recurly - 'entrepreneuring' company growth - lessons learned between $0 and $1bn in...
TRANSCRIPT
#recurlyboulder
Powering Subscription Billing Success Since 2009
Dan BurkhartCEO and Co-founder
@danburkhart
Renato MascardoChief Technical Officer
@rmascardo#recurlyboulder
2010
2012
2014
Today
4
Building A Company Is An Un-Natural Act
Requiring Many Deviations From Your ‘Comfort Zone’
2010
2012
2014
Today
5
Humans Learn By Repetition
Sometimes Unlearning Behaviors Is Even More Difficult
6
When building a company, it is difficult to know when to shift gears… in People, Process, Infrastructure, and Organization
2010
2012
2014
Today
7
4Seed
$1.6M
12Series A
$6M
60Series B
$12M
85
Funding Team Business Technology Organization Process
1
2
3
4
5
R
2010
2012
2014
Today
8
Lessons learned between then…
2010
2012
2014
Today
9
… and Now
2010
2012
2014
Today
Stage of Business: Determines Approach
10
Influencing Factors
• Seeking Funding vs. Freshly Funded • Architectural Maturity • Customer Demands (B2B vs. B2C) • Business Model • Brand ‘Promise’ To Customers
2010
2012
2014
Today
Pre-Seed
11
Scrappy, Scramble, Survival Mode
• Building functionality at a breakneck pace
• Nothing to lose, everything to gain
• Proof of concept, pursuit of MVP and validation
2010
2012
2014
Today
12
4Seed
$1.6M Early Revenue Monolithic Engineer + 1 Support
Scrappy + Tired
Funding Team Business Technology Organization Process
Where We Were At Our Seed Stage Of Funding…
2010
2012
2014
Today
Post-Seed Funding
13
Pursuit of Traction + (MVP)
• Iterating Quickly • Building Features At A Breakneck Pace • Infrastructure Build-out to become PCI compliant • Added Support
GearShift Moment
2010
2012
2014
Today
14
Series A Funding Sets Expectation For Growth
2010
2012
2014
Today
15
Series A
$6M 8 Revenue Early SOA Eng + Product + Support Early Scrum
Funding Team Business Technology Organization Process
4Seed
$1.6M Early Revenue Monolithic Engineer + 1 Support
Scrappy + Tired
2010
2012
2014
Today
Adding Product Management
16
To An Engineering Culture
• Existing Full-Stack Engineers Resistant • ‘Why Do We Need Product Managers?” • Organization Needed Process and Definition • Engineering Staffing Moved From “I” To “We”
GearShift Moment
2010
2012
2014
Today
17
Coming of Age Rituals
2010
2012
2014
Today
18
Architect For Failure + Resiliency
Postmortem: - Architectural Failures - Process Failures - People Failures
The Wake Up Call:
Lessons: - Hire Ops Early - Hire Experience ($$) - Systems-Level Thinkers - Think In Failure Modes - Test Everything. Again.
2010
2012
2014
Today
19
Startup Mode:
Mature Company Mode:
“I Built This Feature…It Works Like This”
“I Built This Feature…Here’s How It Works…”
“When It Fails…Here Is What Happens…”
GearShift Moment
2010
2012
2014
Today
20
Series A
$6M 8 Revenue Early SOA Eng + Product + Support Early Scrum
Funding Team Business Technology Organization Process
4Seed
$1.6M Early Revenue Monolithic Engineer + 1 Support
Scrappy + Tired
SOARevenue Growth
Eng, Product Support, Design,
QA, Ops, Acct. Mgmt, Sales, Mktg
Scrum40Series B
$12M
2010
2012
2014
Today
21
Stability, Scalability, Performance and Security are Features
2010
2012
2014
Today
22
Technology and Architecture Continuum
Prototype
(MVP) Minimum Viable Product
1-3 Yr. Architecture
5-10 Yr. Architecture
Future
2010
2012
2014
Today
23
Choose Iterative Architectures Over Pure Perfection Or Pure Time-To-Market
Evolve Your Technical Design Review Process
Technology and Architecture
2010
2012
2014
Today
24
‘Stage Appropriate’ Architecture
Technology decisions must consider architectural purpose and ability to execute balanced against time-to-market requirements
They Are Ultimately Business Decisions
2010
2012
2014
Today
25
Technology and Architecture
Always Have A Strategy For How You Build Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) Into Your Product
SOA and Organizational Alignment
2010
2012
2014
Today
26
Technology and Architecture
Entropy Applies to Software and It’s Called Technical Debt
#recurlyboulder
2010
2012
2014
Today
27
Technology and Architecture
Technology Decisions And Staffing Decisions Are More Coupled Than Most Think
2010
2012
2014
Today
28
Organizational Structure
2010
2012
2014
Today
29
Evolution Of Organizational Structure Takes Time..
Organization
Typically The Realization That Change Is Needed Hurts…Before It Can Change
Anticipating Change In Advance Can Greatly Smooth Out PainPoints
2010
2012
2014
Today
30
Organization
Recurly Appropriately Invested In Great Customer Support Early On.
Nothing Can Kill SaaS Companies More Quickly Than Poor Customer Support
2010
2012
2014
Today
31
Organization
Double Down On Ops Early On
Otherwise, BOTH Ops (Stability) And Engineering Progress Suffer
2010
2012
2014
Today
32
Organization
Invest In QA Early, Especially If Your Business Proposition Depends On High Availability (B2B)
Your Customers Will Thank You With Their Loyalty
2010
2012
2014
Today
33
Don’t Be Afraid To ‘Re-Factor’ Your Execution Process
Process
If Your Business Is Growing Your Processes Become Obsolete… Repeatedly
2010
2012
2014
Today
34
Process Is Also ‘Stage Appropriate’
Random Scramble
Kinda-Smells-Like-Scrum
Oh That’s Scrum
Cross-Team Execution
Cross-Team, Cross-Matrix Execution
2010
2012
2014
Today
35
Company Culture
Company Culture Can Help With ‘GearShift’ Moments Requiring Change
Company Values Define Pillars of Culture
…Defines Personality and Temperament During Critical Transitions
2010
2012
2014
Today
36
Be MindfulEmpathetic to customers Champion of the user Accountable to your team
2010
2012
2014
Today
37
Solve ElegantlyDo more with less Focus where it matters
2010
2012
2014
Today
38
Iterate EverythingProduct, Process, Behaviors
2010
2012
2014
Today
39
Debate Passionatelyand Compromise Accordingly
2010
2012
2014
Today
40
Own the OutcomeGet shit done, Play to win
41
Questions?
THANK YOU
follow us @recurly