Scaling Fast – Engineering Lessons From ~15 Years of Tech Startups

Hey, we'll discuss scaling fast and engineering lessons learned in the last 15 years of tech startups. Scaling involves three things: business, team, and tech. Business scalability relies on sales and customer acquisition costs. Engineering is a tool the business uses. Scaling the team is vital as tech problems are often people problems. Team structure affects architecture and product development process. Organize teams based on purpose, not technology. Spend less time being blocked by other teams. Ship features without getting blocked. Own your own mess. Focus on product engineering partnership. Build faster using feedback cycles. Build appropriate solutions for your use case. Let go of ego and experiment with different approaches. Engineers own their own mess. Avoid work in progress. Finish the work and focus on fixing it later. Have a conversation before writing code. Scaling the tech is easier than you think. Pick an off the shelf design. Save innovation for core parts. Pick existing solutions. Focus on solving the problem. Don't waste time trying to predict future scale. Scale will surprise you. Do what works for your business. Push back on unnecessary complexity. Understand the cost of ideas. Modify the situation to fit existing design. Architecture is like a dependency graph on your code. Reduce architectural complexity by organizing code based on what it does. Use vertical models and avoid creating excessive dependencies. On the client, use vertical modules. On the back end, consider a service-oriented architecture. Start with a monolith and transition to microservices if necessary. Use folders instead of microservices when you have a small team. Use vertical models and contract or type-driven development to define clear APIs and interfaces. Avoid highly interconnected code and duplication. Focus on data structures to avoid complexity and the need for translation layers. Building translation layers can lead to slow user experience. Vertical teams aligned with vertical code allow for fast problem-solving, full control of features, and efficient data handling. Understanding the entire domain enables faster development with fewer bugs.