In NIH-heavy orgs, “build” isn’t a decision. It’s a reflex. Engineers don’t evaluate buy/partner/build. They default to build—either because they assume nothing good exists, or because they quietly discount the true internal costs until the spreadsheet says what they want it to say. Sometimes that reflex produces real advantage. Most of the time, it produces …
Continue reading “The NIH Tax: How “Not Invented Here” Quietly Kills Your Margin and Your Roadmap”
Paul Graham once wrote about startups being default alive or default dead — a brutally simple way to check whether a company’s current trajectory leads to survival or collapse. I like the concept of defaults: what are the organizational tendencies that arise as a result of the cultural revealed preferences? One such dichotomy is the …
One of the great paradoxes in tech is how early or mid-stage startups try to cosplay as late-stage enterprises long before they have any of the fundamentals that justify it. The temptation to scale prematurely is natural: looking “big” feels like progress! It feels safe. It feels like you’re doing it right. But: acting big …
After nearly two decades of corporate experience spanning seed stage startup to Fortune 500, I’ve slowly built a list of rules to live by at work. They’re pretty obvious, but that’s ok – most good ideas are. I’d like to think they help keep work more straightforward, less wasteful, and probably a lot more pleasant. …
Continue reading “Obvious Rules to Live By, for Corporate Sanity”
Over the last few years, as the IAB Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) has been in and out of the news, a few of my friends across the industry have nudged me to put the story behind the TCF down on paper. After eight years, some of the details are a bit hazy to …
Technology teams often confuse “done” with “delivered,” neglecting impact. Focusing on deliverables over outcomes leads to dysfunction, cynicism, and lower quality products…
If the word “resilience” makes you groan, much like the words “synergy,” “best-in-class” or “unprecedented times” might, I get it. But, hear me out. Resilience is one of the most underappreciated and important character traits in humans—especially when working at a startup. So what does it mean to be resilient within a startup context? Embrace …
The media stories speak for themselves. Just like today’s real estate market, it’s an employee’s job market. Companies are hemorrhaging talent and struggling to rehire. As of last month, there were 8.4 million unemployed individuals in the U.S. despite 10 million job openings. Job-seekers are able to be more selective and can negotiate terms that work best …
Over the last decade of building software products, I’ve noticed a pattern: product initiatives are more likely to fail if they don’t have the right roles in play. Why, What, How, When, and Who: Each of these five questions needs a specific name assigned to it. Job title and management lines may not matter, as …
Before COVID-19, many executives easily dismissed the benefits of a remote work culture, because “in person just works better.” Now that we’re over half a year into this forced experiment, it’s time to recognize an anti-pattern: do not attempt to directly replace in-person interactions with video calls. Instead: embrace the cultural changes needed to make …
