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Developing technical taste: A guide for next-gen engineers | Sam Schillace (Microsoft, Google Docs)
Sam Schillace is the CVP and Deputy CTO at Microsoft. Before Microsoft, Sam held prominent engineering roles at Google and Box. He has also founded six startups, including Writely, which was acquired by Google and became Google Docs.
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In today’s episode, we discuss:
• Sam’s advice for future engineers
• What’s next for AI
• How to develop technical taste
• The importance of asking “what if” questions
• Lessons on market timing
• Scaling a software company in 2024
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Referenced:
Amazon: amazon.com
• Box: www.box.com/
• Elon Musk: elonmusk
• Google Docs: docs.google.com
• Itzhak Perlman: itzhakperlman.com/
• Microsoft: www.microsoft.com
• Netflix: www.netflix.com
• Tesla: www.tesla.com/
• The Innovator’s Dilemma: www.amazon.com.au/Innovators-Dilemma-Clayton-M-Christensen/dp/0062060244
• TurboTax: turbotax.intuit.com/
• Uber: www.uber.com/
• Walmart: www.walmart.com/
• Workday: www.workday.com/
• Writely: techcrunch.com/2005/08/31/writely-process-words-with-your-browser/
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Where to find Sam Schillace:
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/schillace/
• Newsletter: sundaylettersfromsam.substack.com/
• Twitter/X: sschillace
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Where to find Brett Berson:
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/
• Twitter/X: brettberson
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Where to find First Round Capital:
• Website: firstround.com/
• First Round Review: review.firstround.com/
• Twitter/X: firstround
• UA-cam: www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital
• This podcast on all platforms: review.firstround.com/podcast
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Timestamps:
[00:00:00] Introduction
[00:02:54] Lessons on market timing
[00:07:30] Developing technical taste
[00:09:51] Asking “what if” questions
[00:14:03] Building Google Docs
[00:19:32] The decline of Google apps
[00:20:57] The Innovator’s Dilemma facing Microsoft
[00:22:53] The differences between Google and Microsoft
[00:24:42] How to build a winning product
[00:27:46] Becoming an optimist
[00:29:12] Why engineering teams aren’t smaller
[00:32:00] Sam’s prediction about AI
[00:34:11] Capturing the value of AI
[00:37:43] How you should think about AI
[00:45:33] Advice for future engineers
[00:48:18] What makes a great engineer
[00:49:45] One thing the best engineers do
[00:51:37] Microsoft’s new leverage
[00:56:01] Scaling software in 2024
[00:59:50] The future of AI across several sectors
[01:04:28] What Sam and a violinist have in common
Переглядів: 211

Відео

How to build and scale winning marketplaces | Casey Winters (Eventbrite, Pinterest, Grubhub)
Переглядів 66621 день тому
Casey Winters is a legendary advisor on scaling, product and growth. He’s worked with companies like Airbnb, Faire, Canva, Whatnot, Thumbtack, Tinder, and Reddit. Until recently, Casey was the Chief Product Officer at Eventbrite, and has also led growth and product teams at Pinterest and Grubhub. - In today’s episode, we discuss: • What every marketplace founder should think about • Why marketp...
The rationale behind Sentry's low-cost pricing strategy
Переглядів 6621 день тому
You might be surprised to hear that Sentry intentionally keeps its prices low, even in a market where customers are willing to pay top dollar for its application monitoring tool. But there is a method to this unconventional move, as CEO Milin Desai explains on the In Depth podcast. It all comes down to stepping into the shoes of their target customer: an individual developer inside a software c...
Why startups that sell to developers can’t afford to be mediocre
Переглядів 11828 днів тому
Conventional enterprise software wisdom has startups aiming for additional product lines that are ~80% as good as category standalone leaders, with the thinking that it’s the suite of products will win customers over in the end. But Sentry CEO Milin Desai offers a different point of view, telling Brett Berson on the In Depth podcast why if your target user is a developer, you can’t afford to be...
Lessons from Sentry on scaling DevTools and finding product market fit (again) | Milin Desai (CEO)
Переглядів 338Місяць тому
Milin Desai is the CEO at Sentry, an application monitoring tool for developers. Sentry has recently passed two key milestones: 100K customers and over $100M in ARR. Before Sentry, Milin was a GM at VMware and scaled their cloud networking into a billion-dollar business. Prior to stepping into leadership roles, Milin was a PM at Riverbed and a software engineer at Veritas. - In today’s episode,...
How to be effective up and down the org chart | Matt MacInnis (Rippling, Inkling, Apple)
Переглядів 1,8 тис.2 місяці тому
Matt MacInnis is the COO at Rippling, an all-in-one HR, IT, and finance platform for businesses, which last raised $500M at a $11.25B valuation. Before Rippling, Matt was the co-founder and CEO at Inkling, a mobile learning platform that was acquired in 2018. He also held several management roles at Apple. - In today’s episode, we discuss: • Lessons on culture, org-design, and product from Ripp...
Timeless lessons from Square, Amazon and Microsoft | Alyssa Henry
Переглядів 3982 місяці тому
Alyssa Henry is the former CEO of Square, a financial services company providing products and services used by over 4 million merchants. Formerly at Amazon, Alyssa led the development and growth of Simple Storage Service (S3) at AWS. Alyssa now serves as an Independent Director at Intel and Confluent. - In today’s episode, we discuss: • Lessons from Amazon, Microsoft, and Square • “Minimum Rema...
Do whatever it takes to stay close to your early customers
Переглядів 6422 місяці тому
Do whatever it takes to stay close to your early customers
Ironclad's pivot from AI legal assistant to CLM
Переглядів 4772 місяці тому
Ironclad's pivot from AI legal assistant to CLM
Ironclad's Path to Product-Market Fit
Переглядів 2,5 тис.2 місяці тому
Ironclad's Path to Product-Market Fit
Introducing PMF Method from First Round Capital
Переглядів 2,4 тис.2 місяці тому
Introducing PMF Method from First Round Capital
Lattice's Path to Product-Market Fit
Переглядів 4,6 тис.2 місяці тому
Lattice's Path to Product-Market Fit
Verkada's Path to Product-Market Fit
Переглядів 2,3 тис.2 місяці тому
Verkada's Path to Product-Market Fit
Looker's Path to Product-Market Fit
Переглядів 2,3 тис.2 місяці тому
Looker's Path to Product-Market Fit
Plaid's Path to Product-Market Fit
Переглядів 12 тис.2 місяці тому
Plaid's Path to Product-Market Fit
Why Lattice's founder says talk to customers until you're sick of hearing the same thing
Переглядів 1,2 тис.2 місяці тому
Why Lattice's founder says talk to customers until you're sick of hearing the same thing
Avoid the "Are you my mother?" approach to product-building
Переглядів 7522 місяці тому
Avoid the "Are you my mother?" approach to product-building
How Looker closed its earliest deals
Переглядів 5042 місяці тому
How Looker closed its earliest deals
Why the pivot is the cheat code to product-market fit
Переглядів 1,1 тис.2 місяці тому
Why the pivot is the cheat code to product-market fit
Vanta's Path to Product-Market Fit
Переглядів 16 тис.2 місяці тому
Vanta's Path to Product-Market Fit
Building products that delight customers | Adam Nash (Daffy, Wealthfront, LinkedIn, eBay, Apple)
Переглядів 2132 місяці тому
Building products that delight customers | Adam Nash (Daffy, Wealthfront, LinkedIn, eBay, Apple)
A masterclass in founder conviction | Eilon Reshef (Co-founder and CPO at Gong)
Переглядів 3952 місяці тому
A masterclass in founder conviction | Eilon Reshef (Co-founder and CPO at Gong)
Essential lessons for building and scaling DevTools | Dennis Pilarinos (Unblocked, Buddybuild)
Переглядів 1273 місяці тому
Essential lessons for building and scaling DevTools | Dennis Pilarinos (Unblocked, Buddybuild)
Scaling and selling AI products for enterprise | May Habib (Co-founder and CEO of Writer)
Переглядів 7703 місяці тому
Scaling and selling AI products for enterprise | May Habib (Co-founder and CEO of Writer)
The secret lever Replit pulled to scale ahead of its competition | Amjad Masad (Co-founder and CEO)
Переглядів 4734 місяці тому
The secret lever Replit pulled to scale ahead of its competition | Amjad Masad (Co-founder and CEO)
How to ship faster without increasing headcount (Mike Cieri, CPO of Gusto)
Переглядів 1264 місяці тому
How to ship faster without increasing headcount (Mike Cieri, CPO of Gusto)
Lessons from Gusto & Square on Finding Your Product Wedge | Michael Cieri
Переглядів 3744 місяці тому
Lessons from Gusto & Square on Finding Your Product Wedge | Michael Cieri
A customer success masterclass | How to build and scale a CS org | Stephanie Berner (LinkedIn)
Переглядів 2444 місяці тому
A customer success masterclass | How to build and scale a CS org | Stephanie Berner (LinkedIn)
Why engineers should be given time to explore (Michael Lopp)
Переглядів 974 місяці тому
Why engineers should be given time to explore (Michael Lopp)
The human side of world-class engineering leadership | Michael Lopp (Apple, Palantir, Slack)
Переглядів 1,9 тис.5 місяців тому
The human side of world-class engineering leadership | Michael Lopp (Apple, Palantir, Slack)

КОМЕНТАРІ

  • @same.7939
    @same.7939 16 днів тому

    Such a wealth of information here. Thank you!

  • @p4r7h-v
    @p4r7h-v 17 днів тому

    epic

  • @nurafya24
    @nurafya24 17 днів тому

    PMF is harddddd. But this is very assuring for a first time founder like me

  • @drandakis
    @drandakis 23 дні тому

    Great convo. On your comments about carsharing, you're right that the dollar value is much smaller than, say, Airbnb. But the volume can be dramatically bigger (depending on how you execute). Supply can be much bigger (obviously, many more people can afford a spare car than a spare home). But demand also can be way bigger since car rentals can attract not only tourists (the Airbnb case) but also a lot of locals in each city with various types of needs.

  • @mdnahidseo
    @mdnahidseo 23 дні тому

    Do u need a professional UA-cam thumbnails designer and video SEO expert /?

  • @honoredelite5677
    @honoredelite5677 Місяць тому

    ......... I have to deal with rippling enough. why did it go from giving me rippling ads to actual videos THAT ARE ALSO ADS. I'm already off of work leave me alone.

  • @LeadershipJourney
    @LeadershipJourney Місяць тому

    Thank you. I really enjoyed Alyssa Henry's insights. The discussion around the spillage of R&D benefiting mostly others is thought-provoking. All in all, she seems to be an inspiring leader to work with. Fun fact: I usually watch videos at 1.25 or 1.5 speed. When the video started, I thought it was left at 1.25 speed. But then I realized that Alyssa spoke fast 😅.

  • @tdc22a
    @tdc22a Місяць тому

    Managers talking about products/services as "superpowers"? Ok, enough cringe for one day.

  • @jeremyinglesi8458
    @jeremyinglesi8458 Місяць тому

    This is amazing

  • @Worsman69
    @Worsman69 2 місяці тому

    Not impressed by the presenter. Pure lack of empathy to the problemes potential customers do face. Drop the high additude. Be humble that customers have a problem that you could solve

    • @orangedaisies
      @orangedaisies 19 днів тому

      What a strange take.

    • @nurafya24
      @nurafya24 17 днів тому

      What? How did you get to that conclusion?

  • @kundan_bhosale
    @kundan_bhosale 2 місяці тому

    Can I apply from India? I mean do you accept candidates from India?

    • @FirstRoundCapital
      @FirstRoundCapital 2 місяці тому

      Unfortunately we're only accepting folks who can be here for all of the in-person sessions in San Francisco.

  • @LeveragedFinance
    @LeveragedFinance 2 місяці тому

    ok so they had people Ctrl F a json and file the SOC 2 report first, is it automated now?

    • @GabrielSestrem
      @GabrielSestrem 2 місяці тому

      You have no idea how automated Vanta is right now. They connected to 15+ of our vendors and got 150+ automated controla checks instantly. It’s magic 🪄

    • @FirstRoundCapital
      @FirstRoundCapital 2 місяці тому

      Yes, this was just in the early days when the founders were looking to get feedback on the idea and see if the product was worth building out.

  • @eoj096
    @eoj096 2 місяці тому

    This is great and very helpful. Thank you

  • @NAE333
    @NAE333 2 місяці тому

    What was the secret lever? This just says pandemic helped us

    • @FirstRoundCapital
      @FirstRoundCapital Місяць тому

      Check out the full episode to hear what it was 👀

  • @DJjussi1
    @DJjussi1 2 місяці тому

    So many tech founders from SF have the exact same body language and speaking style as Marc Andreessen

  • @long_fellow
    @long_fellow 2 місяці тому

    Thousands of channels like this popping up everyday 😂

  • @maryamrashidi2329
    @maryamrashidi2329 2 місяці тому

    Not "product fit" but "value fit" - Smart!!

  • @maryamrashidi2329
    @maryamrashidi2329 2 місяці тому

    Very insightful account, esp. the focus on market development instead (in the first instance) of creating a product that would fit into an existing market! Thank you

  • @bengtrj
    @bengtrj 2 місяці тому

    Amazing video. I’m baffled I’m the 6th to comment on it considering it was published 4 months ago!

  • @ribl1000
    @ribl1000 2 місяці тому

    Has there been some security upgrades recently? AFAIK they still have the same issue with customer data mining. Great product

  • @csrt7774
    @csrt7774 2 місяці тому

    Blessed by the algorithm after binge watching Nick Kozmin

  • @JulioReguero
    @JulioReguero 2 місяці тому

    Fear can be paralyzing to some and actually motivating for others. What works for me if I feel I’m no longer focused on the work I’m doing, or any task I want to accomplish, is to first be aware of it, and being able to recognize if I’m in fact being productive, or maybe I’m just distracted, anxious, with doubt cloud judgment that paralyzes my workflow. I literally stop what I’m doing and go for a walk, or find a space indoor or outdoor where I can pause a bit this rapid, impulsive thinking, this overwhelming impulse to do things, fix things, come up with ideas, experiment, etc. Just take a deep breath, put things in perspective, activate big picture mode. Identify what’s under your control and what is not at that moment, try to structure and organize your thoughts, use coffee or whatever works to calm you down. Think about what your priorities are right now. In short, learn how to remain calm during stressful situations. It takes practice, but putting things in perspective will boost your confidence and allows you to keep moving. If you’re building software, then just chill, but if you’re sending people to Mars using rockets, well, I can understand the feeling of being paranoid and stressed out, and having your mind playing all kind of tricks on you.

  • @dominicwood3750
    @dominicwood3750 2 місяці тому

    It’s made me go and look at their product as will get my idea off the ground faster

  • @AnthonySistilli
    @AnthonySistilli 2 місяці тому

    Christina has such amazing insights!

  • @duanegadama61
    @duanegadama61 2 місяці тому

    Discovering this channel feels like finding a hidden gem. Super valuable content

  • @Fkautzmann
    @Fkautzmann 2 місяці тому

    That's a great testimonial. It's not easy to raise and maintain a company, but you guys have a great team and product!

  • @UganWopla
    @UganWopla 2 місяці тому

    I don't want to see a founder only talking from two different camera angle. He is not Steve jobs. I want to see his product, his company, WTF he is really talking about.

    • @dobattlers
      @dobattlers 2 місяці тому

      The core product is very simple and basic. Its how u connect your bank account to apps like venmo

    • @user-yd7yl8cy9z
      @user-yd7yl8cy9z 2 місяці тому

      It's easy to look up his product and learn more about it. The point of this video is to tell the story of how they achieved PMF and the thoughts and journey behind the process.

    • @sanketasd8872
      @sanketasd8872 2 місяці тому

      @uganWopla is a big investor it seems

    • @aminbusiness3139
      @aminbusiness3139 2 місяці тому

      It’d be cool if there was pictures of the MVP or the initial product that achieved PMF

  • @Redleef607
    @Redleef607 2 місяці тому

    Great interview. We adopted Latrice recently at my company and did our first round of OKRs. Fantastic tool.

  • @rakhiraveendran6790
    @rakhiraveendran6790 2 місяці тому

    Great session!

  • @bencorrigan2702
    @bencorrigan2702 2 місяці тому

    Getting an intern to order smoothies for employees at 9pm is not good management.

  • @mohsinhaider3830
    @mohsinhaider3830 2 місяці тому

    - Ship fast. The first version was glued together after he hadn't written code in a long time, and it was still good enough to help the customer. - Be uncomfortably narrow for the ICP of your first customers, as it usually makes sense to be. They only sold to NA companies selling software over videoconferencing with a 1k to 50k ticket size / acv and didn't branch out for quite some time. - Customers don't know the value of a product until they use it. They let their design partners use the product for six months before finally asking them to pay, and 11 of the 12 did. - Hired a team really early on, after he built the very first version of the product and some customers started using it. It was more coincidental, but in retrospect, they were approaching PMF and it was the right move. - Design partners, when used right, can you help you forge the product so it really sits well with the market in GA. He swears by them and would rather 'lose an arm' instead of give up the design partners the PMs still work with to this day.

  • @JohnVandivier
    @JohnVandivier 3 місяці тому

    The intro is such a good take. I’m definitely going to watch the whole thing.

    • @JohnVandivier
      @JohnVandivier 2 місяці тому

      didn't really understand the opposition to story points for velocity measurement.

  • @nabilduval1629
    @nabilduval1629 3 місяці тому

    Love it! Steve Blank is really the best!

  • @eduardoPicazzo
    @eduardoPicazzo 3 місяці тому

    Basic obvious fluff...

  • @vincentamico3326
    @vincentamico3326 3 місяці тому

    Let me tell you what happened to me very recently: I booked an apartment for one month with airBandB in France,and the Host didnt disclose in the advertisement that she wanted me to take out a Home Insurance Policy Package for the place!! You can always cancel straightaway,she said.I called AirBandB and they agreed with my point but were totally unable to assist in any way.They were all called "Ambassadors"(!!) and they were very young people calling from the Philippines who had no clue what they were doing.They did not even know what "Home Insurance Policy" is!! I had to explain it to them but still they did not understand me,they thought I was talking of some kind of deposit!Nobody in the team knew what they were doing.In the end I did not want to give in to the snobbish arrogant Host,over the phone,and lost 580 pounds.The main point I want to stress is:AirBandB employ very young people in Third World countries who cannot even speak English and are supposed to deal with complicated legal issues. I have now GIVEN UP FOREVER on using AirBand B,after 10 years, for the rest of my life.Hotels are much fresher and respectful.

  • @thetagang6854
    @thetagang6854 3 місяці тому

    lets goo

  • @thisisanewusername4662
    @thisisanewusername4662 3 місяці тому

    this was pure garbage.

  • @camnova
    @camnova 3 місяці тому

    Thank you for such a thoughtful conversation! Best of luck to the Writer team

  • @0100hem
    @0100hem 4 місяці тому

    thanks guys 😊

  • @ManiDoraisamy-GDE
    @ManiDoraisamy-GDE 5 місяців тому

    Honest and insightful interview! Thank you!

  • @musicmavericks3790
    @musicmavericks3790 5 місяців тому

    This is pure gold!! thank you for posting this interview

  • @tonyplasencia6193
    @tonyplasencia6193 5 місяців тому

    This is so good

  • @JonnyRoss
    @JonnyRoss 6 місяців тому

    Its so wild when people don't pay attention to their customers. Who tf you think is giving you money?? Lmao

  • @paulmattle6683
    @paulmattle6683 6 місяців тому

    We had a few classes in middle achool that was kind of like Economics, and told how a basic business works, then opened up a school store. We sold pens, paper, erasers, folders. It was cool!

  • @mannyade2890
    @mannyade2890 6 місяців тому

    Culture being how we live the values, it such a great way of articulating and merging the 2, it has h=give me a great perspective

  • @Hastingsnow
    @Hastingsnow 7 місяців тому

    Thank you for sharing!

  • @nicholasrescobar2769
    @nicholasrescobar2769 7 місяців тому

    Unbelievably valuable video. Thank you!

  • @LeadershipJourney
    @LeadershipJourney 7 місяців тому

    A lot of this resonated with me as I am relatively new at a job and I’m also reading John P. Kotter’s Leading Change. Very insightful interview. I love Will Larson’s work, and it was great to hear some of his thoughts reiterated here. Thank you.

  • @goosebumpsfm
    @goosebumpsfm 7 місяців тому

    super insightful👍

  • @ragnarfromsweden
    @ragnarfromsweden 7 місяців тому

    Great interview! It really makes me rethink how I communicate as an engineer. It has been a reluctance of mine of sharing details concerning medium-size decisions out of fear of being poorly micromanaged, of course the real solution as i understand is to share the wide context first and then the details. Obvious when said out loud, eye-opener for me.