Most teams don’t realize they’re missing critical data until something goes wrong.

In this episode, Austin Spiegel, co-founder and CTO of Sift and former SpaceX engineer, dives into why telemetry, simple in concept, a value and a timestamp, can become a massive problem in hardware. Miss even a fraction of a second, and you lose the story. Software engineers have plenty of tools to solve this. Hardware engineers haven’t, until now.

We also talk leadership, what it’s like stepping into management early, why teams can actually be too flat, and how your role shifts from doing the work to connecting context. On hiring, Austin explains why pedigree doesn’t equal talent, and how Sift focuses on practical, real-world ability.

And throughout, one theme emerges: speed. Not just moving fast, but learning and iterating faster than anyone else.

If you’re building complex systems or leading technical teams, this one hits on a lot of things that don’t usually get said out loud.

Episode Highlights

00:00 What telemetry actually is (and why it fails)

05:07 Why hardware never got its “Datadog moment”

12:05 The real challenge of high-frequency data

17:43 Becoming a manager too early at SpaceX

22:27 Interviewing for skills and values over pedigree.

26:59 The shift from doing work to providing context

31:32 Motivating engineers through customer impact

Key Takeaways

• Telemetry is simple in theory but breaks at scale and speed.
• Hardware teams lack the modern data tools software teams take for granted.
• Flat organizations can create decision bottlenecks.
• Great managers connect context more than they give answers.
• Pedigree is a weak signal, practical ability matters more.
• Interviews should mirror the actual job, not abstract problems.
• Speed is really about learning faster than everyone else.
• Engineers move faster when they’re closer to the customer.

Links & Resources

Austin Spiegel

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-spiegel/

Sift

Website: https://www.siftstack.com/

Matt Gjertsen

Website: https://www.bettereverydaystudios.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewgjertsen/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BetterEveryDayStudios