Inside the Palantir Mafia: Secrets to Succeeding in the Tech Industry

In the world of technology, engineers are not just cogs in a machine; they are the builders, the dreamers, and the ones who solve the problems they see in the world. And sometimes, those solutions turn into billion-dollar businesses. This is the story of the “Palantir Mafia,” a group of former Palantir employees who have … Read more

Non-Compete Clauses: FTC’s Influence on Tech Innovation & Employee Freedom

The recent FTC ruling banning most non-compete agreements nationwide has ignited a firestorm in the business world. While some cheer the increased freedom for workers, others fear a potential talent exodus and a decline in innovation. Let’s delve deeper into this debate, exploring the arguments for and against non-compete clauses, along with the potential consequences … Read more

The Fork in the Road: The Curveball that Redis Pitched

In a move announced on March 20th, 2024, Redis, the ubiquitous in-memory data store, sent shockwaves through the tech world with a significant shift in its licensing model. Previously boasting a permissive BSD license, Redis transitioned to a dual-license approach, combining the Redis Source Available License (RSAL) and the Server Side Public License (SSPL). This … Read more

Why Startups Need To Architect Cloud Agnostic Products

Nobody plans to leave AWS in the startup world, but as they say, “sh** happens.” As engineers, when we write software, we’re taught to keep it elegant by never depending directly on external systems. We write wrappers for external resources, we encapsulate data and behaviour and standardise functions with libraries.  But, When it comes to … Read more

How to Manage Technical Debt in 2023: A Guide for Leadership

In this article, I will summarise effective strategies and best practices to tackle tech debt head-on. Technical debt is an inevitable reality in software development. But, it can be leveraged just like a financial loan/debt can help you achieve your goals, if managed properly.It can be used to drive competitive advantage by allowing companies to … Read more

No McKinsey, You got it all wrong about developer productivity!

Disclaimer: I have been an enormous proponent of Developer Productivity and have tried to implement automated metrics collection in 3 orgs with varied success. In my Mentoring sessions with early-stage startup leaders as well, I (re)enforce the importance of being aware of Dev Productivity. So much so, that I have written a 2-part article on … Read more

Can ChatGPT accelerate No-Ops to Replace DevOps in EarlyStage Startups?

Background: I work with multiple CTOs and Heads of Engineering of early-stage startups to help them set up their engineering orgs, review their product architecture, help them prioritise their hiring etc. I also help multiple engineering leaders via Plato. Recently, there have been too many questions on whether can I use ChatGPT for this or … Read more

Is NoOps the End of DevOps?

Some say that NoOps is the end of DevOps. Is that really true? If you need to answer this question, you must first understand NoOps better. Things are moving at warp speed in the field of software development. You can subscribe to almost anything “as a service” be it storage, network, computing, or security. Cloud … Read more

How to measure Engineering Productivity?

The fact that you clicked on this article tells me that you are leading/heading a Team, group or an entire Engineering function and most likely a fast-paced startup. Assume the following, It was a regular weekday, and your CEO/CTO asked the most intriguing question. Do we measure Engineering Productivity? How do we fare? What can … Read more

Do you really need a Product Manager for a successful Product?

This post is a summary of a series of “Mentoring” and “Advisory”  calls I did with some early stage startups, over the past 6 months. Most of the time, one of the founder ideates, one builds/leads the build. But, they want to go fast and think they need a Product Manager. Unfortunately, most of them … Read more