Joined directly after university as a web developer
Early employee (joined shortly after TechCrunch)
After acquisition, as we grew a gap formed with a need for an engineering lead
Now Lead Engineer/VP Engineer, whatever you want to call it
Three different products
Acquired by Salesforce
4 Year time span (I’ve been with GoInstant for 3 of them)
Now working on a product for Service Cloud called SOS
Launched last week at Dreamforce, conference of 150k
We’ve had an amazing reception
Through out this we’ve learned a lot
Going through 3 products teaches you a lot of things
You have an idea
You think you’ve found a problem to solve
You *really* care about solving this problem
You’re in the hustle stage, in search of product market fit and validation
Assumptions about the problem you’re solving
Is this actually a problem?
why is this the problem?
Is it the core problem?
Assumptions about the product
How it solves the problem
If it provides enough value when solving the problem
Your assumptions flow down through the product and into the implementation
They affect what you consider to be important
They affect how you make decisions
They affect how your employees make decisions
Test with customers
Talk to them
Provide them with beta/alpha/pre-release access
Ask for feedback
Prototype!
Talk about the GoInstant Platform assumptions
You could end up driving the wrong way
By the time you realize you were driving the wrong way, it might be too late
Shows people you can move quickly and get shit done
GoInstant Fundraising example
You continue to push forward because of past success
Builds a culture of “shipping”
Creates a compulsion to push forward
Talk about how this impacted me
GoInstant had onyl a few big wins
Fund raising
Acquisition
SOS Product Launch
Create opportunities for small wins
Celebrate these wins with your team
They become a rally cry to continue pushing your company forward
How GoInstant celebrates small wins
Daily -- Pull request merges
Weekly -- All-hands meeting w/ beer and popcorn
Team dinners