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Engineering culture is a system: incentives, habits, standards, and how decisions get made when things break. On SphereCast, host Adin Heric sits down with Krzysztof Ras to explain how to design that system from zero – and evolve it through scale across the Middle East and China.

Kris breaks down what “culture” really looks like before the first engineer is hired, how the first 100 days set long-term norms, and how leadership must shift as teams grow from a handful of builders into distributed organizations.

In this episode, we cover:

• What “culture” means before the team even exists
• The first 100 days: what to prioritize (hiring, values, process, delivery)
• How culture is defined through daily behavior, not decks
• Speed vs. stability: architecture, testing, and discipline under pressure
• Lessons from building teams in the Middle East
• What China’s execution pace changes about leadership expectations
• Leading across languages and time zones while maintaining trust and shared values
• How AI is reshaping engineering culture – where it helps, and where it can harm collaboration

Whether you’re a founder hiring your first engineers, a CTO scaling a team, or a leader managing globally distributed development, this episode offers practical frameworks for building a culture that holds up under growth.

Key Topics: engineering culture, scaling engineering teams, first 100 days, hiring and values, engineering leadership, clean architecture, testing discipline, startup vs scale-up, distributed teams, cross-cultural leadership, Middle East tech leadership, China tech leadership, AI in software development, SphereCast, Sphere Inc.

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In this episode of SphereCast, host Adin Heric sits down with Nicolas Cava — serial founder, former Zendesk engineering leader, and now a fractional CTO and executive coach helping tech teams scale without burning out.

Nicolas has built startups, led engineering organizations through hypergrowth, and personally experienced burnout twice. Today, he shares practical insights on how tech leaders, CTOs, founders, and engineering managers can build sustainable systems for growth.

In this episode, we cover:

• What burnout really looks like for engineering leaders
• The subtle early warning signs most founders ignore
• How “grind culture” still shapes tech organizations
• Delegation as a burnout-prevention tool
• Leadership habits for scaling teams 500%+
• How AI and uncertainty contribute to stress and “AI anxiety”
• Why fractional CTO roles are rising
• How to stay ambitious without sacrificing wellbeing

Whether you’re a founder navigating rapid scaling, a CTO managing distributed teams, or a leader struggling to balance ambition with sustainability, this episode offers actionable strategies and real-world stories to help you lead with clarity — not burnout.

Key Topics: Burnout in tech, CTO burnout, engineering leadership, startup scaling, tech leadership podcast, hypergrowth teams, fractional CTO, AI anxiety, engineering management, leadership wellbeing, sustainable tech culture, avoiding burnout in startups, leadership coaching, Nicolas Cava, SphereCast.

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In this episode of SphereCast, we sit down with Wes Ezzeddine, a seasoned technology leader who’s built and scaled engineering teams across startups and growth-stage companies. Joined by Sphere’s COO and Director of Talent Delivery, Katya Savenkova, we explore what it really takes to scale tech organizations sustainably – balancing speed, quality, and culture.

From knowing when to hire internally versus bringing in external experts, to identifying high performers, to keeping accountability clear across blended teams: this conversation dives deep into the real-world challenges behind rapid growth in tech.

💡 You’ll learn:

• How to structure scaling beyond headcount — and where most teams go wrong
• When to leverage external talent delivery to move faster without compromising quality
• How to spot and nurture true high performers
• How to keep execution sharp and accountability clear as teams grow
  
  

Whether you’re a CTO, COO, or founder, this episode offers practical frameworks and lessons to help you scale smarter, not just bigger.

🎧 Tune in and get insights you can put to work right away.

#SphereCast #TechLeadership #TeamScaling #EngineeringManagement #AI #TalentDelivery #Sphere

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In this episode of SphereCast, host Adin Heric, Head of Marketing at Sphere, and Mario Schwartz, Director of Data and AI, sit down with Ken Pickering, Chief Technology Officer at Scripta Insights, to explore the real-world balance between innovation, risk, and responsibility in AI adoption.

Ken brings decades of experience leading engineering teams at Hopper, Starburst, and now Scripta Insights, where he’s helping organizations use data and AI to transform decision-making in healthcare and beyond.

Together, we dive into:
 - How Ken’s leadership style evolved across fast-growth tech environments.
 - The most practical, immediate use cases of AI in business today.
 - The trade-off between stability and experimentation in AI-driven systems.
- Building strong data governance frameworks for trustworthy AI.
- How the role of the CTO is evolving as AI becomes central to every product and process.

From lessons in leadership to the realities of implementing AI responsibly, this episode offers a candid look at what it really takes to lead through technological transformation.

If you’re a CTO, tech founder, or business leader looking to understand how to balance AI innovation with reliability and governance — this episode is a must-listen.

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In this powerful episode of SphereCast, Adin Heric (Head of Marketing at Sphere) and Mario Schwarts (Director of Data & AI Practice at Sphere) sit down with Erika Kiely — a transformational tech leader, AI advocate, and founder of ProTechtive Strategies. From growing up in politically unstable Peru to driving AI transformation in insurance and launching her own purpose-led venture, Erika’s story is a masterclass in resilience and intentional leadership.

The conversation spans AI in enterprise project management, ethical innovation, and building technology with a human lens. Erika breaks down real-world use cases from her time at American Fidelity, how she personally leveraged AI tools like ChatGPT and low-code platforms to launch her business, and why she believes AI should expand human capacity — not replace it.

We also dive into global perspectives: Erika and her daughter travel the world with a mission to give back and grow. She shares how emerging tech, especially AI, can help bridge inequality and accelerate global development — and what legacy she hopes to leave behind.

Whether you're a CTO, AI strategist, insurance innovator, or purpose-driven founder, this episode unpacks practical lessons on using AI at scale, building with ethics in mind, and leading through disruption.

Topics covered:

• Resilience in leadership: Erika’s journey from Peru to tech leadership
• Why she founded ProTechtive Strategies and its mission
• The role of AI in enterprise project management (insurance & regulated industries)
• Using AI tools (ChatGPT, automation, site builders) to launch and scale a business
• Ethical innovation and Erika’s vision for a national AI program
• AI as a force multiplier, not a replacement for people
• Global development, tech inclusion, and Erika’s legacy

Listen to this episode if you:

• Want to understand how AI can be used responsibly in highly regulated industries
• Are building or scaling a tech-enabled business with ethical foundations
• Care about global impact, inclusion, and leaving a legacy through innovation

Special Guest:
Erika Kiely — Founder of ProTechtive Strategies, Former Enterprise Tech Leader at American Fidelity

Hosts:
Adin Heric — Head of Marketing at Sphere
Mario Schwarts — Director of Data & AI Practice at Sphere

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This SphereCast episode features Adin Heric, Head of Marketing at Sphere, in conversation with Wes Ezzeddine, Director of Engineering at Mamo Pay. Together, they unpack Wes’s journey from early-stage startup environments to leading engineering at a fast-scaling fintech company.

Topics span everything from scaling tech teams in VC-backed vs. revenue-driven startups, to balancing speed with code quality, and how to report technical progress in terms business leaders actually understand.

A major theme in this episode is AI integration in engineering workflows. Wes shares real-world examples of using tools like ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, and custom GenAI agents to boost productivity and decision-making.

We explore what the rise of AI, from Sam Altman’s OpenAI to Google Gemini, means for the future of engineering leadership — including the skills developers need to stay relevant in a rapidly shifting landscape.

Whether you're growing your startup from 0 to 1 or scaling a tech team past 100, this episode dives into the practical and strategic sides of AI implementation, team building, and navigating the next era of software development.

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In this episode of SphereCast, we sit down with Alex Ter-Zakhariants, Field CTO at Sphere, to dive deep into how artificial intelligence is transforming software development, infrastructure resilience, and the battle against technical debt.

With 20+ years of experience across startups and large enterprises, Alex shares sharp, real-world insights into:

• Why AI can’t magically erase tech debt—but how it can accelerate clean-up when used with strong engineering fundamentals
• How to clean up messy, siloed “data swamps” and unlock the real value of AI
• Why human-in-the-loop oversight is still essential when scaling AI systems
• The growing role of AIOps platforms like Dynatrace, New Relic, and Datadog in identifying bottlenecks before they break things
• The pros and cons of today’s AI-powered developer tools such as GitHub Copilot, CodeWhisperer, Tabnine, Replit Ghostwriter, and Cursor AI
• The future of intelligent CI/CD, observability, and how to build AI-ready, resilient platforms without cutting corners

Whether you’re a CTO, software architect, DevOps lead, or ML engineer, this conversation cuts through the AI hype and delivers pragmatic advice for integrating AI into modern engineering workflows.

Perfect for anyone looking to stay ahead in an age where GenAI, LLMs, and AI-assisted development are fast becoming the new normal.

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This week, the SphereCast speaks with Emilia De Stasio, COO and Founder at Artscapy. The mission of Artscapy is to lower the barrier to entry into art collection. Within the platform, users can both purchase contemporary art and track the art pieces they own, including documentation and value. Artscapy is merging the worlds of fine art and complex technology — such as blockchain technology — to make the art world more welcoming to new audiences.

Emilia has always had an interest in art and art collection — a common thread through a relatively uncommon career path. Emilia thought she was destined for a job as an economist and pointed her life plans in this direction. However, when economics didn’t pan out as expected and through several twists and turns, Emilia began building a business to drive traffic in the direction of that one common thread — art. For Emilia, Artscapy is a place where her passion meets tech. And on the podcast, she dives into both the passion and the technology as she reflects on her time as an entrepreneur.

Noteworthy Quotes:

”Our mission is to democratize the art world — to make it accessible. To make it possible for anyone to come in and learn about art. Overcoming those initial barriers to entry. That initial intimidation.”

“A key to building any sort of tech business is being in it from the beginning. Understanding what’s the backbone of the business.”

“Many people who are interested in building a tech business think, ‘Okay, I need to build every single thing from scratch.’ And that’s not necessarily true. One of the key strengths of a good entrepreneur is finding out how to optimize solutions. Aggregating different solutions. Bringing in the skeletons built by others and expanding on that.”

”Working within a startup, I’ve never worked as much as I am now. But I’ve never been happier than I am now.”

“Don’t get too worked up around what you think you need to be doing. Or that there’s only one path for you and that you need to pursue it ad nauseam… In life, the places where you can add the most value develop over time.”

“The beauty and the curse of entrepreneurship is that no day is the same. There’s always a challenge. There’s an infinitely growing to-do list. It’s a living, breathing animal that needs love, care, sweat, tears. And that’s also the beauty of it.”

“There are different routes to entrepreneurship. At the end of the day, if you can drive your business forward while also staying sane, that’s what matters.”

Bullet List of Resources – 

Emilia De Stasio

• LinkedIn
  
  
  

Artscapy

• Company Website
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

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This week, the SphereCast interviews Andy Bray, Chief Financial Officer at Sermo. Sermo is a social platform, connecting more than 1.3 million healthcare providers across 150 countries. This physicians-first online community allows clinicians to communicate about issues that are important to them and their patients. In no other industry is mind-share more important than healthcare, as sharing expertise can literally mean saving lives. The sum is much greater than its parts.

Bray has held financial positions in various companies across many different industries — including an early run at one of the “Big 4” accounting firms. Having seen and experienced much over the course of his seasoned career, he offers a unique perspective on what makes a “good” finance department. But one prevailing attribute that spells success in a financial professional? Nosiness. On the podcast, Andy deep dives on the value of curiosity in finance, offers some insightful leadership advice, and much more.

Noteworthy Quotes:

”To be a strategic CFO, you absolutely need a strong team. The most important parts of your FP&A team are the people that you have in it. And they need to have an analytical mindset and a curiosity. You need to be nosy and understand what’s going on inside of the company. To look beyond the numbers.”

”Excellence is not perfection.”

”Agility is just huge and is such a key attribute. It’s massively linked to your culture. If you want agility and to be agile, it’s important to live that culture and harness that.”

”As a leader, you have to be respectful of people’s time. You get to meetings on time. You don’t change things at the last minute. You don’t move things around… You have to put your team first.”

”As a leader, listen more than you talk. That’s key. Listen and understand different perspectives, facts, and viewpoints. And once everything has been put forward, make the right decision based on that data.”

”Don’t be afraid to make career decisions that aren’t orthodox. Everyone has a long career, and going down the route that is nontraditional is hugely beneficial. And sometimes people think it’s risky. But that risk is never as great as people fear it is.”

”As a leader, you have to be focused on what needs to be done. Especially when people are going off in many different tangents.”

Bullet List of Resources – 

Francois Casanova

• LinkedIn
  
  
  

Sermo

• Company Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

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This week, the SphereCast speaks with Francois Casanova, Founder and CEO at Fitogram. Fitogram is a digital service that takes the pain out of administrative logistics for fitness professionals and business owners. Fitogram offers comprehensive online booking, payment processing, customer management, and accounting — all in an easy-to-use SaaS platform. In its own words, Fitogram believes that “nothing should stand between people and their passion for sports.”

In 2012, Fitogram began as a humble Germany-based startup. Since its inception, the company has grown its customer base to tens of thousands of fitness providers across more than 11 European countries. With the growth, Francois’s role has shifted from a fully hands-on CEO to more of a visionary, casting direction for the company and trusting his team to see the vision to reality. On the podcast, among many other things, Francois discusses entrepreneurship, leadership, and trusting your team to do what’s right.

Noteworthy Quotes:

"Now, my role in management is to serve the company. I don't see myself as a leader. I see myself as a servant of the business. The team is really doing the big chunk of the work at this point. And that has been a massive switch... That helped us unlock so much potential and growth."

"When you're the CEO, you feel that you need to help and need to be involved and need to know everything. But you can't. Definitely not... My role has to be as a [visionary]."

"A good leader is a good listener. It's about understanding and listening your team and your market. Really taking the time to do that is very important."

"I've been part of an entrepreneurial club for a long time now. And we organized an event called Leap and the Net Will Appear. And I think that's very true for every entrepreneurial journey. If you really work hard and go in the right direction, you make stuff happen."

"You cannot underestimate the value of a good customer journey."

Bullet List of Resources – 

Francois Casanova

• LinkedIn
  
  
  

Fitogram

• Company Website
• Instagram
• YouTube
• LinkedIn