The Tech Trek

The Tech Trek

By ElevanoTechnology
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The Tech Trek episodes

  • Bill Press - Product velocity and delivering with quality

    Key takeaways:

    • Product velocity and delivering with quality
    • Strategic technical debt - making the trade-off of customer acquisition vs robust code
    • Focusing on strategic projects to pay down debt
    • Early-stage startups have external pressures that drive growth
    • Shifting from sales-driven growth to product management driven growth

      • Meet:  Bill Press is the SVP of Engineering at Iterable. He is an accomplished technology leader with over a dozen years in enterprise and on-demand software. He has strong leadership skills and deep technological background. Bill has a proven track record for shepherding organizations through technological and cultural shifts, for building strong, collaborative teams, and for directing a broad range of ambitious projects to high quality, on-time delivery.

      If you have any questions for Bill, please feel free to reach out via: http://linkedin.com/in/billpress

      I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

      23 min
    • Daniel Hood - Talk about process changes and explain the reasons behind them

      Key takeaways:

      • Talk about process changes and explain the reasons behind them
      • Going through acquisition and staying agile
      • Looking to managers as the canary in the coal mine
      • Getting the team to leverage dashboards/metrics
      • Anchor points to review the relevancy of metrics

        • Meet:  Daniel Hood is the Director of Engineering at Action Network, a sports media company focused on delivering data, news, and analytics to fans and sports bettors.  Over the past decade, he has worked as both a developer and a manager to build and design engaging digital media products at scale.  Daniel graduated from the University of North Carolina with a degree in computer science.

        If you have any questions for Daniel, please feel free to reach out via:

        https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-h-9aa77634/

        I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

        22 min
      • Rashu Garg - Bringing innovation to the business and measuring its impact

        Key takeaways:

        • Balancing innovation with what is needed
        • Managing stakeholder expectations and “excitement”
        • Technology and business stakeholder partnership is key to success

          • Meet:  Rashu Garg is the SVP and Enterprise Head of Data Products at Regions Bank.

          If you have any questions for Rashu, please feel free to reach out via:

          https://www.linkedin.com/in/rashu-garg-93249812/

          I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

          19 min
        • Mike Ganz: Focusing on solving the right problem, not the most difficult

          Key takeaways:

          • Focusing on solving the right problem, not the most difficult
          • Define the “north” star
          • Seeing the most impactful project
          • Positioning the need to deal with the “plumbing” before you seeing the reporting

            • Meet:  Mike Ganz is a leader in the data space, currently serving as Senior Director of Data & Analytics at Optoro. There he focuses his time on differentiating Optoro's products through data and ensuring that the most difficult returns problems retailers and the environment face today are met with dynamic and robust data solutions.

            Prior to joining Optoro, Mike worked as an Engagement Manager at Applied Predictive Technologies, which was later acquired by Mastercard. In that role he helped Fortune 500 companies across a variety of industries design, implement, and measure the impact of business experiments.

            Mike holds a BSE in Systems Science & Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

            If you have any questions for Mike, please feel free to reach out via:

            https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-ganz-23989955/

            I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

            25 min
          • Thor Clark - Never a perfect process, but the right process for the stage you are at

            Key takeaways:

            • Never a perfect process, but the right process for the stage you are at
            • Making an investment into a more efficient process
            • The time horizon gest longer as you grow and mature

              • Meet:  Thor Clark is a senior technology executive with broad experience building and leading engineering and product teams in public and private companies and has multiple successful exits as technical co-founder and early employee. In addition to being the CTO at WELL, he also serves as an advisor at Burner (Ad Hoc Labs). Before joining WELL, he was CTO at TigerText, a comprehensive clinical communications solution, and previously VP of Engineering at Barracuda.

              If you have any questions for Thor, please feel free to reach out via:

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

              I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

              21 min
            • Kishore Aradhya - Connecting technology and business strategy

              Key takeaways:

              • Don’t be too technology-focused without identifying the customer value it should provide
              • The “connecting tissue” isn’t always obvious
              • Conversations around the “art of the possible”

                • Meet: Kishore Aradhya is currently the Head of Data Engineering, AI & Data at Bose.

                If you have any questions for Kishore, please feel free to reach out via:

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

                I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

                17 min
              • Mark DiAntonio - Team behavior and measuring impact

                Key takeaways:

                • Team behavior and measuring impact
                • Looking at a 3 sprint rolling average to gauge velocity
                • Keeping the workplace fun by focusing on skill mastery and being given autonomy
                • Modeling behavior on core values
                • You want people to be truthful and speak up

                  • Meet: Mark DiAntonio is Vice President of Engineering at HqO, overseeing engineering operations and accelerating the development and delivery of innovative products. With twenty years of engineering expertise, he has a proven track record of building and leading successful engineering teams with a focus on innovation, agile processes, and great teamwork.

                  Prior to HqO, Mark held senior-level positions at Promoboxx, DraftKings Inc., Warner Brothers Games, and Arthur J. Gallagher. During his time at DraftKings, Inc., Mark served as the Director of Engineering for Fantasy Sports, and then as VP, Head of Product, Media. In these roles, Mark successfully led his team through a period of extreme growth while also evolving their process to changing compliance and regulatory landscape.

                  During his time at WB Games, Mark has been credited on game titles in the Warner Brothers Games digital platform group including Batman Arkham City, Gotham City Impostors, Mortal Kombat, Injustice, Shadows of Mordor, Cartoon Universe, Lord of the Rings Online, D&D online, and Infinite Crisis.

                  If you have any questions for Mark, please feel free to reach out via:

                  https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-diantonio-578687a/

                  I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

                  25 min
                • Andy Owens - Hiring and scaling your analytics team

                  Key takeaways:

                  • Look at a job’s deliverables to find the right hire
                  • The new data analyst needs to understanding core CS concepts
                  • Don’t let the process define the hire

                    • If you have any questions for Andy, please feel free to reach out via:

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

                    I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

                    19 min
                  • Barr Moses - Good data pipeline, “bad data” problem

                    Key takeaways:

                    • Good data pipeline, “bad data” problem
                    • Investing in data observability - it will cost you one way or the other
                    • Being proactive vs reactive
                    • Data engineering and data product manager would be best to own observability

                      • Meet:  Barr Moses is CEO & Co-Founder of Monte Carlo, a data reliability company backed by Accel, GGV, Redpoint, and other top Silicon Valley investors. Previously, she was VP Customer Operations at Gainsight, a management consultant at Bain & Company, and served in the Israeli Air Force as a commander of an intelligence data analyst unit. Barr graduated from Stanford with a B.Sc. in Mathematical and Computational Science.

                      If you have any questions for Barr, please feel free to reach out via:

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

                      https://twitter.com/BM_DataDowntime

                      I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

                      23 min
                    • Johnathan Hunt - Implementing Security Sooner (especially in DevOps)

                      Key takeaways:

                      • Ramifications of waiting to implement security
                      • Consider alignment before jumping to tools
                      • Look within your current team to see if skills are currently covered
                      • Tradeoffs of allocating resources to build tools vs buying

                        • Meet:  Johnathan Hunt is the VP of Security for GitLab, an open-source code repository and collaborative software development platform for large DevOps and DevSecOps projects.  He has been in the InfoSec and cybersecurity space for more than 20 years, and he has worked across several verticals including SaaS, financial, telecommunications, healthcare, government, and more.

                        Johnathan is particularly passionate about bug bounty, supply chain security, and DevSecOps.  He has conducted many conference keynotes, podcasts, interviews, and blog series on these topics.  He holds numerous security certifications, has a master’s degree in information systems, and is currently pursuing a second master’s degree at Harvard University.

                        If you have any questions for Johnathan, please feel free to reach out via:

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

                        I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

                        17 min

                      About The Tech Trek

                      From the publisher's feed

                      The Tech Trek is a podcast about how founders, operators, and technology leaders build and scale technology companies.