In this podcast episode, the VP of Engineering at Fond, Srividhya “Vidhya” Chandrasekaran, shares her insights on getting the best out of engineers. She discusses the importance of empowerment, accountability, and mentorship. Vidhya emphasizes the need for leaders to lead the way of their teams rather than telling them what to do. She encourages empowering engineers to come up with their own solutions and ideas, promoting involvement and accountability.

Highlights:

00:02:52 Empower your engineers for success.

Guest:

Srividhya “Vidhya” Chandrasekaran is a passionate leader in the software and technology sector with a knack for solving complex problems by synergizing technology and people.

She has consistently held leadership positions throughout their career, guiding teams and products to success while enjoying the process of mentoring others. She's committed to personal and professional development, often seeking insights from expert speakers and literature.

Believing in the potential of everyone, they strive to uplift those who may not be performing at their best, tracing root causes and offering solutions. She encourages continual learning and the challenge of conventional methods in favor of innovation.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/srividhya-chandrasekaran

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?

Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Nav's VP of Engineering, Gian Perrone, joins Amir Bormand to discuss organizational design and leadership styles. The discussion focuses on how leaders can adapt to the company's culture or change the organization to fit their leadership style. They discuss the importance of assessing the organization before making any changes and the potential pitfalls of imposing a leadership style that doesn't fit the company culture. 

Highlights

[00:01:29] Adapting leadership style to organization.

[00:05:21] New leaders and reorgs.

[00:07:04] Change management in organizations.

[00:10:23] Comms plan and collaboration.

[00:14:43] Dealing with organizational change.

Guest:

Gian Perrone is the Head of Engineering at Nav. Before joining Nav, he served as an Engineering Lead at Square Banking, where he played a key role in launching various financial products. Before Square, he worked as a web developer at The Folio Society and a research programmer at the University of Waikato.

He holds a BS and MS in Computer Science from the University of Waikato and a Ph.D. from the IT University of Copenhagen.

With a decade of witnessing small business owners' financial challenges, Gian looks forward to simplifying business financing at Nav. He works from Milwaukee, adding to Nav's distributed team across 23 states.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gianp/

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?

Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Amir Bormand interviews Prabhath Karanth (PK), the Global Head of Security & Trust at Navan, an all-in-one travel and expense management SaaS platform. They discuss the growth and evolution of the security function and how it interacts with engineering and technology. PK shares insights into how security is scaling and taking on more functions, with everything becoming "as a code." The conversation also covers the role of PK's team in relation to their other peers.

Highlights:

[00:02:02] Security in hypergrowth companies.

[00:03:56] Emerging Technologies and Security.

[00:08:31] Embracing AI technology.

[00:11:11] Privacy risks in document summarization.

[00:16:52] Emerging AI Testing Companies.

[00:17:54] Connecting with experts.

Prabhath Karanth is the Global Head of Security & Trust at Navan, where he oversees product and platform security, detection and response, enterprise security, security architecture, engineering, and GRC & Trust functions. 

Prior to joining Navan, Prabhath oversaw cybersecurity at Adobe during the company’s cloud journey and hyper-growth trajectory from $30B to $300B. With 18+ years of experience in the industry, he also has a passion for working with startups and sitting on boards of directors to advise on product & business strategy, market positioning, governance, and solving security and business problems at scale.

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?

Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode of Tech Trek, Amir Bormand interviews Andy Foglia, the Director of Engineering at JupiterOne, to discuss adjusting management styles after joining a new company. Andy talks about his experience of transitioning from a big company to a startup and gives insights on how to adapt to new management styles. He also sheds light on the Jupiter One product that helps security practitioners understand what assets they have within their enterprise and identify potential vulnerabilities.

Highlights:

[00:01:15] Adjusting your management style.

[00:03:05] Transitioning to a new challenge.

[00:06:36] Taking risks in management.

[00:10:05] Startup planning cycles.

[00:11:26] Building relationships for success.

[00:15:31] Transitioning to startups.

[00:17:29] Managing engineers and staff.

Guest: Andy Foglia has over eight years of experience as a Director of Software Engineering in education technology and Cybersecurity. Andy currently works at JupiterOne, a data platform applied to security use cases that delivers unified cyber insights to organizations. He manages the Integrations and Site Reliability engineering teams, which focus on data collection from 100+ platforms and enabling the engineering organization to improve the design and operation of its systems to be more reliable and scalable. JupiterOne secured Series C funding in 2022 with a $1B valuation. Previously, Andy worked at McGraw Hill as a Director of Software Engineering focused on Enterprise Integrations with 3rd party systems and all K12 digital products. During his time there, the organization transformed its business towards digital solutions, and Andy was responsible for building and managing several engineering teams focused on new digital products. Andy received a BS in Computer Science and Engineering from UCLA.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-foglia-ab244758/

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?

Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, the host interviews Rebecca Greene, the co-founder and CTO of Regal.io, about her journey from a product background to engineering leadership. Regal.io is an outbound phone and SMS sales solution that helps B2C brands drive more conversations. Greene is responsible for the product, engineering, design, data, and people and talent teams at Regal.io. She started her career in financial services and consulting but later transitioned to product and engineering leadership. The conversation covers her experiences and insights on balancing different hats and leading a team.

Highlights:

00:00:00 Balancing product and engineering leadership.

Guest:

Rebecca Greene is Co-Founder and CTO of Regal.io -- an outbound phone and sms sales solution for B2C brands. She leads the engineering, product, and data teams. Prior to Regal, Rebecca was an early employee and Chief Product Officer at Handy, sold to ANGI. Rebecca grew up in South Florida and received her BA from Columbia and MBA from Harvard.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-greene-31b98513/

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?

Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, the host interviews Peter Kapur, the Head of Data Governance and Data Quality at CarMax. They discuss the importance of data governance as an offensive strategy rather than just a defensive one. Peter explains his role in making data an asset that drives business and improves profitability, customer experience, and associate experience. They also touch on privacy as a component of data governance and the need to change the mindset around data governance from a defensive weapon to an offensive one.

Highlights:

00:00:09 Data governance as an offensive enabler.

00:07:00 Shift from defense to offense.

00:12:40 Think outside the framework.

00:19:25 Data governance adds business value.

Guest:

Peter Kapur has more than 25 years in driving innovation in Data Management, with a focus on practical operationalization of Product Strategy, Data Strategy, Data Governance, Master Data, Data Quality, Metadata, and Data Stewardship. He is an Industry leader & Visionary, having led the operationalization of Data Analytics and Data Governance for several organizations, including Waste Management, JP Morgan, AIG, Depository Trust, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs & Credit Suisse.

An industry pioneer in driving a business-centric view in leveraging a component-based Data Strategy tied to specific business objectives

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

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?

Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode of the podcast, Peter Teitelbaum, director of site reliability engineering at Peacock, discusses the SRE function and the business impact of building it out. Peacock is a TV streaming service that offers both video-on-demand and live offerings. Peter's role at Peacock was to build out the SRE team and define what SRE meant at Peacock. The discussion covers the importance of resiliency, stability, automation, infrastructure management, and observability in ensuring the platform is robust and reliable.

Highlights:

[00:03:04] Building SRE on Four Pillars.

[00:06:25] Relationship between SRE and security.

[00:08:15] Importance of resiliency.

[00:11:53] Remote vs On-site Work.

[00:17:30] SRE maturity never ends.

[00:18:23] Managing code for automation.

[00:21:56] SRE Job Technologies.

Peter Teitelbaum is the Director of Site Reliability Engineering for NBCUniversal's Peacock TV streaming service. As part of the team that launched Peacock in 2020, he created a SRE culture and established several SRE teams that support the platform. Prior to joining Peacock, Peter spent over ten years at iHeartMedia, where he was focused on technology across several products, including a radio station web platform, launching iHeartRadio, and audio streaming.

Peter's roots are in software engineering, learning his first programming language in the mid-90s. Peter has focused on software engineering, platform architecture, operations, software delivery, infrastructure management, and Site Reliability Engineering throughout his career.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-teitelbaum/

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?

Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Amir Bormand interviews Karan Uppal, EVP of Engineering at Evolution IQ, about building AI native products. They discuss the difference between building AI native products and what goes into it. Karan's responsibilities include hiring and growing the engineering team, ensuring technology strategy aligns with business goals, and ensuring the organization can execute and deliver on product commitments.

Highlights

[00:02:23] AI native products.

[00:07:16] Thinking about higher dimensions.

[00:10:48] Variability in AI outcomes.

[00:14:16] Ramp up time for AI.

[00:18:07] Building Confidence in Software.

[00:22:19] Hiring in the market economy.

Guest

Karan Uppal is a data science leader with experience at the forefront of Natural Language Processing, time series data ingestion, and product creation. Karan leads our data science organization but also is a hands-on client advocate and engagement partner.

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

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?

Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, the host interviews Jordan Adler, Head of Product Engineering at OneSignal, a customer engagement platform. Jordan discusses how his team sets up and measures objectives and key results (OKRs) from a team, company, and personal perspective. OKRs are used to drive retention, revenue, re-engagement, resurrection, and other major kinds of lifecycle marketing metrics. Jordan also explains how his team operates independently with their OKRs. This episode is a useful guide for anyone interested in implementing OKRs in their organization.

Highlights:

[00:00:23] Customer engagement platform.

[00:03:49] Setting stretch goals.

[00:08:04] Personal and team goals.

[00:13:02] Personal career development plan.

[00:17:24] OKRs: A Critical Management Tool.

[00:20:06] Implementing OKRs in startups.

Jordan M. Adler is the Head of Product Engineering at OneSignal, where he drives the cutting edge of customer engagement and messaging.  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanmadler

In this episode, Amir Bormand talks with Ashu Agte, the CTO at Artera, about dealing with an exit and its impact on organizational transformation and design. Artera is a messaging platform for health systems that aims to improve patient experience and satisfaction. Ashu shares his experience and insights on the responsibilities of an engineering leader, organizational restructuring, and the challenges of managing a team during an exit. He also highlights the importance of communication and transparency in the process.

Highlights:

[00:01:06] Improving patient experience.

[00:04:19] Startup leadership and acquisition.

[00:08:34] Post-acquisition challenges.

[00:14:21] Criteria for choosing a job.

[00:17:18] Uncomfortable vs Patient.

[00:22:24] Situational leadership.

[00:24:21] Empathy in Leadership.

[00:30:08] Executive coaching and self-improvement.

[00:35:30] Measuring engineering success.

[00:37:10] Engineering Analytics Metrics.

Guest:

Ashu Agte is the Chief Technology Officer at Artera. A seasoned software engineering leader, he brings over 20+ years of experience overseeing engineering organizations at hyper-growth SaaS companies, including through multiple successful exits. Ashu has a proven track record of product development, team growth, and technical innovation. 

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?

Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)