2024 has come and gone, and it’s time for my annual post. What a year for startups—like squeezing five regular years into one. Do you remember the Apple Vision Pro, the DMA regulation, founder mode, or the o1 launch? All of that happened in just the last twelve months. It’s also been wild at RevenueCat. My journal is full of stories that could fill a whole book or even a few HBO Silicon Valley seasons. Some are inspiring, some are hilarious, and others are honestly gnarly. Due to limited space, the need for context, and respecting everyone’s privacy, I’ll cover only the most interesting topics at a high level. Looking back, it was a good year for RevenueCat. Actually, a great one. Perhaps our best since 2020. We have plenty to celebrate: We accelerated again, and we hit our C10 revenue plan. We made our first acquisition and welcomed an amazing founder to the team. We signed our first multi-million-dollar contracts. We went to more than 20 events around the world… …including hosting our own conference, featuring its own award ceremony. We became the #1 payments SDK on iOS. Our swag went to 11. We launched over 80 user-facing features. We showed up in Times Square and along Highway 101. We raised a mini Series C and welcomed two new board members. We landed in Japan for the first time. Our API grew beyond 2B requests per day. We are processing nearly twice the TAM we had when we started the company. OpenAI is a friend of the cat. We continued building a winning team. We hired people who were on my to work with bucket list even before we started the company. By all the metrics, 2024 was our year of shipping and selling. We absolutely helped developers make more money. My role If you compare our progress to the goals I wrote about in last year’s blog post, it’s clear we succeeded. But the journey itself was a lot rockier than I had imagined. Many things didn’t go as planned, somes hires did not work out, and some strategy changes were really hard to push through. At the start of the year, besides my usual responsibilities, I also set four personal goals to help me scale with the company. I wanted to: Ship code more consistently. Talk to at least one customer every single day. Get more involved in areas outside of engineering. Stay very close to my co-founder Jacob, giving him my full support. I completely missed goal #1. Honestly, that hurts because I love building software. But I’m not too upset about it—our customers care that the team ships, not that I personally do. And in a way, I did help the team ship. As for the other three goals, I hit them, at least based on the company’s results. Still, my self-perception wasn’t always great. I found myself acting much more like a co-founder/executive than a CTO. Some weeks were brutal, with constant context switching across tasks and teams I didn’t always enjoy. At one point, there were over 60 people in my org, spread all around the world, which is pretty intense for an introverted computer kid. A lot of bullshit escalates to the top, making me question my entire existence some days. And then life threw serious personal emergencies at some of our team members too. Like I said last year, life is what happens when you’re busy building your startup. As we got closer to 100 people, it was statistically unavoidable that we’d face a few life-changing traumas—sometimes several all at once. As a founder, you need to be supportive and empathetic, but also protect your mental health. As a human, it’s tough. Add in a couple of two-year-olds who were often sick and not sleeping, and it felt like a ticking bomb. Did I burn out for the first time in my life? I don’t think so, but it got close. I’m confident being a founder (and having a co-founder) kept me going. I care too much and must stay resilient. If I’d been just an employee, I might have tapped out. But enough about the tough parts. Aside from being a professional BS handler, here’s how I spent most of my time: Lots of travel This was the year I traveled the most in my life—and looking back, I probably should have traveled even more. I visited customers, helped with sales, conducted executive interviews, and spoke at a few conferences. It’s hard being away from two little kids, but each trip turned out to be worth it. Support One of my biggest worries this year was our support function. Everything was fine, but our Support Engineering Manager was going on parental leave, and the bus factor was scary. I’ve seen support crises before—they’re not fun. It wouldn’t have killed the company, but at our size, it might have forced us to pull senior engineers into support and slow down our product velocity. Time was short, so we tried a few things that worked: We hired two new Developer Support Engineers who already knew our product—former customers! Their onboarding was smooth, and they hit the ground running. We split the support team into two pods with their own leads. Each pod handles certain tickets, and they collaborate with each other instead of relying too heavily on one person. We finally set up our first on-call rotation for emergencies. Sales and post-sales Reviewing sales and implementation calls, giving technical input, collecting enterprise customer feedback for product and engineering, joining calls, and even doing some in-person visits. Writing more As our team continues to grow across the globe, not everyone has the same direct interaction with me or Jacob as before. A lot of our culture and collaboration style was once passed through observation, but now needs to be written down to reach everyone faster. These days, my code editor is basically replaced by Google Docs. I’ve been publishing more internal and external documents—like our Engineering Strategy and an updated How to Work with Miguel. Product delivery We still have a few details to refine, but our founder Shipping and Timeline reviews have been valuable. It gives Jacob and me a high-level view of everything in progress, lets us offer feedback, and helps us dig deeper where needed. It’s a great way to see each team’s capacity, find bottlenecks, keep a sense of urgency, and deflate anything that’s not truly important for the customers. Re-orgs This year brought a couple of big reorgs in product and engineering. Overall, they went well, but the puzzle gets more complex with each new piece. We created sub-teams to narrow their focus and keep things running smoothly. For the first time, we had a couple of management layers between me and our ICs. One major change was shutting down our Enterprise/Reactive team. The idea was solid at first, and they delivered plenty of value, but eventually they became the random tasks team. Our new plan is to reinforce the rest of the teams: quick enterprise requests go to the right team to handle them reactively, while bigger projects move to the main roadmap (which keeps us disciplined). The engineers from that old team will help bootstrap new teams as we hire in 2025. Hiring Our engineering hiring goals weren’t super ambitious, but we still reached them. The pace was a bit uneven, and some roles took longer to fill than desired. However, when Hiring Managers took ownership of the process (with recruiting as a support) it made a huge difference in the quality of our candidates. We also brought back the founder interview stage: Jacob or I spoke with every single candidate before making an offer, and we plan to keep doing this for the foreseeable future. Random founder stuff Not my main focus, but I still spent a fair amount of time handling people-related topics, operations, investor, customers and partners relations, fundraising, company policies, planning, etc. Learnings: deepened insights On culture Shipping is king. Yes, deadlines are stressful, but failing to ship and getting stuck in endless debates is far worse. It’s depressing. If someone isn’t a good culture fit, it will be more than a single incident. Over time, it becomes pretty clear to everyone. Top performers tend to measure themselves against the very best in the company. Reassure them they are doing a great job. On the other hand, those who underperform will look to other underperformers to gauge their own progress. Even top performers will struggle if they don’t fully align with the vision. Nothing beats talking to customers. Encourage everyone to do it. Better in person. Most managers don’t have a strong incentive to be strict, so finding the right balance takes a lot of calibration. Only once everyone is aligned, you can truly delegate. On hiring Managers hate hiring because it’s binary: a lot of “no”, but eventually one “yes” can change everything. Staying consistent really helps. Simple things, such as weekly updates keep everyone accountable. People management sucks. If someone’s main motivation is to be a manager for the title, or so they can “lead,” that’s a red flag for me. Best managers end up being those who never planned on becoming one in the first place. They actually roll up their sleeves and can do the work. Big ideas are great, but they need to be executed. This matters even more when it comes to executives. A truly great exec can change your life and it will feel like a brand new company. Given their influence, anything less than great will eventually turn into a big mess. Spend time with executive candidates in person. Watch how they work and make sure they’re real builders. Previous founders and true engineers are usually a little bit de-risked, but they’re still not guaranteed. I also like to write a very detailed onboarding doc, clarifying context, expectations, and what success or failure looks like. Having them write a 30/60/90-day plan helps us all align. I’ve learned not to rely on their past pedigree. The real key is their glass eating endurance. On company building Re-orgs are inevitable at a growing startup, and they will feel scary or emotional for people who aren’t used to them. I find it helpful to be super clear about why we’re doing it, and to share the fallback plan if things don’t work out. But I’ve learned that by the time you think you need a re-org, you’re already behind. We now plan to reassess our team structure twice a year for optimal shipping. A numeric goal (like an SLA or revenue target) is just a proxy. Missing it isn’t the end of the world if you learn in the process. But if you surpass it without recognizing what’s broken underneath, you’ll be masking critical issues. Perfectionists are great, but can have a tough time at startups. Some do fine if they’re focused on one specific thing or working as an IC. But as soon as they have to juggle multiple tasks, the chaos can feel overwhelming. Help them embrace it. Things will break. It’s about continuously reprioritizing, and stopping small cracks from becoming big fires. No agenda == no meeting. Synchronous time is expensive. The only exception is the occasional unscheduled call. After you reach around 50 people (especially in a remote setup), documenting every process change becomes crucial. I’ve learned the hard way that simply talking about a new process isn’t enough. Founders can’t talk to everyone all the time anymore, and misunderstandings or gossip can spread fast. Not everyone will read everything, but at least there’s a single source of truth to reference. Best people can stretch quite a bit—they’ll often rise to the challenge. But it’s wise to keep an eye on their limits before they burn out or become a bottleneck. On scaling as a founder A great EA is life-changing. Family will be supportive, but it’s not fair to offload all the stress on them. They will end up feeling helpless. Having a solid co-founder, a network of peers, or a good executive coach makes a world of difference. Founders are the ultimate guardians of the culture. It’s constant work, and it will feel relentless—especially when things are going well and it’s easy to get entitled. The best team members will help uphold the standard, but you cannot expect them to do all the policing. At this stage, it’s stupid not to level up your lifestyle in ways that reduce stress or save time. This might include childcare support, having a second car, investing in a better mattress, or hiring help with housekeeping. The startup is bigger than its founders, and the goal is to continuously remove yourself from the critical path. Still, it’s easy to forget that, as a founder, you literally brought everything into existence from thin air. Imposter syndrome often creeps in when you step outside your core expertise, but if your gut feeling is strong, it’s worth paying attention to. Stay open-minded, yet remember that no one knows the company quite like you do. The future Next year is going to be another big one. We’ll keep shipping and selling, while finally tackling our design and UX debt. We’ll keep investing heavily in our infrastructure. Not just for reliability, but also for real-time data. We want RevenueCat to feel fast, accurate, and easy to use. We’re also upgrading our self-serve and enterprise support, aiming for a truly world-class experience. In many ways, we’re finally seeing the original vision Jacob and I had back in 2017 come to life. We’ll be launching new product lines too, and if we execute well, we will be just a couple of years away from hitting $100M in revenue. We’ll keep building a winning team. We’ll hire about 45 people, 30 in Engineering, Product, and Design. It’s a challenge, but totally doable. As for me, my personal goals haven’t changed much, but my perspective has. Jacob and I used to joke that being happy and winning can’t happen at the same time. But why not? We’re in a privileged position to shape our own path and change anything we don’t like. After a lot of reflection and coaching, I realized I was simply too hard on myself. I was feeling depressed by the constant BS even though we were winning. A hack that helped was working with my EA to set weekly goals and then sending a public update to the full team. It let me see the real progress behind all the drama and back-to-back meetings and stay transparent with everyone. Next year, I’ll avoid meetings before 9 AM, keep an eye on calendar creep, and hold myself accountable to exercise and doing what helps me decompress. I know, it’s obvious. I also plan to travel more. Especially to the Bay Area, which is clearly back again. Meeting up with other founders and customers is always worthwhile. Another thing that made last year tough was having half my direct reports on parental leave for about half of the year. Now they’re back, and I can feel the momentum returning. Jacob has also taken over product again, now that he’s stepped away from directly owning operations and people. Increased shipping velocity has been noticeable. We have all the pieces in place. All that’s left is to keep pushing forward: shipping, selling and enjoying the ride. If there’s one thing I learned in Silicon Valley, it’s that no goal is too crazy if you refuse to give up. I really hope you enjoyed reading this post. As always, my intention was to share it with complete honesty and transparency, avoiding the hype that often surrounds startups. If you are facing similar challenges and want to connect and share experiences, please do not hesitate to reach out on Twitter or shoot me an email! Special thanks to my co-founder Jacob, my EA Susannah, the whole RevenueCat team, and our valuable customers. I also need to express my eternal gratitude to all the CTOs and leaders who have been kind enough to share their experiences over these years. Shoutout to Dani Lopez, Peter Silberman, Alex Plugaru, Kwindla Hultman Kramer, João Batalha, Karri Saarinen, Miguel Martinez Triviño, Javi Santana, Matias Woloski, Tobias Balling, Jason Warner, and Will Larson. Our investors and early believers Jason Lemkin, Anu Hariharan, Mark Fiorentino, Mark Goldberg, Andrew Maguire, Gustaf Alströmer, Sofia Dolfie, and Nico Wittenborn. I want to convey my deep gratitude to my amazing wife, Marina, who has been my unwavering source of inspiration and support from the very beginning, and for blessing us with our two precious daughters. I cannot close this post without thanking my mom, who made countless sacrifices to mold me into the person I am today. I promise you will look down on us with pride the day we ring the bell in New York. I love you dearly.

I’m back in Spain for my brother’s wedding. I rarely visit during the summer. The heat in my hometown is brutal, around 40 degrees Celsius (over 100 Fahrenheit for my imperial friends). Most people escape to the coast, just like my family did when I was a kid. I haven’t been here in years. As I drive along the coast, I find myself reflecting on a tweet about money and happiness, a vivid memory pulls me back in time. It’s August 22nd, 2007. The iPhone, the first real smartphone, has just been announced. It’s so cool, but of course I cannot afford it. It’s not even going to be released in Spain. I’ve just gotten my driver’s license, and I’m about to dive into my third year of Computer Science. I set up my clunky TomTom navigator knockoff, and hit the road. I’m on my way to meet Marina for our first real date. She’s cool, pretty, and kind. She likes the same music as I do, and even has distant relatives in California, the place we jokingly plan to visit someday (if I ever get enough cash). I’m listening to a pirated Blink-182’s self-titled CD. Pop-punk is pretty niche in the south of Spain, and it’s dying. Blink-182 has split up, and I missed my window to see my favorite band live. The Atlantic Ocean is as flat as a lake. This corner of Huelva’s coast is sheltered from any real waves, a stark contrast to the world-class surf breaks I drool over in magazines. And suddenly, reality hits: my childhood dreams of building a tech company in Silicon Valley, while vacationing in Southern California feel impossibly far. Even getting through my degree feels like a pipe dream. School isn’t fun anymore. It’s grueling, especially the parts I thought I’d enjoy, like algorithms and Data Structures. I might never become a Software Engineer. I feel stuck, trapped by my lack of direction. I am seriously considering quitting. But no degree means no job in the US, and good tech gigs are rare here in Spain. The only cool company is Tuenti, a new startup that is cloning Facebook. I’m nowhere near smart enough to land a job there though. Flash forward to today, 17 years later. It’s almost laughable to think about how hopeless things once seemed. Even now, it doesn’t feel like I’ve “made it.” The path and the results look nothing like what teenage me envisioned, but somehow, I’m realizing I’ve kind of checked off every box. I married Marina, and we live in Southern California with our two beautiful identical kids. We’ve become American citizens, and I’ve lived in the Golden State for nearly a third of my life. I’ve worked as a Software Engineer at a Silicon Valley startup, learned from the best, and found the best co-founder I could ask for. We launched our own company. Smartphones? They’re in everyone’s pockets now. Our product is in a third of all new apps shipped in the US. We’ve helped developers reach millionaire status, and we’ve made more money than I ever thought possible. But I’ve learned that a lot of money is a relative term. Somehow, I managed to hire insanely talented engineers—a bunch of them, ironically, from Tuenti. Blink-182 is back together, and I’ve been fortunate enough to see them live five times. I’ve even bumped into Tom Delonge after surfing world-class waves a few times. I’m literally just realizing how surreal all of this is. I tend to get caught up in the chaos of what’s next—the next big fire, the next goal—but sometimes you’ve got to stop, be present, and reflect on how far you’ve come. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t without loss, sacrifice, and a fair share of doubts. Am I truly happy? Maybe not in a perfect, all-the-time kind of way. There are external things humans cannot control. But when I look at my life, I realize there’s no real reason not to be. The journey has been was worth it so far: the ups, the downs, the unexpected turns. So, here’s to your journey, whatever it looks like. Keep going, keep dreaming. It might not turn out the way you envisioned it, but it’s only impossible if you quit.

I am drafting this post at 35,000 feet flying back from Japan. I’ve entered the US about 30 times, but this will be the first time I’ll be using my shiny blue passport. No anxiety about aggressive questions, secondary inspection, or the possibility of deportation. A couple of days ago, my wife had her naturalization ceremony, and with her, our whole family is now American. This post is a reflecting on our 11-year immigration journey. My American Dream My story with technology started at 8, with my first computer. I fell in love and decided that one day I would start a computer business. And of course, it would have to be in Silicon Valley, the epicenter of innovation. I grew up influenced by the iconic Californian lifestyle of the 90s, from Tony Hawk to bands like Blink-182 and The Offspring, which only fueled my desire to call the West Coast home. As I finished my Computer Science studies, the reality of achieving my American dream seemed increasingly distant. My enthusiasm for the Californian way of life hadn’t waned — I had started surfing and I was even playing in a pop-punk band. But the immigration complexities were too daunting. It looked impossible. I decided to study a Master’s Degree in the UK and reinforce my English. Right before completing my degree in England, I was offered a six-month internship at a startup in San Francisco. Financially, it was not the smartest decision — I would barely be able to afford rent, despite having better paid options in Europe. However, experiencing Silicon Valley was a lifelong dream. It wasn’t an obvious choice. But I ultimately packed my suitcase, left behind my family, girlfriend and friends, and relocated across the world. Landing in California My journey in the U.S. began with a J1 visa, intended for interns and relatively simple to secure with an employer’s backing. It was a suitable fit for my six-month plan, extendable to a full year, without any ambition for a longer stay. Yet, I worked extremely hard, and the situation changed when I was introduced to the possibility of obtaining an H-1B visa. Unlike the J1, the H-1B visa demands wage parity with U.S. citizens, allows for a stay of up to six years, and paves the way for permanent residency. Most importantly, it meant I could start laying down roots in the US, such as building my credit score, buying a car, or negotiating a long-term lease. First Immigration Problems My living situation dramatically improved when I traded my small, rat-filled room for a two-bedroom apartment in the Outer Sunset, sharing the space with a friend. I got a sizeable salary bump. However, the happiness was short-lived. H-1B visa applications had exceeded available spots for the first time in years, introducing a lottery. My coding skills, education, and value to my employer wouldn’t factor into this gamble. Anxiety mounted for a very long month, as friends celebrated their visa wins. I was left in the dark, bracing for bad news. Against the odds, relief came just a day after a disheartening talk with my immigration lawyer, granting me my first taste of luck. Reuniting with my girlfriend Sick. My H-1B visa approval meant I could make the US my home for six additional years, longer than Marina and I had been dating. As she was about to end her studies, we strategized on ways to reunite in the US. Marrying earlier was an option, but with H-1B restrictions preventing spouses from working, we looked for alternatives. The easiest path forward involved securing a student visa, leading to an 12-month work permit, followed by an H-1B visa application. In the competitive climate of 2015, her work visa acceptance felt nothing short of miraculous, becoming our story’s second lucky strike. Permanent Residency While six years might seem long, they pass quickly when you are busy and having fun. Halfway through, it became clear we needed to strategize for the future when it was time to renew my visa. My employer agreed to initiate the Green Card application, a lengthy and costly process requiring proof that I was indispensable for the company. Despite the complexities, our attorney believed the case would progress smoothly, estimating an 18-month completion time. Surprisingly, the initial phase went way faster than anticipated, prompting our attorney to suggest an immediate wedding for Marina and me, a necessary step to include her in the Green Card application. We quickly scheduled our wedding at the Spanish Consulate in San Francisco, departing from our original plan for a ceremony in Spain. More problems A year and a half in, expecting our Green Cards, we faced an unexpected challenge: our marriage, officiated at a consulate, was not recognized by US Immigration, compelling us to marry again, pay the associated fees again, and start the process over. This development was extremely frustrating, specially as my friend Jacob and I were contemplating founding a company, and the absence of a Green Card meant remaining as an employee. To rectify the situation, we promptly got remarried at San Mateo City Hall, choosing it for its rapid scheduling. Two months later we held another ceremony in Spain with our family and friends (our third marriage overall). The delay in our reapplication, exacerbated by the recent election of Trump and a subsequent slowdown in immigration services, led us into a stressful period of uncertainty. Our inability to make definite plans, from household purchases to housing arrangements left us anxiously awaiting any news on our application. As we navigated this uncertainty, the possibility of dedicating myself fully to our startup (later named RevenueCat) became increasingly dim. Going All In A pivotal moment came when our now startup, RevenueCat, was accepted into Y Combinator, requiring my full-time commitment. A big challenge due to my pending Green Card application. My immigration status became the biggest risk to our startup, even before launching. In searching for a solution, we identified a potential hack: an immigration loophole that allowed for employment changes under specific circumstances. It wasn’t risk free. There were no guarantees, and it involved giving up my H-1B status and the ability to travel. Should my Green Card application face rejection for any reason, I would instantly become an illegal immigrant. Deciding to take the gamble, we prepared the necessary documentation. To support our case, Jacob, my co-founder, had to write a letter stating that although my compensation was on the lower side, his, in the CEO role, was even lower. We also had to declare our company’s annual earnings ($0 at that time), and I suggested Jacob to specify it as less than $1 million. You should never lie to Homeland Security 😅. This leap of faith paid off; eight months later, we received our Green Card interview, where the immigration officer, making fun of our unique circumstances, granted approval on the spot. The Decision to Become American Those with an employment-based Green Card need a five-year stay in the US, compliant with all laws and tax requirements, to qualify for citizenship. While obtaining citizenship is not mandatory, and one might choose to stay a permanent resident indefinitely, citizenship confers full rights and responsibilities. Among these, the requirement to pay federal taxes forever, a big concern for many. If RevenueCat succeeds as we hope, I’m looking at significant tax payments, even if we end up moving back to Europe. The decision to embrace US citizenship came down to a simple reason: we can. We recognize the privilege of this choice, acknowledging the series of fortunate events that brought us here, aware that our journey could have taken decades had we originated from countries like India or China. Our twin daughters are blessed with dual citizenship, offering them a breadth of choices for their future. The opportunities the US has presented to our family are beyond what we once could dream. By becoming citizens, we gain a voice to influence immigration policies positively instead of blocking progress. My tax contributions have already reached the seven-figure mark. The continuation of our tax obligation is a small price to pay. And after all, there are some advantageous double taxation agreements 😉. Special thanks to my family for always supporting me and pushing me to live my dream in San Francisco. To Marina, my now wife, for joining me in this crazy adventure across the globe. To everyone at StepOne for running an amazing internship program. To Jesse, for believing in my potential and tackling the immigration challenges with me. And to my co-founder Jacob, for pushing me to take a leap of faith with my immigration status.

Since reading ‘High Growth Handbook’ by Elad Gil, the value of writing a ‘Working with’ document became crystal clear to me. I am sharing mine externally to inspire other founders and leaders to reflect and write down their own working styles. These documents are incredibly beneficial, especially in a multi-timezone, remote setting like we have at RevenueCat. I’ve spent some time fine-tuning mine, and this is the updated version. Welcome to your go-to manual for understanding how to collaborate effectively with me. My Mindset: Logic-Driven, Plan-Oriented I’m a logical thinker, much like a computer. If A implies B and we have A, I’ll typically conclude B. Sticking to plans and predictability is my comfort zone, yet I value reactivity, especially when customer-related issues arise and are solvable. This company isn’t just a job for me; it’s my life’s work. I’m deeply invested in everything here — our technology, culture, team, and customers. I get inspired and energized by hard-working coworkers who believe in our mission even more than me. As a co-founder, I can offer a wealth of institutional knowledge and guidance. While I may not have all the answers, I’m usually good at pointing you in the right direction. RevenueCat is only a sum of it’s parts. Our teammates drive our culture and I want to make sure we are building a place that people want to be. If you have a suggestion on how to make RevenueCat an even cooler place to work for our teammates I’m always here to talk about it. How We’ll Operate Regular Check-ins: For my direct reports, expect weekly or bi-weekly one-on-one meetings. To make our discussions more focused, I prefer that we establish an agenda before our scheduled time together. Communication Protocols: My schedule doesn’t allow much room for impromptu calls. If something urgent pops up, message me on Slack first. Should it require a call, schedule it through Susannah, please never bypass her. Meeting Preparation: Come to meetings with an agenda to ensure productivity. Without one, I might dominate the conversation, potentially missing your crucial points. Let’s both be responsible for following up on action items. Team Support: I’m open to joining other team meetings, but please share the agenda in advance and mark my attendance as optional unless crucial. Problem-Solving Approach: My engineering background means I love tackling complex problems using a divide and conquer approach: by breaking them down into smaller, manageable chunks, solving each piece, and then combining them for a final solution. If we can improve a completely broken system to 90% functionality, that’s significant progress in my book! Communication Style Note-Taking: While I take meticulous notes, my current preferred tool doesn’t support sharing. If you wish to access these notes, it’s on you to set up a shared document in Google Docs, Notion, or Lattice. Information Filtering: I prefer having complete transparency and the ability to filter out unnecessary details myself. Always explicitly state if you need input from me, or else I’ll assume it’s for my information only. Feedback Style: Expect direct feedback from me. I’ll clearly differentiate between areas for improvement and significant performance concerns. Trust Dynamics: Consider my trust like a metaphorical ‘bucket’ that starts half-full for everyone and adjusts based on your actions. The more you fill this bucket, the more autonomy you’ll have. For Managers Transparency in Challenges: Startups are always broken one way or another. I prefer to hear any bad news about a project or a team member directly from you. Working together through challenges can strengthen our trust and working relationship. Progress and Concerns: During our 1:1’s, I’ll inquire about your team dynamics and direct reports’ progress. I encourage you to include any details in our 1:1 agenda and lead the conversation to address any performance concerns, project delays or notable achievements . Feedback Dynamics: I recognize the weight of my title. To avoid unnecessary tension, I prefer to provide critical feedback about your reports directly to you so you can address privately. On the other hand, if there is any commendable achievement by your team I will do my best to praise publicly. If you feel there is someone on your team that I should connect with or praise, please let me know. Encouraging our team and recognizing their strengths is something that is very important to me. Preferences and Pet Peeves What I like Doing your homework: No question is stupid, but always do your initial research before distracting the team. Being resolutive: Getting things done, unblocking yourself. Readable and consistent code. Proven, boring technology over unproven open source projects that is trending on Hacker News. Proactivity: See a problem? Fix it right away before anyone notices. Made a mistake? Build systems to prevent anyone else making the same one again. Double checking your work: Give your work (documents, presentations, pull requests) a quick self-review before presenting it to the team. Transparency: In a multi-tz, remote environment, over-communication is better than miscommunication. Healthy discussions. When there is a decision to make that is not clear, it’s because all the different approaches have pros and cons. Together we will be able to calibrate and choose the lesser evil. A short call (or loom) is preferred over constant Slack interruptions. What I don’t like Gossip and rumors: They destroy the culture. Be upfront. Cargo cult: Let’s not do something just because BIG CO does it. That’s the beauty of building something from scratch. Unnecessary blockers. You’re all pretty smart here! Always try to unblock yourself first. Lack of context in questions, emails, and discussions. Not speaking up when something isn’t clear. Recurrent mistakes or questions: One time, it’s totally expected. Two times, hmm. Three times, nah. Learn, document, and build systems. Complaining without taking any action to improve the situation. Sarcasm or other ways of communication violence during disagreements: When somebody wins an argument, most of the time, the whole team loses. Acknowledging My Flaws Overcommitment: I tend to take on more than I should, which inevitably affects my focus. While I’m working on this, please understand if I occasionally get sidetracked by emergencies. Communication while Debugging: When addressing issues, I might share unvalidated hypotheses, which can be confusing. I’m learning to communicate more clearly and only after verifying my thoughts. Problem-Solving Obsession: Unsolved problems keep me up at night, which isn’t ideal for my well-being. It’s a habit I’m aware of and trying to balance. Pessimistic Tendencies: In evaluating problems, I often veer towards catastrophic thinking rather than optimism, a trait I’m mindful of and trying to moderate. Office Hours To maximize my availability given my tight schedule, I’ve introduced ‘office hours.’ This time is open for anyone to schedule a 15-minute chat with me about any concerns or ideas you might have. Reach out to Susannah for scheduling details. Thanks for sticking with me till the end! These are my personal preferences, not commandments carved in stone. I’m stoked to collaborate, build awesome stuff, and, above all, have fun together!