding plans? Alternate: What is the current runway?
How much is the current revenue (if any)? Future plans for revenue streams? Team The dynamics and cohesion within the team can significantly impact your experience and success within the startup. Even if there is no financial success, you can still gain a lot by working with a high-performing team. Has anyone already left the company, and if so, why?
How do you facilitate onboarding for new team members?
How do people collaborate and resolve conflicts within the team?
What is the company’s policy on remote or flexible work?
How often do people work from the office? (This might have a significant impact on your decision as well. Early in your career, you want to work with people in the office as much as possible) Founder Understanding the vision and leadership style of the founder(s) can provide insights into the startup's direction. Is this the founder’s first startup or do they have previous exits?


Note: Founders with previous exists (IPO/acquisitions) have done it before and know the recipe well.



For solo founders: Why do it solo considering the percentage of success from solo founders is less? How does the founder brainstorm ideas? For multiple founders: How are conflicts resolved, and how are decisions made? Investors The motivations behind investor backing can shed light on the perceived potential of the startup from a third party. A lot of times startups will let you talk to their investors too. If you’ve already cleared the interviews, then they'll try hard to sell you. You should research the quality of investors backing the company, their past bets, success rate, etc. Why did the investors choose to invest in the founder/company? Are they betting on the team or the product?


What does PMF look like to them?


Hopefully, it’s aligned with Founders vision




Is the press related to the investment? Role Clarifying your role and expectations ensures alignment between personal growth and company objectives. For technical roles, understanding the technological landscape is crucial. A lot of times I’ve seen engineers burnt out by simply using bad tools for the job. How does my role contribute to improving the product?
What does success look like in this role, and how will I be measured? Alternate: Who is your ideal candidate?
What is the technology stack?
What processes are in place for planning, testing, and code reviews?
What is the on-call rotation like? How is deployment managed? As you might have noticed, we're intentionally skipping compensation/benefits in this set of questions, since it can be a post on its own. Not to mention startup compensation gets really complex with ISOs, options, PPU, 409a evaluation, strike price, exercise price, etc. Another aspect not covered that might be crucial to you is immigration-related questions in case you need a work visa. Remember, this isn't meant to be a comprehensive list. You might care about some criteria more than others. By asking the right questions and delving deep into various aspects of the startup, you can make an informed choice that aligns with your career goals and aspirations. One of the most repeated questions I get is: how do I evaluate whether I should join an early seed-stage startup? Embarking on a journey with a startup is akin to taking a leap of faith. While there's no guarantee of success, conducting due diligence can significantly mitigate risks. Having been in such a position a couple of times myself, I wanted to share the framework I use that may help you make your decision. For a quick background, the first startup I joined after my undergrad, MIME360, was acquired by Flipkart to build out its digital store. The four years I worked at Flipkart, it went through a hyper-growth phase to become India's biggest eCommerce company. After doing my Masters in Computer Science from Columbia University, I was fortunate to find another set of high performers with TellApart. TellApart ended up being Twitter's biggest acquisition, and I was fortunate to be part of that journey too. After spending 6 years building ad products at Twitter, I wanted to get back to early-stage companies, which led me to join Frec as a founding engineer. Frec is a fintech startup, democratizing complex financial instruments which were previously accessible to a wealthy few. Unlike MIME360 and TellApart, where I was very early in my career and also just at the right place at the right time, Frec was a very intentional decision. I had worked with some of the other founding engineers before, so I was confident the team was capable of executing. Josh McFarland (TellApart founder) was the lead investor from Greylock, so that was another huge vote of confidence. When I spoke to Mo Al Adham, the founder of Frec, his thoughts about the team and product-market fit complimented mine, and I was convinced I was making the right decision. Given my prior experience with small and medium-sized start-ups, some of my friends/colleagues reach out to me to help evaluate a startup they’re considering joining. Joining a new company is a big step, both personally and professionally. Making an informed decision is much easier with public companies since a lot of resources/metrics that you might need are already available like revenue growth, median salary for your role, opinion of current and past employees, etc. Such data is generally not available for most startups, especially the early-stage ones (pre-series B) which makes it quite a risky prospect. We know start-ups are inherently hard, and while there is no guarantee of success, you can definitely mitigate some risk by doing your own due diligence. Most start-ups are aware of this and are willing to share information with potential employees within reasonable limits. It's essential to remember that joining a startup is not just about being hired; it's a mutual exploration where you are interviewing the company as much as they are interviewing you. Before saying yes to joining a startup, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of what you aim to gain from the experience. With the hope that it can help others as well, I am sharing some of the things I considered when making my decision to join Frec. Product Understanding the product is fundamental as it forms the cornerstone of the startup's existence. Understanding the product is fundamental as it forms the cornerstone of the startup's existence. What problem are you trying to solve? What positions you to best solve this problem? What problem are you trying to solve? What positions you to best solve this problem? Do you have product-market fit (PMF)? If not, what does PMF look like to you? In other words, what metrics will convince you that you've attained PMF? Do you have product-market fit (PMF)? If not, what does PMF look like to you? In other words, what metrics will convince you that you've attained PMF? Who are your primary competitors, and what differentiates you from them? Who are your primary competitors, and what differentiates you from them? What is the biggest pain point for your product/customers right now? What is the biggest pain point for your product/customers right now? Who is the target audience?

As a side note, it always helps if it’s a product you believe you will actually use (now or in the future) Who is the target audience? As a side note, it always helps if it’s a product you believe you will actually use (now or in the future) As a side note, it always helps if it’s a product you believe you will actually use (now or in the future) As a side note, it always helps if it’s a product you believe you will actually use (now or in the future) Company Evaluating the company's overall health and trajectory is vital for long-term commitment. You don't want to join a company for 6 months for it to run out of money. These questions will help evaluate the health of the company and what are their plans for the next 1-2 years. Evaluating the company's overall health and trajectory is vital for long-term commitment. What's your burn rate and what are your future funding plans? Alternate: What is the current runway? How much is the current revenue (if any)? Future plans for revenue streams? What's your burn rate and what are your future funding plans? Alternate: What is the current runway? How much is the current revenue (if any)? Future plans for revenue streams? Team The dynamics and cohesion within the team can significantly impact your experience and success within the startup. Even if there is no financial success, you can still gain a lot by working with a high-performing team. The dynamics and cohesion within the team can significantly impact your experience and success within the startup. Has anyone already left the company, and if so, why? How do you facilitate onboarding for new team members? How do people collaborate and resolve conflicts within the team? What is the company’s policy on remote or flexible work? How often do people work from the office? (This might have a significant impact on your decision as well. Early in your career, you want to work with people in the office as much as possible) Has anyone already left the company, and if so, why? How do you facilitate onboarding for new team members? How do people collaborate and resolve conflicts within the team? What is the company’s policy on remote or flexible work? How often do people work from the office? (This might have a significant impact on your decision as well. Early in your career, you want to work with people in the office as much as possible) Founder Understanding the vision and leadership style of the founder(s) can provide insights into the startup's direction. Understanding the vision and leadership style of the founder(s) can provide insights into the startup's direction. Is this the founder’s first startup or do they have previous exits?


Note: Founders with previous exists (IPO/acquisitions) have done it before and know the recipe well. For solo founders: Why do it solo considering the percentage of success from solo founders is less? How does the founder brainstorm ideas? Is this the founder’s first startup or do they have previous exits? Note: Founders with previous exists (IPO/acquisitions) have done it before and know the recipe well. Note: Founders with previous exists (IPO/acquisitions) have done it before and know the recipe well. Note: Founders with previous exists (IPO/acquisitions) have done it before and know the recipe well. Note: Founders with previous exists (IPO/acquisitions) have done it before and know the recipe well. For solo founders: Why do it solo considering the percentage of success from solo founders is less? How does the founder brainstorm ideas? For multiple founders: How are conflicts resolved, and how are decisions made? For multiple founders: How are conflicts resolved, and how are decisions made? Investors The motivations behind investor backing can shed light on the perceived potential of the startup from a third party. The motivations behind investor backing can shed light on the perceived potential of the startup from a third party. A lot of times startups will let you talk to their investors too. If you’ve already cleared the interviews, then they'll try hard to sell you. You should research the quality of investors backing the company, their past bets, success rate, etc. A lot of times startups will let you talk to their investors too. If you’ve already cleared the interviews, then they'll try hard to sell you. You should research the quality of investors backing the company, their past bets, success rate, etc. Why did the investors choose to invest in the founder/company? Are they betting on the team or the product? What does PMF look like to them?


Hopefully, it’s aligned with Founders vision Is the press related to the investment? Why did the investors choose to invest in the founder/company? Are they betting on the team or the product? Why did the investors choose to invest in the founder/company? Are they betting on the team or the product? What does PMF look like to them? Hopefully, it’s aligned with Founders vision What does PMF look like to them? Hopefully, it’s aligned with Founders vision Hopefully, it’s aligned with Founders vision Hopefully, it’s aligned with Founders vision Is the press related to the investment? Is the press related to the investment? Role Clarifying your role and expectations ensures alignment between personal growth and company objectives. Clarifying your role and expectations ensures alignment between personal growth and company objectives. For technical roles, understanding the technological landscape is crucial. A lot of times I’ve seen engineers burnt out by simply using bad tools for the job. How does my role contribute to improving the product? What does success look like in this role, and how will I be measured? Alternate: Who is your ideal candidate? What is the technology stack? What processes are in place for planning, testing, and code reviews? What is the on-call rotation like? How is deployment managed? How does my role contribute to improving the product? What does success look like in this role, and how will I be measured? Alternate: Who is your ideal candidate? What is the technology stack? What processes are in place for planning, testing, and code reviews? What is the on-call rotation like? How is deployment managed? As you might have noticed, we're intentionally skipping compensation/benefits in this set of questions, since it can be a post on its own. Not to mention startup compensation gets really complex with ISOs, options, PPU, 409a evaluation, strike price, exercise price, etc. compensation/benefits Another aspect not covered that might be crucial to you is immigration-related questions in case you need a work visa. Remember, this isn't meant to be a comprehensive list. You might care about some criteria more than others. By asking the right questions and delving deep into various aspects of the startup, you can make an informed choice that aligns with your career goals and aspirations.

Beyond the Offer Letter: Questions Every Startup Candidate Should Ask

So let’s start! Tell us a bit about yourself. Hey everyone✌️My name is Konstantin Malkov, I’ve been in Product Management for over seven years, mainly working on consumer mobile apps. I love identifying what is it that people are trying to achieve in different situations to come up with a product that really matters. I am particularly proud of accelerating the growth of a fintech mobile app from 1.2M to 12M Monthly Active Users while building a product-led culture within the company. Besides work, I am really into writing. I started at 14 or 15 and haven’t stopped ever since. At first, I was writing about skateboarding. Then came interface copy, tech specs, pitches, and mission updates. My latest endeavor is reflecting on my professional experience and sharing knowledge with the community. While we are here, I want to give a special shout-out to my beautiful wife who has been through everything with me on this journey! Love you, P❤️ Interesting! What was your latest HackerNoon Top story about? It is a huge honor to be featured in HackerNoon’s Top Story with my article on . I have a real passion for crafting sleek, exceptional user experience by digging into what people are trying to get done. It is a privilege to be able to talk to customers and get a glimpse into their lives. 15 User Onboarding Techniques I Found In Consumer Mobile Apps Onboarding has a tremendous impact on both customers and businesses. The first impression matters. If onboarding doesn’t bring new customers to their first moment, they leave (and hardly return ever again). I love exploring how products from different industries approach this challenge of communicating value with clarity, care, and speed. a-ha! https://hackernoon.com/15-user-onboarding-techniques-i-found-in-consumer-mobile-apps?embedable=true Do you usually write on similar topics? If not, what do you usually write about? I love taking my professional expertise or at least personal experience as a starting point and then building up from there. For example, I’ve been lucky to build onboarding for three . Thus, it was only natural to pick up the topic for my very first article. While it’s hard to include years of experiments into a single post, I reflected on . In no way is it an ultimate guide, but it is a good, comprehensive place to start for those who are just breaking into the subject. mobile apps the general approach that I worked out to improve onboarding Another approach that helps me write is just documenting random observations. A new product I tried? Take at least one thing I enjoyed and share what’s so exciting about it. Receive an unusual newsletter? Figure out how it managed to capture my attention and post it on socials. Listened to a podcast? Note down some quotes that move me. The beauty of such observations is that even if they don’t give you immediate return they tend to add up over time. After all, that's how I wrote ! my top story for HackerNoon https://hackernoon.com/how-to-build-onboarding-for-digital-products?ref=hackernoon.com&embedable=true Great! What is your usual writing routine like (if you have one?) I wish I could relate to the common advice on writing: put your ideas into words as fast as you can without spending time on typos, grammar, and tone. Unfortunately, I end up all over the place every time I write. Even now, when I recall the advice above, I have to Google it to make sure I’m not quoting it wrong. While Googling, I encountered two other articles on writing that I immediately wanted to read. Luckily, I managed to put them aside by noting them in my to-do list so I could get back to answering this interview. One thing that works for me surprisingly well, is writing in a limited space. I mean, I literally make my Notes window like 1/6 of a laptop screen. That way, it looks like I am making progress really fast. And that, in return, gives me confidence to continue. As much as I don’t like typing on mobile, a small screen does the same trick for me. It is one thing to start an A4 page that doesn’t even fit into a screen. But it is a whole lotta easier to write an IG caption that looks significant, even if it is just 2–3 sentences long. Being a writer in tech can be a challenge. It’s not often our main role, but an addition to another one. What is the biggest challenge you have when it comes to writing? I know it is different for everyone, but for me, the main challenge is gaining confidence that I know the subject well enough. Otherwise, who am I to make judgments or spread yet another useless information? The Internet is full of low-quality content, not to mention crappy SEO pages. While I have nothing against getting exposure per se, it’s just too bad that it involves piling up the waste we have to go through when we really need to find something. I don’t want to add up to that. There is one rule of thumb that helps me avoid producing useless knowledge: would the information that I create help my past self? Would it save me time? Would it give me confidence? Would it entertain me? Would it help me make better decisions? If the answer to one of these questions is Yes, then there is a point in going for it. What is the next thing you hope to achieve in your career? It is not specifically about achievements. It is more about gaining experience. I am fortunate enough to identify product/market fit for a couple of products and to scale up a company from 90 employees operating in a project-driven environment to 250 employees driven by product-led culture and working in autonomous cross-functional teams. My current interests revolve around the topic of sustainable growth. The tech industry is obsessed with growth. Exponential growth, growth hacking, growth mindset, growth team, growth engine, hypergrowth. If a startup doesn’t show enough growth, it is doing it wrong. Yet, there is less talk about the inevitable sacrifices the growth takes from both the product and the people who build it: lack of focus, abandoned values, growing tech debt that will be reworked as soon as a company finds its Ideal Customer Profile, chaotic environment, poor work-life balance, etc. I want to explore how things can be done differently. I barely scratched the surface with my article on . The next big step is to figure out the path to sustainable growth myself. Hit me up on if you are up for the challenge. 5 Tech Companies That Work Differently LinkedIn https://hackernoon.com/5-tech-companies-that-work-differently?embedable=true Wow, that’s admirable. Now, something more casual: What is your guilty pleasure of choice? For years, I’ve been listening to tons of music on SoundCloud. For some reason, there is stuff there you can’t find anywhere else. Plus, you have remixes and mashups of your favorite songs that are legally forbidden for publishing on other platforms. Often, they sound more fun than the originals, haha. For over seven years, I’ve been making monthly playlists out of the tracks I enjoyed. Recently, I published my 86th one. Give it a listen! https://soundcloud.com/vacations_on/sets/mar-24?embedable=true Do you have a non-tech-related hobby? If yes, what is it? Writing! I have been blogging about niche menswear and travel for over 10 years. Last year, I started in English. I believe in first-hand experiences. There is just too much generic stuff on the internet that holds no real value. I don’t want yet another '10 best things you should try‘ list. I want just one or two, but from a source I can relate. a newsletter I love digging. It’s not only about finding clothes that get better with age; it is about diving deep into the stories and intricacies behind them. It is surely not about fancy travel destinations; it’s about finding hidden gems that manage to stay true to their craft. In , I share these experiences first-hand. Hopefully, you can relate. my newsletter What can the HackerNoon community expect to read from you next? Writing is a powerful tool for learning new things. I have been going through lots of problem-solving interviews lately. At first, I didn’t know where to start. While information is abundant on the internet, finding sources you can trust becomes harder and harder. Of course, you have books written on the topic. But when you are just starting out, and everything seems to be extremely hard and scary, you want some very basic guidance that would help you make your first steps. I spent too much time researching what I could expect from a problem-solving interview. Now, I want to write a short guide on the challenge so that people spend less time researching it and more time actually preparing for it. Feel like I might be a good fit for a role at your company? Do not hesitate to reach out to me on . LinkedIn What’s your opinion on HackerNoon as a platform for writers? I am so thankful to HackerNoon for providing a platform and audience for tech writers who are just embarking on this journey. There is an enormous gap between industry-leading publications with acclaimed authors and no-name writers sharing thoughts on socials and blogs. HackerNoon is bridging that gap by helping new writers start and spreading the word to bring them recognition. Thanks for taking time to join our “ ” series. It was a pleasure. Do you have any closing words? Meet the writer Thank you for having me! It means a lot. If I can be of any help, feel free to reach out to me on or even book a mentoring session on . LinkedIn Meander

Meet the Writer: HackerNoon's Contributor Konstantin Malkov - Product Manager

In the world of tech startups, the term «growth» has become almost the epitome of success. Exponential growth, growth hacking, growth mindset, growth team, growth engine, hypergrowth. If a startup doesn’t show enough growth, it’s doing it wrong. In his article published in 2012, the founder of the startup accelerator Y Combinator Paul Graham argued that growth is the very essence of a startup: Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of "exit. The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth. It comes as no surprise why growth is so coveted. We all know the success stories of Dropbox, Uber, Airbnb, Slack, and Revolut. They are the role models of startup growth. But few companies succeed. Exploding Topics say that 9 out of 10 startups fail. In 2021, AngelList expected 2.5% of venture-backed seed-stage startups to become a unicorn. Yet, most startups still commit themselves to growth, ignoring the inevitable sacrifices it takes from both the product and the people who build it. Bugs that never get fixed because they are low priority, misalignment between different teams, ever-changing processes and organizational structure, growing tech debt that will be reworked as soon as a company finds its Ideal Customer Profile, inherently outdated documentation, abandoned features, neglected career development plans, poor work-life balance, chaotic environment, lack of focus — these are all side-effects of startup growth. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In this article, I explore 5 tech companies that approach growth differently, resulting in healthier business and working environments. 37signals The original rebel of the tech industry, 37signals is the company behind the project management platform Basecamp, email service HEY, and the recently launched line of purchasable (instead of renting) software Once. Initially a web design firm founded in 1999, the company switched to the development of Basecamp out of necessity to take on more projects. 20 years later, they have over 100,000 paying customers and make tens of millions of dollars in profit. We run a very different kind of business. We are focused on efficiency, we're not focused on growth. They're focused on growth. — Jason Fried on Lenny’s Podcast Almost everything about 37signals is different. It is a private company, with no venture capital involved. Under 100 employees, all working remotely (company founders even wrote a book aptly named Remote). They invented a product development framework called Shape Up that focuses on small, 2–3 person teams delivering meaningful impacts in 6-week cycles (they wrote a book about it too). They don’t have growth targets or OKRs; the only thing that matters is whether the company makes more than it spends. As 37signals founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson put it, It Doesn’t Have To Be Crazy At Work. Yes, it’s the name of a book as well. I find this quote by Jason Fried summarizes the 37signals’ approach best: I think one of the most important things though to remember … is just like, humans tend to complicate things. A lot of things are hard but they're still simple until you make them complicated. Just keep in mind that you can make a lot of progress with two people, you can do a lot of great work four weeks at a time max, and you can figure things out as you go, and you don't need to know exactly where you're going, and you can be a profitable business, and you can find customers who are willing to pay for things. These are all possible things to do. And you don't need to be a big huge company to be successful. And you don't need to be a big huge company to make significant amounts of money. You don't need to do that. — Jason Fried on Lenny’s Podcast Linear A company doesn’t have to be private or go through the dot-com crash to work out an alternative approach to work. Take Linear, a venture-backed project management tool for software development founded in 2019. Jori Lallo, Karri Saarinen, and Tuomas Artman started a company on the simple premise that software lost its magic. The computing power of today is far beyond what could be imagined 20 years ago. Yet, modern software is slow, distracting, and boring. Linear strives to bring back the magic by crafting a planning tool for teams that care about quality. The founders go beyond just building a tool. They think of it as a “way” to craft quality software. They call it opinionated software and they have Linear Method to build it. One example of a strong opinion is working in cycles instead of sprints. As Karri Saarinen puts it, . The goal is to create a healthy momentum instead of reaching a finish line. “We are not really sprinting anywhere” Another point is building in public. Besides being vocal about how it works with Linear Method, the company advocates for public changelogs and lists all of its employees openly. Linear’s opinion on growth? Hire less, but more experienced professionals and solve customer problems instead of moving metrics. …sometimes the high growth, especially on the employee side, is not that great. It can create a lot of chaos or just messiness. … We just believe that you can actually build better with less people than you can with more people. — Karri Saarinen on Lenny’s Podcast Wise It’s not just smaller companies that approach growth and work differently. Wise, a product for international money transfers, employs over 5,000 people and moves about $12 billion a month across borders. The company's mission to build the best way to move and manage the world’s money is refined with four key attributes: speed of transfers, convenience of transferring money internationally, transparency of fares, and lowest possible cost. But these attributes extend beyond just the product. Take transparency for example. A Wise customer can see the total breakdown of a transfer’s fare in advance, split by what goes to a bank and what goes to Wise. But the company took a step further by making its roadmap public, with quarterly updates on the progress towards the mission. Another thing about Wise is how the company builds a conviction on what matters the most for customers. On Lenny’s Podcast, Nilan Peiris, Chief Product Officer at Wise, calls it customer-led growth: Every business I've ever worked in, it's always got these two lists, a list of things to do for your customers, and then it's got a list of things to do to make money. And you generally do everything you need to do to make money, and you do two things with the customer list. The neat thing about Wise is that we just have one list of things that you need to do to make customers happy, and it's prioritized by impact on the really hard things. If you do these really hard things, they have an incredible impact on customers, but hence on your growth, and on your shareholder value. This approach of building a strong understanding of customer problems instead of experimenting with incremental results enabled Wise to reach profitability while still growing by 30%–40% yearly. Buffer One company that took the idea of doing things differently to the next level is Buffer, a social media management platform for small businesses. While some companies share their roadmaps or changelogs publicly, Buffer opens up its key metrics and employee salaries. You can go to the Buffer website now and see for yourself that CEO makes $298,958 a year, whilst a content writer earns between $114,672 and $132,782 a year. Or you can see how the subscription fee is distributed between marketing spending, merchant fees, operational expenses, and salaries. You might want to know that Buffer’s Annual Recurring Revenue dropped from $22M in January 2020 to $18M in January 2023 and remained stable throughout 2023. It’s that open. One might argue that having ARR not growing for four years isn’t exactly an example of growth. Well, it depends on the time horizon. According to ChartMogul, only 13% of SaaS startups make $10M in ARR after 10 years in business. Buffer is way beyond that already. And the company CEO Joel Gascoigne intends to continue growing sustainably: We will strive for the kind of healthy, long-term growth that we believe will naturally follow as we focus on creating trustworthy products and providing unexpectedly delightful customer service. In the 2023 Annual Shareholder Letter, Joel elaborates on how this vision allows the company to adapt its strategy without compromising on the mission to serve and help more entrepreneurs and small businesses thrive: Beyond seeing the challenges ahead in growing this way, I personally felt a real conflict in my own sense of purpose when we dabbled with going up-market. This is one factor which led to my decision to double down on individuals, the free plan, and our down-and-wide strategy. In the world of B2B SaaS, where traditionally companies are forced to go up-market by investors, it is indeed a privilege to be able to choose growth by going in the opposite direction. Even more so when the times get tough. Ghost I’d like to end this article with an extreme example. We have only two goals at Ghost: To create a product we're incredibly proud of, and a company that provides a great life to the team building it. To achieve those goals we've thrown away most other traditional measures of success. John O’Nolan started Ghost in 2013 to bring back the ease of publishing content online that WordPress once had until, in the process of growth, it turned from a blogging platform into a Content Management System. The idea proved to be so lucrative that a landing page that described it brought John 30,000 email subscribers followed by $300,000 raised through a Kickstarter campaign. 10 years later, despite venture-backed competitors like Medium and Substack, Ghost is still non-profit and open source, making around $6.4M in ARR. Just this month the company announced the First Round Review website is now powered by Ghost. Just like Basecamp and Buffer, Ghost ditches short-term growth in favor of creating a company that will be around in 20 years. In a world where startups come and go, such longevity is a competitive advantage in itself. But how does Ghost actually do this? Largely, through the concept of arbitrary constraints. Impose upon yourself an arbitrary constraint and watch how creativity suddenly flows from you in ways that you didn't know were possible before. Because the human brain, as it turns out, likes to get out of annoying, arbitrary constraints and find ways around. Find loopholes in things. It's been a remarkable source of creativity for me. — John O’Nolan on the Indie Hackers podcast Regarding growth, there is one arbitrary constraint that worked out surprisingly well for Ghost. Setting up a business as a non-profit foundation constrains the company from running for growth just for the sake of it. Because if there are no investors and a company can’t be sold, then its valuation doesn’t really matter. What was imposed as a constraint gives the company the freedom to focus on what matters — a strong product that helps publishers grow and a happy team that enjoys building it. Afterword This is by no means an exhaustive list of companies that approach growth and work in general differently ( ). Nor is it a call for companies to stop and reconsider the way they work. please leave more examples of such companies in the comments! Just like people, every company is unique, and there is no right or wrong way to do it. What these examples prove is that there are alternatives to common practices that prevail in the tech industry. Fortunately, these alternative approaches are driven by people behind companies, not products or industries. And people can be inspired to think differently too. Thank you for giving this a read. Please share your thoughts in the comments. Would love to hear your thoughts on healthy and sustainable growth.

5 Tech Companies That Work Differently

By James McDowall, Founding Partner, Arcanum Capital In the world of traditional finance, private equity firms have long been known for their old-school approach to investing, characterized by large capital deployments into established companies with the aim of generating substantial returns over a relatively long period. However, as the financial landscape undergoes a seismic shift with the rise of Web3 technologies and decentralized finance (DeFi), there is a growing realization that private equity firms need to adapt their strategies to remain competitive in this new era. More than almost anything else, private equity firms – especially in nascent, hyper-growth tech spaces – can benefit from the approach, which involves selecting projects that are strong in most areas but may be missing one piece that can be supplied by the network and resources of the VC group. Y Combinator One of the key advantages of operating this way is the newfound ability to open up engagement and focus on early-stage investing in startups and nascent companies. In the Web3 era, where disruptive technologies such as blockchain, decentralized applications (dApps), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are reshaping industries, the Y Combinator approach provides firms with the foresight and tools to identify and ultimately invest in promising early-stage projects. By shifting focus towards early-stage investments, private equity firms can gain exposure to innovative technologies and business models that have the potential to deliver outsized returns in the long run. Of course, you don’t need me to tell you that the Y Combinator has been wildly effective in the modern era, with Y Combinator itself being one of the most successful venture capital firms in the world. The firm’s success can be attributed to its unique approach to investing, which involves providing startups with a range of resources, including mentorship, funding, and access to a vast network of investors and entrepreneurs. approach This approach has helped Y Combinator identify and invest in some of the more marquee startups in the world, including Airbnb, Dropbox, and Reddit, to name just a few. In response to this success, venture capital firms are now applying a similar structure and mentality to their investment strategy, with their reach extending beyond capital commitments. By providing startups with the ancillary resources they need to succeed, VC firms can help ensure their investments are as successful as possible, generally leading to greater returns. They can also proliferate their own circular economic ecosystem, which grows more important every day. Within their self-created and sustaining network, VC firms are then able to get more creative, thoughtful, and forward-looking with their projects, considering companies that lack the already proven mature growth and revenue traditionally needed and still need a few gaps filled within their model; for example, investing in great groups that may have amazing vision, but have largely ignored marketing/pr strategy, or one that lacks an advisory board or a few particularly-focused developers, or even one that is still searching for another key piece of their GTM and/or infrastructure. This approach is especially effective in global blockchain startups, where a hands-on, activist approach is critical for investors dealing with brilliant, but sometimes less-than-organized teams who are flying the plane while it's being built, so to speak. Let’s get granular here with great examples from a couple of Arcanum Capital’s portfolio companies: Two Case Studies: Kandola and Cross The Ages Kandola Kandola’s value proposition hit us right where we live: Building a decentralized data-as-a-service platform that guarantees data security, data integrity, and data privacy while catering to the real-time storage and retrieval needs of applications, transcending today’s digital economy with new opportunities for innovation and growth across sectors. The challenges reside in being able to handle the sheer volume, variability, and velocity that general purpose data transactions are known for and delivering on the Web3 promises of greater security, transparency, and accountability. Their platform brings data closer to Web3 smart contracts and DApps by enabling real-time analytics and AI training and deployment on unified data views (data lakes) that span across application-generated data, blockchain data, and outside-world data. What they are building is not only applicable to Web3, but it also caters to the storage and retrieval needs of IoT, healthcare, social, and gaming. In their case, it was primarily infrastructure, on top of our usual hands-on guidance with things like branding, that has really propelled them forward: Siddharth Banerjee, Founder and CEO of Kandola, said, “We are incredibly fortunate to have Arcanum Capital as one of our key VCs and early investors. Their unwavering support has been instrumental in propelling our project to new heights. Beyond providing crucial liquidity and financial backing, Arcanum has been a pillar of guidance and a bridge to invaluable network connections. Notably, their and especially James's proactive involvement in linking us with the node provider network during our testnet phase exemplifies his commitment to our success. James and Lucia consistently dedicate time to understand the intricacies of our project, offering insightful feedback and strategic advice. Their extensive connections within the Web3 community have opened doors for us, establishing our project in a well-respected circle. Working with Arcanum has been more than a financial partnership; it's been a collaborative journey filled with mentorship and support. We're grateful for their ongoing commitment and consider ourselves fortunate to have such a seasoned and well-connected ally in our corner.” Cross The Ages Arcanum Capital met Founder Sami at a conference in Lisbon and knew almost immediately we needed to back Cross The Ages (CTA). The on-the-spot pitch was captivating and compelling, and we quickly formed a strong long-term vision for what we needed to do with CTA. We advised them to build on Polygon, which they ultimately chose to do, giving us the leverage to approach Polygon Studios with the recommendation they follow us in with investment. They initially said no, but we were so confident in the company and our vision for it that we managed to convince them to overturn their decision and join us in backing CTA. Other investors who have followed Arcanum into Cross The Ages now include major game publisher Ubisoft, game-focused blockchain investment firm Animoca Brands, and in more recent news, covered by Cointelegraph, multi-billion dollar Japanese gaming goliath Square Enix, who also joined as an investor and strategic partner. The funding is being put towards game and app development programs, talent retention, and go-to-market activities, and with such high-caliber backers and top writers and artists from franchises such as Star Wars and Game of Thrones, we expect a very bright future for this portfolio company. Cross The Ages has been topping the App Store charts across several categories and geographies for several months, and we expect a significant uplift in valuation when it lists. "I have had the pleasure of working with Arcanum as a VC partner, and I can confidently say that their approach to investing is refreshingly different. Unlike typical predatory VCs, Arcanum is dedicated to adding value and support beyond just writing a cheque. I highly recommend Arcanum for any founder looking for a true partner in their journey to success." Said Sami Chlagou, Founder & CEO of Cross The Ages. About James McDowall Following a career as a professional athlete, James has been researching, investing in, and advising early and growth-stage technology entities since 2017. He has played pivotal roles in creative and strategic direction and business development and is experienced in conveying technological solutions to governments, regulators, and financial institutions. He gained invaluable alternative asset management knowledge and portfolio management experience during his CAIA studies and tenure with Swiss asset manager Tavis Digital in Zürich and has sat on the advisory board of the Swiss Impact Investment Association. He then Founded Arcanum Capital in 2020 and successfully raised and deployed Arcanum Emerging Technologies Fund I and has managed this successfully over the past 4 years. James excels in leveraging his strong global network of investors, entrepreneurs, and capital markets professionals to help finance and scale cutting-edge technology ventures. About Arcanum Capital is a venture capital firm focused on supporting enterprising and forward-thinking teams that are establishing decentralized networks and applications for the global blockchain ecosystem. Arcanum Capital's team consists of experienced investment professionals who understand what it takes to evaluate, incubate, and scale promising teams and ideas. Arcanum Capital We have been on the ground as operators, investors, and incubators in frontier and emerging markets, including India, since 2013, and have worked with startups, decentralized networks, and publicly listed companies. During this time, we have cultivated powerful networks and partnerships that are invaluable in helping our portfolio entities transition from idea to market and scale on the global stage.

How Venture Capital Firms Can Thrive by Tapping the Y Combinator Approach

কীভাবে ভেঞ্চার ক্যাপিটাল সংস্থাগুলি Y কম্বিনেটর পদ্ধতিতে ট্যাপ করে উন্নতি করতে পারে৷

Wie Risikokapitalfirmen durch den Y-Combinator-Ansatz erfolgreich sein können

Cómo pueden prosperar las empresas de capital riesgo aprovechando el enfoque Y Combinator

Comment les sociétés de capital-risque peuvent prospérer en exploitant l'approche Y Combinator

वाई कॉम्बिनेटर दृष्टिकोण का उपयोग करके वेंचर कैपिटल फर्म कैसे आगे बढ़ सकती हैं

ベンチャーキャピタル企業が Y コンビネーターのアプローチを活用してどのように成長できるか

Y Combinator 접근 방식을 활용하여 벤처 캐피털 회사가 성공할 수 있는 방법

Como as empresas de capital de risco podem prosperar aproveitando a abordagem do Y Combinator

Как фирмы венчурного капитала могут процветать, используя подход Y Combinator

Risk Sermayesi Firmaları Y Kombinatör Yaklaşımından Yararlanarak Nasıl Başarılı Olabilir?

Làm thế nào các công ty đầu tư mạo hiểm có thể phát triển mạnh bằng cách khai thác phương pháp kết hợp Y

风险投资公司如何利用 Y Combinator 方法蓬勃发展

It’s mid-January, the month which features , aka the most depressing day of the year. While the concept of Blue Monday itself was a marketing trick dreamed up in 2005 by UK travel firm Sky Travel, as a way of getting people to book vacations in a fallow period of the year, the idea has now been adopted wholesale across the workforce, in a case of life imitating art. Blue Monday Even though there’s little to no scientific basis that the third Monday of January is the year’s most gloomy day, workers everywhere empathize. That may be thanks to Sky Travel’s “formula” which includes factors such as weather conditions, debt level, the time since Christmas, time since new year’s resolutions have been broken, low motivation levels, and the feeling of a need to take action. People everywhere feel the blues in January––think post-holiday debt, low winter light, plunging temperatures, and an empty bank account. Little wonder then that January is also the most popular time of year to start looking for a new job. What’s my motivation? Money is almost always the biggest motivator for a job switch but post-pandemic, Americans want a better work-life balance and more job flexibility too. That includes vacation days. With one in five private-sector workers in the U.S. receiving no PTO, according to the (BLS), there is no federal obligation to give any paid vacation days at all. Bureau of Labor Statistics actually However, most employers do offer paid vacation time, on average around ten days PTO annually, and according to the BLS, if your tenure at your company is five years, you’ll likely get 15 paid days of vacation. It’s still not a lot, especially when you compare it to other countries. Depending on the Canadian province you live in, you can get between 10 and 20 days of PTO, as well as seven to 13 paid public holidays. In the UK, employees are entitled to 28 total working days, and in Australia you are entitled to a minimum of four weeks of paid leave every year. Maximize your PTO So how can U.S. workers maximize their PTO and make it work hard for them? There’s a simple trick you can use to stretch out your vacation days by taking the majority of them around public holidays. With May 27th’s Memorial Day the next public holiday, make sure you put in a leave request for May 24th now. That will give you four days off, by only taking one PTO day. Or if you want more bang for your holiday buck, consider taking a few extra days around Independence Day. If you take off July 1-3rd and also July 5th, you can get a nine-day stretch for just four PTO days. Make a job move Recent research from found that 46% of American workers aren't taking all of their paid time off. Perhaps that can be explained, in part, by the fact that 12% of workers say their managers discourage them from taking vacation days. Pew Research Center As a result, many workers, emboldened by the shift in work thanks to the pandemic, want to move to companies where taking a break is seen as a positive. If that’s you, then the is a good place to start your search. HackerNoon Job Board There are thousands of open roles across companies with flexible work policies or unlimited leave benefits, or take a shortcut and discover three hot tech jobs below. AI Engineer, Cohere, San Francisco As an you will work directly with customers to quickly understand their greatest problems and design and implement solutions using LLMs, applying your problem-solving ability, creativity, and technical skills to close the last-mile gap in enterprise AI adoption. If you have three or more years’ of model training, deployment, and maintenance in a production environment, strong skills in NLP and deep learning and experience scaling products at hyper-growth start-ups, this could be a good fit. AI Engineer Java Senior, GTT, LLC, Chevy Chase As a , you’ll be a key member of the engineering staff working across Business Services Engineering, Data Engineering, Platform Engineering, and Infrastructure Engineering to ensure that GTT provides a frictionless experience to customers and maintains the highest standards of protection and availability. You’ll thrive and succeed in delivering high-quality technology products and services in a hyper-growth environment where priorities shift quickly. Broad and deep technical knowledge, typically ranging from front-end UIs through back-end systems and all points in between, is required. Senior Engineer Lead Software Developer - Python, Azure, SQL, Oracle, United States Oracle is seeking an experienced with excellent skills in Python, Azure and SQL DB to support Business Intelligence. You will work autonomously writing and configuring Python core code for new and upgraded solutions following technical specifications. You will need many years’ of experience with Python, Azure, and SQL DB, the ability to obtain federal security clearance necessary for this role, which requires being a US citizen, and experience working in a security organization. Software Developer Accelerate your career in tech today via the HackerNoon Job Board - By Kirstie McDermott

Use This Trick To Maximize Your Paid Time Off

96 Stories To Learn About Data Engineering

229 Stories To Learn About Data Analytics

361 Stories To Learn About Big Data

Around the world, financial technology industry regulations differ significantly. Fintechs must be compliant and stay up to date with a wide range of rules, including security, , and chartered banking laws. Banking, money transfer, consumer protection and privacy, credit cards, insurance, and more are all subject to regulatory authorities. Non-compliance can cost businesses hefty fines. As such, fintech startups need to protect themselves from day one. Embed compliance in their business strategy, building their own compliance programs or working with well-established regulation technology companies. data privacy The state of compliance The fintech industry has been in hypergrowth over the last decade and is now maturing, set to than the traditional banking sector before 2028. The regulations have evolved, too, even though the level of regulation might differ from one country to another. However, most countries where fintechs are striving, such as the USA, European Union, Singapore, Australia, and more, currently have strict regulations. grow three times faster For instance, the USA has federal as well as state regulators, such as the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC), and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (CADFI), to name a few. The UK has the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), fintechs in Germany are regulated by The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, and Singapore’s financial services industry is under the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). It’s no wonder that fintech startups feel overwhelmed with laws, requirements, and procedures that must be followed in every country where they operate and where their clients and users are from. Here are several steps and recommendations to consider when building a company. Know the compliance If you develop a fintech startup, you first need to hire a compliance expert or seek legal counsel. Fintech compliance is not a job that a founder or any manager can do without experience in the field. However, it doesn’t mean a founding or management team should fully rely on an expert. It’s essential to understand the basics of compliance and have at least a high-level view of it. Starting with a compliance overview, you’re going to encounter: Geographical jurisdiction. Identify regions where you’re going to operate and where your users are going to be from. Today, the majority of fintechs operate in several countries and have clients all over the world. So, ensure you have a list of countries to work on compliance with, considering all required regional regulations. Regulatory compliance. The fintech industry includes a variety of businesses (such as SaaS platforms or neobanks) and may also offer services in many different areas (traditional currency, cryptocurrency, decentralized finance, etc.). Some will be affected mainly by anti-money laundering (AML) and consumer protection laws. On the other hand, fintechs with a full banking license will face the same regulations as traditional banks. Penalties for noncompliance. Know what you’re facing if you do not meet the compliance requirements, such as fines, losing a license, and reputation damage (losing the trust of its customers, investors, and other stakeholders). Now, let’s go through the most important compliance factors fintech startups face: Licensing Fintech startups must be licensed first before offering any product or services to the market. Different types of fintechs need different licenses. Companies providing banking services, such as money transfers, deposits, withdrawals, loans, etc., require a banking license. Payment systems that are processing payments and transfers will need a payment institution license, and companies working with cryptocurrencies have to obtain licenses to operate cryptocurrencies. Data security and privacy As fintechs collect and use large amounts of customer data, data privacy is one of the most critical legal issues in the industry. Some of the regulators are global, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Still, many regional and even state-level regulators exist, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in California, US. User data protection is a big issue right now, so be ready to meet hefty fines in case of non-compliance and any data leakage. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) AML laws and programs for fintech regulation are set to prevent financial crimes and illegal activity. They require fintechs to monitor customer activity for suspicious transactions and report it to the appropriate authorities. It includes following the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements and customer due diligence (CDD). All fintechs are obligated by regulatory bodies to use KYC at onboarding to verify the identity of their customers. In the meantime, CDD regulations demand that fintechs organize and maintain ongoing customer verification, customer risk profile development, verifying the identity of company account owners, and monitoring suspicious transactions. Best practices for fintech startups . Apply a risk-based approach Implement frequent risk assessment and regular monitoring of the regulatory and legislative landscape. Startups tend to pivot frequently, and fintech regulations evolve drastically and differ from country to country. Therefore, keeping up with the business changes and adjusting to the regulations is essential. . Make compliance part of your product development Seek constant involvement from the company’s legal team throughout the fintech product development process. Make sure your product team is well-educated in compliance and understands its importance. . Always remember why compliance is essential It’s a law, yet it’s not the only reason why businesses should comply with regulations: — It establishes credibility and trust. — Compliance helps fintechs scale. — Regulations create fair competition among companies. Conclusion Developing a startup is a daunting and highly risky process on its own. Working on fintech startups and following all required regulations will require a lot of additional preparation, patience, and attention to every detail. However, as the fintech industry is currently rising and maturing simultaneously, and is projected to become a , it is worth the effort. Fintech startups have to have a close look at always-changing regulations, and the top management should be aware of the most common downsides and potential compliance risks to be ready to launch a successful business. $1.5 trillion industry by 2030

Navigating Compliance for Fintech Startups 

The job market is ever-evolving, shaped by technological advancements, economic shifts, and global trends. Analyzing the current job market reveals a dynamic landscape. Industries such as technology, healthcare, and sustainable energy are witnessing significant growth, offering many opportunities. Conversely, traditional sectors might be experiencing a decline. Understanding these trends provides a foundation for career change strategies in 2024. As we enter 2024, understanding the current job market trends is crucial for those considering a career change. I will share some tips on successfully transitioning to a new industry or role here. Analyzing Job Market Trends for Industry Transition Guide Self-Assessment Before Transitioning Before embarking on a career change journey, conducting a self-assessment is crucial. Running a personal skills and interests audit involves introspection and a realistic evaluation of one's strengths, weaknesses, passions, and skills. This self-awareness serves as a compass, guiding individuals toward cross-industry skill transfer. Reskilling for Career Shifts Technology and automation are across industries. While they bring forth efficiency and innovation, they also alter the skills landscape. Jobs involving creativity, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence are gaining prominence, highlighting the need for individuals to adapt and acquire relevant skills to stay competitive in the job market. reshaping job roles Aligning personal values with career goals is fundamental for long-term satisfaction and success. Entering a new industry requires . The journey of developing new skills begins with a clear roadmap. In the digital age, numerous resources facilitate skill acquisition. acquiring new skills From online courses on platforms like LinkedIn Learning and Coursera to intensive boot camps and industry-recognized certifications, individuals can enhance their skill set. Leveraging Technology to Market Skills Transferable skills play a pivotal role in making a successful career transition. Understanding the is essential. Crafting resumes and cover letters that showcase transferable skills is an art. transferability of skills Tailoring applications to highlight relevant experiences and skills is necessary, increasing the chances of securing interviews in a new industry. is also an effective networking strategy for career pivot planning. Building a professional network requires strategic efforts. Social media is critical in professional networking in this digital age. Job seekers must leverage platforms like LinkedIn to expand one's professional network and create meaningful connections in the new industry. Networking Building a Personal Brand for the New Industry is essential when transitioning to a new industry. The strategy requires creating strategies for updating online profiles, crafting personal branding statements, and communicating the value of previous experience in the context of the new industry. Rebranding oneself An online presence is often the first impression employers have. Job seekers must update their profiles on LinkedIn, personal websites, and other online platforms to align with the new industry practices. Effectively communicating the value of previous experience is a crucial aspect of rebranding. Individuals must know how to articulate their skills and achievements in a way that resonates with the requirements of the new industry. Acquiring temporary positions, internships, and volunteering opportunities can be valuable for gaining industry experience. To ensure that you receive maximum benefits, it is essential to identify relevant options that can help you gain practical experience and build credibility in your chosen field. These opportunities can provide insights into the day-to-day workings of the industry. Volunteering and seeking out can facilitate a smoother transition to a new career path. mentors Navigating the Emotional Challenges of Career Changes Career change often comes with emotional challenges. It is essential to address the psychological aspects of transition, creating strategies for dealing with uncertainty and fear of change and maintaining a positive mindset throughout the journey. Uncertainty is a common emotion during a . You should know effective coping strategies for navigating uncertainties and confidently making informed decisions. A positive mindset is a crucial driver of success. career transition Maintaining optimism, resilience, and a forward-looking attitude is essential, even in the face of challenges encountered during a career change. Interviewing Techniques for Career Changers Interviewing for a new industry requires specific preparation. During the interview, you should explain the reasons for a career transition to potential employers. During interviews, an essential part is framing the career change as a strength rather than a weakness. You must communicate transferable skills and highlight relevant experiences to project your image as valuable assets to potential employers. Effectively explaining the reasons for a career transition is crucial. It would be best if you communicated the decision to switch industries in a way that emphasizes growth, adaptability, and a genuine passion for the new field. Planning for Financial Stability During Career Transitions Embarking on a career change may come with financial implications. You must budget for potential gaps in employment and address the financial considerations of retraining and potentially starting in a new industry at a different position or salary level. Planning for potential gaps in employment is a prudent financial strategy. It is essential to gain skills related to budgeting, saving, and creating a financial safety net to navigate transition periods. Retraining for a new career often requires a financial investment. It is essential to carefully consider the financial implications of pursuing additional education or certifications. To navigate a career change in 2024, taking a multifaceted approach that includes self-assessment, upskilling, networking, and strategic planning is essential. By implementing these strategies, individuals can successfully transition into a new industry and thrive in the changing job market. Remember, a career change is not just a shift in employment; it presents an opportunity for personal and professional growth. About the Author is a marketing and growth expert with extensive experience scaling venture-backed hyper-growth startups such as Tynker, Roku, IMVU, Texture, and TrustedID. He is also the author of " ," a book that is part of the bestselling "The Lean Startup" series by Eric Ries. Lomit Patel Lean AI

Your Career Path: A Step-by-Step Guide to Navigating Industry and Role Transitions in 2024

আপনার কর্মজীবনের পথ: 2024 সালে নেভিগেট শিল্প এবং ভূমিকা পরিবর্তনের জন্য একটি ধাপে ধাপে নির্দেশিকা

Ihr Karriereweg: Eine Schritt-für-Schritt-Anleitung zur Bewältigung von Branchen- und Rollenwechseln im Jahr 2024

Su trayectoria profesional: una guía paso a paso para navegar por la industria y las transiciones de roles en 2024

Votre cheminement de carrière : un guide étape par étape pour naviguer dans les transitions d'industrie et de rôle en 2024

आपका कैरियर पथ: 2024 में उद्योग और भूमिका परिवर्तन को नेविगेट करने के लिए एक चरण-दर-चरण मार्गदर्शिका

あなたのキャリアパス: 2024 年の業界と役割の変遷をナビゲートするためのステップバイステップ ガイド

진로: 2024년 업계 및 역할 전환을 위한 단계별 가이드

Seu plano de carreira: um guia passo a passo para navegar na indústria e nas transições de funções em 2024

Ваш карьерный путь: пошаговое руководство по смене отраслей и ролей в 2024 году

Kariyer Yolunuz: 2024'te Endüstri ve Rol Geçişlerinde Yön Bulmanıza Yönelik Adım Adım Kılavuz

Con đường sự nghiệp của bạn: Hướng dẫn từng bước để định hướng chuyển đổi ngành và vai trò vào năm 2024

您的职业道路：2024 年行业和角色转变的分步指南

327 Stories To Learn About Leadership

Blockchains, by default, are isolated from each other. Performing value and data transfers securely cross-chain requires special implementations, such as the one developed by Axelar, which will soon add MultiversX to its growing list of supported networks. MultiversX, the first fully sharded blockchain architecture that is capable of 100,000+ transactions per second at negligible fees, continues its aggressive expansion, called Hypergrowth, with a new integration aimed at boosting interoperability. Once in production, the Axelar interoperability layer will allow assets from over 50 chains to be bridged over to MultiversX, and vice-versa, enabling them to benefit from increased performance and efficiency. For example, ERC-20 tokens like USDC, USDT, or even ETH, will become extremely convenient to use for payments and DeFi opportunities by inheriting the capabilities of the MultiversX network. On top of fast and inexpensive transfers, tokens operating on MultiversX gain from several other enhancements like composability by design, non-VM dependance, and superior security as it eliminates the problematic ‘approve’ and ‘transferFrom’ functions that cause most of the wallet drains on EVM chains. ” said Lucian Mincu, CIO MultiversX “Tokens should not reside in smart contracts. There are undeniable advantages in having them operate in the same way as the native network token, and Axelar introducing additional interoperability options for letting more users, communities and developers engage with the innovative MultiversX token standard will benefit the entire blockchain ecosystem. The Axelar cross-chain gateway protocol is powered by a dynamic validator set to ensure decentralization, robustness and censorship-resistance. The integration with MultiversX will include a set of plug-and-play tools for developers to be able to easily go cross-chain with their decentralized applications. This will make it possible for users to “interact with any asset, any application, on any chain, with one click”. said Georgios Vlachos, Director at Axelar Foundation “Axelar network is continually expanding to connect all of Web3.  That expansion continues with MultiversX, a vibrant ecosystem that will add value and utility to all 50+ connected chains." The planned integration has just been announced by representatives of the two projects on the xDay stage. The annual conference organized by MultiversX gathered major tech companies such as Google Cloud, AWS, Tencent Cloud, Deutsche Telekom, as well as government officials, builders and specialists from various domains to present new innovations and paths to integrate blockchains into digitization efforts. About Axelar Axelar is the full-stack interoperability layer for Web3. The network enables blockchain as a new application development platform, by integrating ecosystems of innovation into a seamless “Internet of blockchains.” Axelar is programmable and decentralized, secured by a proof-of-stake token, AXL. Application users unlock and access digital assets on any blockchain, with one click. Developers work with a simple API and access an open market of tooling to automate complex tasks. About MultiversX A highly scalable, secure and decentralized blockchain network created to enable radically new applications, for users, businesses, society, and the new metaverse frontier.

Assets From 50+ Chains To Become Available On MultiversX Via Axelar

Axelar এর মাধ্যমে MultiversX-এ উপলব্ধ হতে 50+ চেইন থেকে সম্পদ

Vermögenswerte von über 50 Ketten werden über Axelar auf MultiversX verfügbar

Los activos de más de 50 cadenas estarán disponibles en MultiversX a través de Axelar

Les actifs de plus de 50 chaînes seront disponibles sur MultiversX via Axelar

एक्सेलर के माध्यम से मल्टीवर्सएक्स पर 50+ श्रृंखलाओं की संपत्तियां उपलब्ध होंगी

50以上のチェーンのアセットがAxelar経由でMultiversXで利用可能に

Axelar를 통해 MultiversX에서 사용할 수 있는 50개 이상의 체인 자산

Ativos de mais de 50 cadeias serão disponibilizados no MultiversX via Axelar

Активы из более чем 50 сетей станут доступны на MultiversX через Axelar

50'den Fazla Zincirin Varlıkları Axelar Aracılığıyla MultiversX'te Kullanılabilir Olacak

Tài sản từ hơn 50 chuỗi sẽ có sẵn trên MultiversX thông qua Axelar

来自 50 多个链的资产将通过 Axelar 在 MultiversX 上提供

When Marc Andreessen wrote his techno-optimist manifesto, he was trying to preach to the few to join his new religious cult and forgo their humanity in search of a heaven where only those purged of emotional connection can be happy to live among androids and thrive. Move to Vulcan, then. that showcased exactly who the human race really is. The differences between the two are stark; one wants humanity to become some sort of technology-infused super-species akin to the kind of imagination a 7-year-old geek bullied at school comes up with in the late hours alone in their bedroom. When Andy Weir wrote he unwittingly wrote a manifesto of the complete opposite , The Martian “Also, I have duct tape. Ordinary duct tape, like you buy at a hardware store. Turns out even NASA can’t improve on duct tape.” The other strives to show humanity at its best, a species able to overcome impossible odds using the ingenuity, knowledge, adaptability, and tools available to them at the time. And this is precisely the optimistic message we need to convey to this generation and all generations who have dreams and want to become builders of the future. We do not need to merge with the machine in order to release that kind of creativity and drive to become the absolute best we can be as a species, to take to the stars and settle beyond our own Earthly borders, or master some other hidden force behind physics. At some point, everything’s gonna go south on you… everything’s going to go south and you’re going to say, this is it. This is how I end. Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work. That’s all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem… and you solve the next one… and then the next. And if you solve enough problems, you get to come home. All right, questions? I was lucky enough to read the book long before it became a movie and would definitely urge you, if you haven’t already, to seek out a copy even if you’ve watched the film. I watched the longer movie edit over the weekend, and it still shines, but the greatest detail is in the book, and that’s where you’ll find just what a real future human manifesto reads like. It’s actually quite funny pulling out quotes from the book like the one above because this particular one literally could talk about the life of a founder, too, something that I don’t think Marc even remembers or experienced because he got lucky with Netscape and then thought he was Internet Jesus. “If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it’s found in every culture without exception. Yes, there are assholes who just don’t care, but they’re massively outnumbered by the people who do.” Everything contained in Marc’s manifesto could be underlined in red pen under certain words that form the investment thesis behind a16z. If you don’t believe in hypergrowth or particular tech trends that they want you to push forward with, then you’re not in the gang. Marc and his disciples have become masters of manipulation in the venture community. They have become synonymous with successful venture capitalism and skating to where the puck is going to be, as Wayne Gretzky once said. He appears prophetic and a techno-shamanic futurist. However, this is not entirely true. and shape the future he wanted when he was a boy in his bedroom. Seriously, he mentions “ ” 22 times in his manifesto. He uses the term “ ” 113 times. He really wants you to pay attention to these words. I’d go as far as to say that Marc is a master of neuro-linguistic programming, but instead of changing people’s minds and thoughts for their positive benefit, it’s all entirely to make a16z successful growth we believe As they’ve become larger, they have engineered a kind of self-fulfilling prophesy in relation to technology hype — when they herald a new trend, every tier 2 and tier 3, 4, 5, and 6 investor plows their money into whatever they say, and wherever they place their bets. It becomes a snowball effect driven by greed and FOMO, and therefore the prediction manifests itself beautifully. If a16z says that Key Lime Pie is the shit, then everyone will pile in and write long articles about why this is so and beg Techcrunch to publish it, third rate VCs will write books on how to pull together the perfect baking strategy to create Key Lime Pie, Big 4 consultants will perform incredible feats of mental gymnastics to convince themselves and their clients that Key Lime Pie is where the money is. And those at the bottom of the pyramid scheme pretend they know what they’re doing and talk about different flavors of Key Lime Pie. And so Key Lime Pie sells and becomes big, but not before a16z has already cashed out of Key Lime Pie tokens at a fever pitch and moved on to Lemon Meringue. If you really want to understand the mindset, go watch the utterly brilliant monologue delivered in The Fall of the House of Usher by Bruce Greenwood. https://youtu.be/rIK-q6JoOeU?si=fBR3MOyYuVBENjUo&embedable=true In the face of overwhelming odds, I’m left with only one option. I’m gonna have to science the shit out of this. Problem-solving, personal, national, and international collaboration to come up with solutions that allow for the next step forward, science and engineering — the skills many are advocating we shouldn’t bother with because the robots will do it for us, resilience, the ability to cope with isolation, making mistakes then solving the next problem, the human spirit of being so fucking stubborn we will never fucking giving up. If he paid attention to Andreeseen, then he’d have died waiting for someone to bootstrap a startup to invent quantum teleportation to save his ass because, clearly, going full-on MacGyver is just too low-key for humanity now. Mark Watney, on the other hand, demonstrates just what being a part of the human race really means and the type of manifesto we write every single day. Watney’s journey is more uplifting than a techno-optimist manifesto. Even though it’s a fictional story of survival, it speaks more about the human drive to conquer the future and claim a stake in it than Marc’s ChatGPT-prompted reality. Marc doesn’t want to get his hands dirty; Mark does. Marc wants to reinvent duct tape; Mark just wants to repair his spacesuit before he dies. It’s time we stopped not only paying attention to Marc but giving him a platform for attention, too. If the venture community stopped placing their bets on the same roulette wheel pockets, we might start seeing a lot more movement forward in diverse levels of technologies that deserve to see the light of day. — are there any venture capitalists or family offices that have a multi-generational investment strategy? “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.” I feel it’s the only perspective that will matter now, and it’s missing from his manifesto. Too many are working with LPs fixated on short-term gains they can spend in their lifetime rather than helping build a future they will never see. They want a 10x return in 10 years, and so founders with longer-term visions that could reshape humanity are sacrificed for another TikTok app or SaaS product knocked up by a code interpreter from ChatGPT. They all have spreadsheets with formulas driven to the smallest decimal point but nothing by gut feeling and a sense of high adventure. . Some of the biggest shifts in human history took place as a result of sheer willpower and the drive to go beyond capital-intensive risk. Now, it’s stunted by a focus on easy software and a set of “product-market fit” handcuffs. Venture capital used to be about high-risk tolerance and bets on future possibilities, not calculated certainties “Software will eat the world,” they said, but it doesn’t have the appetite for the long term. Bring back Adventure Capital. because those terms have been ruined, and the hardcore wants to be associated with something else that their masses see the appeal in. What else feels more appealing for Marc’s supporters than aligning yourself with an ‘optimist’ and then calling everyone else who doesn’t want to be happy a pessimist or an ? Techno-optimist is just another name for long-termism or Effective Altruism enemy of optimism “We believe technological progress, therefore, leads to material abundance for everyone.” — there is absolutely no evidence of this. This is the same mentality that drives a locust swarm, but repeatedly using the “we believe” phrase cements that Marc and a16z somehow know the future because they will shape it for us. It’s more NLP in action. And at the end, after all is read and digested, Marc sounds more like Khan Noonian Singh than Gene Roddenberry. “We offered the world order!” he proclaimed in Space Seed. It’s pretty much all there between the lines. Which one would you rather leave their on history: Marc or Mark? mark Also published . here

More Mark Watney, Less Marc Andreessen: The Ideological Clash Over Humanity's Future

Stories, News & Mentions about HYPERGROWTH

Hypergrowth’s Stories on HackerNoon