Phil is currently VP of Product & Engineering at Close.com, building a product people love and growing our SaaS business to be something great. Previously he spent two years leading the Engineering team at Quizlet, building study tools that millions of students relied upon. Phil has also interned at Google and Yahoo! as a software engineer, and did lots of freelance website design while at the University of Florida.
Co-founder of Brainhub, Matt describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur”. Throughout his career, Matt has developed several startups in Germany, wearing many hats- from a marketer to an IT Engineer and customer support specialist. As a host of the Better Tech Leadership podcast, Matt talks about growing successful businesses and the challenges of being a startup founder and investor.
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In the 100th episode of the podcast, Matt and James Trunk explore the transition from agile methodologies to Basecamp’s Shape Up framework in product development, emphasizing the 5%, 30% feedback rule for enhanced collaboration and psychological safety. They highlight the importance of job stories, retrospective reviews, and the “stabilize” phase in managing technical debt, especially within regulated industries like banking. The discussion also contrasts Fintech’s regulatory demands with startup practices, while reflecting on maintaining company culture and the value of open-source community engagement.
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In this podcast episode, Matt interviews Yariv Hasar, discussing how his military background has shaped his work ethic, management style, and approach to daily planning. Yariv emphasizes the importance of adaptability, effective communication, and teamwork, drawing parallels between military strategies and business operations. He also advocates for continuous learning and role adaptation within teams to enhance efficiency and resilience, sharing insights from his tech leadership experience and recommending resources for leadership development.
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In this episode, Matt and Luke Rotta explore the Fintech industry’s regulatory challenges and their impact on adopting modern software practices like DevOps, highlighting Luke’s success in implementing automation to enhance safety and efficiency. Luke also shares his experience in transforming a traditional support team into a site reliability engineering (SRE) team, emphasizing strategies like clear mission establishment, skill evaluation, and strong communication. The discussion further touches on leveraging AI tools to reduce administrative tasks and improve knowledge acquisition.
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In this episode, Matt interviews Ady Levy about managing tech teams through uncertainty, leveraging skills from Ady’s military background, and the importance of data-driven approaches to resolve team disagreements. The episode also explores emotional management challenges, the thoughtful use of AI, and Ady’s recommended readings for balancing innovation and personal fulfillment.
