"scaling a top tier engineering team" by stanislas polu from stripe
TRANSCRIPT
SCALING A TOP-TIER ENGINEERING TEAM: THE STRIPE EXPERIENCE
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STANISLAS POLU SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT STRIPE
@SPOLU
HOW TO SCALE AN ENGINEERING TEAM BOTH FROM A CULTURAL AND A TECHNICAL POINT OF VIEW?
Scaling culture @Stripe
Guillaume Princen Head of France & Southern Europe @Stripe
Startup DreamTeam @TheFamily
May 19, 2015
Have a global long term vision (and apply it!)
Source: MIT Technology Review (January 26, 2015)
Stand by your vision… whatever the risks
Transparency
Source: Wired (12.19.14)
Transparency Transparency
Transparency
Transparency
Fear
Uncertainties
Doubts
All
The
Hands
Trust & risk-free environment
Recruitment – take it seriously My recruitment process • 1 skype with recruiter in SF • 1 skype with Head of International • 1 written project (“My plan for Stripe in France”) • 1 visit to London:
– Interview with UK Country Lead – Interview with Head of International – Lunch with the 2 above + an Account Support + an Engineer
• 1 skype with COO • 1 trip to San Francisco, and interviews with
– Patrick (co-founder) – John (co-founder) – COO – Head of Risk – Head of Global Operations – Head of BizOps – Lunch with Legal officer, Data engineer, Product engineer – Coffee with Recruiter
Recruitment – take it seriously My recruitment process • 1 skype with recruiter in SF • 1 skype with Head of International • 1 written project (“My plan for Stripe in France”) • 1 visit to London:
– Interview with UK Country Lead – Interview with Head of International – Lunch with the 2 above + an Account Support + an Engineer
• 1 skype with COO • 1 trip to San Francisco, and interviews with
– Patrick (co-founder) – John (co-founder) – COO – Head of Risk – Head of Global Operations – Head of BizOps – Lunch with Legal officer, Data engineer, Product engineer – Coffee with Recruiter
• 2 references to provide
11"“formal”"interviews"+"1"wri3en"project"
+"2"lunches"+"1"coffee"
+"1"Eurostar"trip"+"1"American"Airlines"flight"to"SF"
+"2"references"
Recruitment – take it seriously My recruitment process • 1 skype with recruiter in SF • 1 skype with Head of International • 1 written project (“My plan for Stripe in France”) • 1 visit to London:
– Interview with UK Country Lead – Interview with Head of International – Lunch with the 2 above + an Account Support + an Engineer
• 1 skype with COO • 1 trip to San Francisco, and interviews with
– Patrick (co-founder) – John (co-founder) – COO – Head of Risk – Head of Global Operations – Head of BizOps – Lunch with Legal officer, Data engineer, Product engineer – Coffee with Recruiter – 2 references to provide
Sunday"aCernoon"test"
Customer-centric
Rituals & folklore • Twin Peaks jog (Tuesday)
• Board games night (Wed) • Hacktrips • ATH
Beware when you scale!
• Dunbar’s number: somewhere between 100 and 250 employees
• Social relationships between people are not enough anymore to get things done: you need more processes…
• …but processes can kill your (startup) culture
Beware when you scale!
• Email transparency can become a little chaotic with 250 people…
• …we created notes@ and decisions@ mailing lists to make the most critical information available to all in a frictionless manner
• E.g., for France, now we have: – [email protected] – [email protected] – [email protected] (new) – [email protected] (new)
3 things to take-away
• Culture is a Founder topic, and the Founders have to embrace them everyday
• Long term vision and actions are key to maintain culture
• Beware of culture as you scale!
Thanks!
SEE YOU SOON!
LOVE.
THEFAMILY.CO
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