What it takes to scale an engineering team, from 2 CTOs

Being able to scale successfully is vital to the development of any startup. As a company goes from having five, 50, to 500 (and more) customers, startups need to make sure that their product – and the engineering behind it – is able to keep up with that growth.

But as expected, scaling involves a range of factors – from managing talent to choosing the right tech stack – so it’s no easy task.

Recently, Tech in Asia hosted a closed-door online panel discussion in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Titled “Smart Growth: Best Practices for Rapid-Scaling,” the event was moderated by Maria Li, chief operating officer at Tech in Asia, and Supreet Sethi, principal solutions architect for startups at AWS. It dug deep into what engineering leaders, especially chief technology officers (CTOs), need to take into consideration when scaling their engineering teams.

Ajey Gore, operating partner at Sequoia Capital India and former CTO of Gojek, and Bradley Priest, CTO of TradeGecko

On the panel was Ajey Gore, operating partner at venture capital firm Sequoia Capital India and former CTO of Indonesia-based ride-hailing firm Gojek, and Bradley Priest, CTO of inventory and order management software provider TradeGecko, which was acquired by Intuit earlier this year.

To build or to buy?

The first order of business at the event? Addressing the perennial question all companies face when scaling their tech: to build or to buy?

“When [Gojek] launched its app, we saw a phenomenal market response,” Gore recalled. And with the platform growing 5% week on week, “the weakest links started showing up very quickly.”

At that point, Gojek made the decision to buy time, using software services in order to address the challenges it was facing. It then chose to build specific solutions for its core capabilities down the line.

TradeGecko, being in the business-to-business space, saw a different kind of growth trajectory from Gojek. It had to make sure it could scale effectively in the face of increasing customer expectations and product complexity alongside the growth of its user base.

“[At TradeGecko], I was trying to buy as much as possible,” shared Priest. “We’re focusing on the core value of what we’re providing and outsourcing what we could, particularly anything infrastructure and hosting related.”

While some aspects of the tech stack are clearly in the “buy” category – for example, no one should be building servers and data centers unless they provide services that require those – gray areas do exist. In such situations, CTOs need to go back to what really matters and think about what would provide the most value for customers. If it’s core to your product and aligns with your North Star metrics, build it – otherwise, it can be bought.

Priest cautioned against the “not-invented-here syndrome,” which refers to a tendency for people and organizations to avoid things that they didn’t create themselves.

“For me, my plan was always to default to buying if it was possible,” he shared. “If someone has built something that works, lean on them.”

Another pitfall to avoid, according to Gore, is the sunk cost fallacy, which occurs when people or organizations continue down a particular path because of previously invested resources, even if it isn’t really benefiting them anymore.

After all, just because something has worked before doesn’t mean it will continue to work as the company grows. Businesses therefore need to, as Gore puts it, be able to “move away and move ahead” in order to scale effectively.

Old hands and young blood

A poll conducted among attendees at the session found that one of the top concerns around scaling was people. As companies scale, the engineering teams supporting the product and its development grow as well, which presents certain challenges for CTOs.

In the talent conversation, there are always two sides: do you go out and find experienced people or do you hire young and train them up?

“It’s a mix,” shared Gore. “People [Gojek] hired five years ago are in leadership roles now, but people from outside [the organization] bring a different kind of experience and perspective.”

There are also some things that he feels can only come with experience, such as managerial ability and domain knowledge. Still, companies shouldn’t discount the value of hiring young talent and giving them the opportunities to hone their skills.

“We’ve pulled some amazing people out of the universities,” said Priest. “Everyone’s going out for more senior people, so there isn’t as much competition for these brilliant graduates.”

Once employees have been brought on board, businesses need to support their development and create an environment where engineering teams are able to experiment, collaborate, and grow.

Photo credit: rido / 123RF

This benefits the company in the long run, as people have the space to come up with new and innovative solutions that could improve the product and address challenges.

“Providing a safe space for failure is so valuable,” added Priest. “This is important for the growth side – you want your team to be trying and failing, and for that to be a good thing.”

Finding the right fit

As the team grows bigger and bigger, another aspect of the conversation is just how to manage it.

In Gore’s perspective, there’s no right answer.

“Every startup is different,” he said. At Gojek, the key was to keep the fabric of the culture intact even as the company grew. This meant that smaller celebrations such as birthdays were moved to the team level instead of being company-wide. The leadership team also made sure to keep an open channel of communication with their employees.

Similarly, sharing accountability and responsibility is crucial, along with fostering a culture of collaboration across different teams with clear layers of communication to reduce friction.

Priest jokingly stated that the answer was “a team of eight in sub-teams of four at all stages of the company.” More practically, he advised CTOs to read up on some well-known tactics, such as Spotify’s squad structure, Amazon’s “two-pizza rule” and Basecamp’s six-week work cycles to see how other people are doing it and explore what would work best for their teams.

Figuring out the right size for your company isn’t a one-off thing, Priest emphasized. It’s an ongoing process that needs to be improved upon as the business grows.

The secret sauce

Ultimately, scaling successfully boils down to two things: people and prioritization. CTOs must make sure that they have the right people on board and that they support their development and growth. At the same time, these leaders need to ensure that their teams are focused on the company’s core product and on what would give customers the most value.

“Understand the problem, understand the features you’re building, and trust your data,” Gore advised. “Figure out what is the most impactful thing, and make sure [teams] understand what we’re planning for – does it align with our North Star? Does it align with our goals?”

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This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.