The blog · since 2015

Insights for founders,
CTOs & investors.

Essays, playbooks and field notes from our CTOs, architects and leads. Written for people shipping real product.

Latest posts

Leadership

How to stop depending on that one developer

Key Person Risk (KPR) arises when a team relies too heavily on one specialist. To reduce this, shift their role to an advisor. The specialist guides, others do the work. It’s slow at first, but builds team knowledge, confidence, and better documentation.

AI

Even ETL needs a roadmap

ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) is vital for data-heavy businesses but often begins with manual workflows. Companies should identify inefficiencies, prioritise automation, and design a scalable ETL roadmap that integrates human reviews and evolves with business growth.

Leadership

Why founders need to care more about software licensing and SBOMs

Learn about the importance of SBOMs and software licensing for your SaaS startup.

Leadership

How to manage technical debt as part of your agile process

How to manage technical debt effectively to keep startups agile with strategies for documenting and prioritising technical debt, integrating it into your roadmap, and creating a culture of continuous improvement. Keep your codebase healthy and your team productive with these actionable tips.

Leadership

How to minimise the impact of developer onboarding

Discover strategies to optimise developer onboarding, minimise costs, and improve time-to-market. Learn how to tackle challenges like code complexity, technical stack adaptation, knowledge transfer, and team integration while fostering a supportive and productive environment for new hires.

AI

Revolutionising diagnosis: How large language models can drive a 10x change

Large language models (LLMs) transform problem-solving by enabling natural, iterative conversations, ideal for fields like healthcare and legal services. They scale expertise and accessibility but face challenges like reliability and cost.

Leadership

Beyond junior and senior labels: Push and Pull developers

Labels like "junior" and "senior" often fail to capture a developer's true value. True impact comes from initiative, ownership, and proactive contribution—not just years of experience. We value "pull developers" who actively seek improvement, ensuring the product's success beyond assigned tasks.

Due diligence

Do we even need a moat?

A technical moat is often seen as a product's defensive edge, but does every product really need one? For AI products, the choice between building proprietary tech or leveraging existing solutions like OpenAI is complex. True value lies in solving customer problems—not just in owning the technology.

AI

A company's first steps in AI

Many product companies are eager to leverage tools like ChatGPT. But how do you go from experimenting to running in production? Let's explore choosing the right large language model (LLM) to understand hosting options, ensuring an efficient and sustainable AI implementation.

Leadership

Social cohesion in remote companies: how to build solid connections and a collaborative culture from afar?

Today's digital age may seem hyper-connected, but remote work often lacks genuine human connection. We’ve created a culture of cohesion using dedicated bonding, safe spaces, and custom tools to ensure no one feels isolated.

madewithlove

On being an "expert"

Being an expert isn't about always having answers. It's about balancing confidence and humility, knowing when to admit you don't know, and valuing collaboration. True expertise grows through listening, learning, and contributing meaningfully, not just knowing everything.

Engineering

Caching routes, components and functions with "use cache" in Next.js 15 (canary)

"use cache" is an experimental Next.js 15 Canary feature and may change. In this tutorial, we explore "use cache" for caching, covering fetching and inserting comments with Drizzle to reduce database calls and improve performance while maintaining control.

Due diligence

Scaling the A team

In recent audits, I've noticed a less obvious pattern: overly talented start-up teams. While smart, experienced teams thrive early on, they struggle to scale. Scaling requires structure, documentation, and room to grow talent in-house.

AI & agentic tooling

AI-first engineering

We use AI and agentic workflows daily. From coding agents to AI strategy, we help teams adopt what actually works.

Read our AI insights

Engineering leadership

CTO Insights

We <3 sharing content for CTOs, senior engineers and founders with real-world insights.

40+ expert authors

For investors & VCs

Due diligence done right

Technical audits, codebase assessments, and risk analysis for portfolio managers making investment decisions.

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