People
Hiring, levelling, growth, and the hard conversations.
Almost every durable advantage in an engineering org traces back to who you let in, what you expect of them, and how honestly you talk to them.
Your first ten engineers
The first ten hires are not employees, they are the constitution. Everything you tolerate in them becomes policy for the next hundred.
0-5 · 5-20
The bar: define it, write it down, hold it
A hiring bar that lives in people's heads drifts downward, and not only under pressure. Comfort is the force nobody names. Write the criteria, then give somebody other than the decision-maker standing to invoke them.
5-20 · 20-50 · 50-150 · 150+
Interview loops that predict performance
Most loops measure interview skill. Give each stage exactly one job, and let the highest-weight stage be a structured judgment conversation with the people who'll actually work with the person.
5-20 · 20-50 · 50-150 · 150+
Managing out, humanely and quickly
Once the decision is made, days rather than months. But speed only works on top of honesty. The team already knows if you've been having the conversations, and if you haven't, fast just reads as arbitrary.
5-20 · 20-50 · 50-150 · 150+
Onboarding that pays back in 30 days
Time to first meaningful change is the most honest measure of your engineering environment. Onboarding is a stress test you run on yourself, with a fresh pair of eyes attached.
5-20 · 20-50 · 50-150 · 150+