On this episode of The 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger interview Bobby DeSimone, founder and CEO of Pomerium, an early startup building an open-source internal access control and security platform. Bobby shares insights on building and nurturing great engineering cultures, with a focus on remote work, open-source development, recruiting, and maintaining work-life balance. Bobby also spoke about the specific impact of being an open-source product on company culture, transparency, and trust-building in the engineering community.

Don’t miss Bobby’s reflections on starting Pomerium and the learnings and adjustments he has had to make to his life since its inception!

On today's episode, Bobby talks about several topics such as::

Chapters

00:00:00 Introductions & Background

00:10:05 Challenges of Remote Work Culture

00:14:10 Work-Life Balance, Startup Grind, and Navigating Burnout

00:22:00 Recruiting Early Engineers, the

00:25:34 Building Trust and Openness Through The Open Source Culture

00:30:24 Challenges in Building Company Culture & The Importance of Trust

00:33:38 Advice for Founders & Early Engineers

00:36:23 Importance of Early Talent and Team Building

Connect with us

Website: www.1st10.com

Podcast: www.1st10.com/podcast 

Twitter www.x.com/1st10engineers

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/1st10/

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@1st10podcast 

Music by Roman Senyk from Pixabay

Producer: Shrikant Joshi

On the first-ever episode of The 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger interview Prakash Janakiraman, co-founder and former CTO of NextDoor. Prakash shares his experiences in the tech industry, focusing on the founding and growth of Nextdoor, the significance of building a strong and collaborative team, and the challenges of scaling a startup. Prakash emphasizes hiring engineers who align with the company's mission and are willing to learn and adapt. He stresses the importance of communication and collaboration within the team and how the NextDoor interview process focused on technical proficiency, collaboration, and cultural fit.

Don’t miss the valuable advice from Prakash for early founders and engineers at early startups!

On today's episode, Prakash talks about:

Chapters

00:00 Introductions

02:15 Prakash's Background and Experience

04:27 Essential Ingredients to Building Nextdoor's Early Team

10:16 Challenges and Inflection Points in Team Building

13:58 Specialization and Mentorship in Team Building

17:55 Interview and Evaluation Methods

28:18 Recruiting Strategies & Transition to Management

36:01 Building a High Trust Environment

38:41 In-Person vs. Remote Work Cultures

42:36 Advice for Early Founders and Engineers

Yeah, we know this is 30 seconds of silence but, believe me, we have a LOT to say! Follow this podcast and keep an eye out for our first episode featuring Prakash Janakiraman, the co-founder of Nextdoor, which drops in on 2nd August 2024!