The tire was on top of my left leg for what felt like two minutes. During that time I kept repeating: “Please, please, get off my leg, please.” Around me a crowd had formed. The driver was in shock, and someone had rushed over to instruct him on what to do. A lady was by my side. As the van moved back someone slowly dragged my body to the curb. Once the tire was off my leg, I had the thought, “Is this really happening to me?”

I didn’t cry, I didn’t say anything, I just sat there rubbed my leg and breathed. Then the questioning began.

“Are you alright?” “Who are you?” “Is there someone we can call?”

I just kept breathing and responded, “I’m visiting. My friend Sophie works in the building nearby.” I pulled out my cell phone and handed someone her phone number.

I could hear a man behind me start to yell at the van’s driver. “Why didn’t you watch where you’re going!”

The driver was completely freaked out. “I didn’t see her.” He had the right of way, I had crossed when I shouldn’t have. I felt terrible for him. I said, “Its not his fault.”

The lady who had been by my side remarked, “You’re awfully calm, I’d be hysterical.” Yes I was calm, but I didn’t see any reason to get upset, mostly because I felt stupid for crossing when I shouldn’t have, for causing all this commotion, and for freaking everyone out around me and interrupting their otherwise ordinary day.

Within a couple minutes the ambulance came by followed by the police. The paramedics asked if I wanted gas or any pain killers, I said no. My leg was throbbing but it wasn’t unbearable, and I was just breathing, calmly.

Someone said something that made me laugh, which turned the worried look on Sophie’s face into a smile as she came to my rescue.

The paramedics took me into the ambulance and checked my leg out. It looked pretty beat up, but no blood, not even a scratch. I had been very lucky. They proceeded to take Sophie and me to the hospital. On the way I had Sophie email my team, and the people I was supposed to meet with that afternoon to let them know I wouldn’t be able to meet with them.

Once we got to the hospital the long wait began. I wanted more ice for my leg, but apparently the ice machine was broken… Ok no use in getting upset I thought, I was just happy to be alive. I was so thrilled that I was the only one smiling and laughing in the emergency room. Sophie told me to stop or they would never take a look at me. I tried my best to look upset and angry, but I wasn’t. I wasn’t even in pain. I was just thankful. Thankful that complete strangers had come to my rescue, that I could wiggle my toes, and that I was alive and smiling.

Sophie bought me a small bar of this amazing chili chocolate to cheer me up. That pretty much got me through the 4 hour long wait in the emergency room, after which they x-rayed my leg. The prognosis was good. I just had soft tissue damage, lots of bruising, but nothing was broken. I could leave. While I couldn’t walk without crutches that evening, the pain had died down.

When I got home my closest friends and family had learned about what had happened to me. They were all extremely worried, and I spent the evening reassuring everyone that I was OK.

The next day I was up, and today while I have a bit of a limp I’m walking, apparently a little too fast, because Sophie advised that I slow down as we were walking to lunch

There are a few things I’ve learned from this experience that I wanted to share. The first is that I’m happy that despite a temporary moment of stupidity I still have the ability to walk. The second is that I’m very grateful for those who were at my side, and for all those who loved and showed concern for my well-being, my close friends, family, and employees. The third is that despite a traumatic incident I’m glad I was able to stay calm and return to my normal life. I actually wonder if my calmness is what made the whole incident less tragic, although most of my friends seem to think that all the yoga I do has just made my leg super strong

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I got more organized.  I would plan my outfits for the day ahead of time, wake up early, pack my own lunch, hop on my bike, and go to school.   On the weekends I started going shopping with my mom, and to up my cred I talked her into buying me lunchables.  I explained to her that we could just buy 4-5 packs a week, and a 6-pack of Hi-C, nothing else!  The kids all thought my parents were the coolest because they let me eat lunchables, and my parents thought I was being so independent and resourceful.  All I wanted was to take the focus off of my lunch at the table, gain some independence from my parents, and eat food that tasted good!

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1. I’m not trying to “keep busy” I genuinely like doing a lot of things.  Some would call me a workaholic, which is a fine with me, but I chose the projects I want to work on.  I also recruit others to participate in my projects if I think its something they would enjoy taking part in or if I think the project is going to be too much for me to handle e.g. SXSW panel, cooking for 10+ people, running a company

2. I’m single this is not meant to be a proclamation or an advertisement…  It just means that I have a LOT of freedom and can do what I without feeling guilty about it.

3. I’m a planner I know there are a lot of people who procrastinate, that doesn’t work for me, and actually causes me to have high anxiety.  I’m a girl scout; I like to be prepared, I’ll anticipate issues coming up and try to think ahead of time how to handle them.

4. I have the memory of an elephant I’ve been blessed with a good memory for events, dates,and data.  For things I know I’ll forget I use a calendar or a long todo list.

5. I’m not a social butterfly contrary to popular belief I am not one who spends a lot of time socializing in the purest sense, i.e. I don’t go to a lot of parties.  Yes I have a LOT of friends but that’s mostly the result of building relationships over the years.  I actually prefer being by myself most of the time even though I’m classified as an ENTJ.  I do enjoy Sunday dinners and meeting up with people 1-1.

Ok so now onto the  ”secrets” behind my machine like ways:

1. Detachment I used to take things to heart when I was younger and it would fester, then I learned to shirk off the little things like my neighbor bitching me out, or someone cutting me off in traffic.  This helps me keep my cool and even keel state.  I also avoid drama or alleviate if at all possible, which I know seems unemotional, but if you’ve met me you know I can be quite emotional in a good way

2. Priorities Just because I have a lot of projects doesn’t mean I give them all equal weight.  My top priority these days is my startup and my team.  Everything and everyone comes after that.  This makes decision-making easy because before I chose to take on a project or task I’ll weigh it against my list of priorities.  And if I don’t have time for it then I just don’t have time.  I don’t like to overcommit myself because then I’m not doing anything particularly well, which by the way is key;  I focus on the quality of my projects and work rather than the quantity.

3. Commitments Once I’ve committed to a project then I’m going to see it through.  That includes meetings, although there are times when I just don’t have time to meet with people.  I feel bad about it and I’ll try to circle back with them if there is too much going on.

3. Diet/Exercise/Sleep These should probably be before detachment.  I try to work out at least 2 times a week but aim for 4-5.  Exercise keeps me happy and its a great outlet for stress.  Sleep keeps me sharp, I am for 6-8 hours.  I have a really hard time sleeping in, even on the weekends.  As far as diet goes I don’t eat crap (hardly any processed foods) and I eat a LOT of fruits, veggies, and lean meats this keeps my blood sugar even throughout the day.  I love dark chocolate, wine, and cocktails but I keep it to a minimum.

4. Focus I can’t multitask.  It may seem like I do, but I’m actually parallelizing and context switching.  I like to do one thing get it done and then move onto to the next.  If this means I don’t accomplish everything on my todo list then so be it.  Tomorrow is another day!

5. Time Sinks I’m hyper aware of how much time it takes to do tasks.  I’m not really a facebook junkie, and will limit my twitter and email times.  I also alway factor in transit time and use it to accomplish things like working on the train, taking phone calls (with my headset) on long drives, or reading when I’m waiting for something or someone.

6. Relaxation?!? Some people like to come home and take a load off.  I prefer relaxing throughout the day, I’ve got a 5 minute yoga routine in the morning, I’ll take a couple 15-20 minute walks throughout the day, and I’ll listen to music in the car or if I’m doing a mundane task it keeps me going.  Exercise is also my form of relaxation, I’ve never really been a couch potato, and sometimes I wish I was.

7. Limits I think its important to know your limits.  Like I said I don’t like to get mad, yell, or obsess.  If I find myself burning out then I will plan a vacation or take a day off.  Keep in mind that these are time that I spend solely by myself!

These are my tips, they may or may not work for you, I certainly don’t advocate anyone copying them exactly, who wants a bunch of Poornima’s running around… and do realize that I’m optimizing for a happy and fulfilling life!

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Its been 10 months since I started BizeeBee.  As a founder I’m faced with the same level of independence that I had growing up.  I have “no boss”, I set my own schedule and goals.  Being a founder of a startup is not a cushy job.  Here are some of the challenges that I did not anticipate experiencing and how I’ve dealt with them:

Resolving human conflict is the hardest challenge

Many people think that building a product, distributing it, and raising money are the toughest problems they will face.  None of those are not the hardest problems or even remotely close.  The hardest problem is putting a team together and motivating them to help you find solutions to these problems.  And above all else that is the job of the founder.

Sure you can outsource away your coding, have a PR agency run your marketing campaign, and hire a college student to manage your social media.  But at the end of the day who are the people that you are going to talk to about building a company or bounce ideas off of when it comes to anticipating customer needs?  Or help you put together a kick ass demo and deck to wow investors?  Its your founding team.  These are the people that will stick with you and want to work with you to build something great.  But in order to accomplish things you have to be willing to work with them and for them!

When month 7 rolled along I noticed people were getting stressed out and taking it out on one another.  There was just too much to accomplish and everyone including me was maxing out on throughput.  But it was my job as the founder to keep the team happy.  So I tried a couple things.  First, I setup weekly 1-1s with everyone.  No matter what was going on it was time that each person had to voice their concerns and talk to me.  Second, I checked in with everyone everyday, not to micromanage, but to see how they were doing emotionally.  Third, I planned time for us to spend outside of the office.  Fourth, I started spending time and money on technology that would make people’s lives better: laptops, monitors, and software.  Fifth, no more Saturdays unless there was an immediate deadline.  Sixth, I gave them more time to learn rather than constantly having to produce.  Seventh, I gave us all time to improve our development process and let the team have the freedom to suggest improvements.  Finally, I started delegating and letting people have freedom to own their area: engineering, product, design, and marketing.  I stopped being a control freak perfectionist, and let others have a real voice and the ability to chart the company and product’s course, and above all else create a culture where its OK to make mistakes.

Don’t do it if you just don’t want a boss

A lot of people tease me and ask if I started my startup because I wanted to be my own boss.  Yes that was one of the motivations, but in all honesty, its no what gets me to jump out of bed.  As a founder, your boss is your team, your investors, and your customers.  I realized that early on, and then my primary motivation became the freedom to build: a team, a company, and a product.

Understand your company culture and where it comes from

When you’re last startup is successful you start to think that that is the way to conduct business.  Wrong.  You’re dealing with a new market, working with a different set of people, and your role is also completely different.  I made the mistake of using my past startup as a model, and it certainly backfired on me (see point 1).  What I realized is that the group of people I attracted and hired to work for BizeeBee were completely different from my previous startup.  Yes this is a group of highly motivated people capable of accomplishing great things similar to the last startup.  But fundamentally this group is actually a reflection of who I am, not of my previous boss.  As such they want to be treated the same way I do and have a similar persona.

You must set a clear and consistent vision

You are the only one in the company that can deal with ambiguity, no one else can and should.  You have to set a clear vision of where you’re headed now, tomorrow, 3 months from now, and next year.  People want to know what your goals are for them, for the product, and for the company.  If you don’t tell them they feel like cogs.    Yes the vision may change and when it does, its up to you to let the others know.  But above all else, you have to be consistent in setting that vision and working towards it.  People are working long hours and producing results, the last thing they want is to satisfy someone’s every whim.  They want to know that you have goals that you’ve set and are working towards accomplishing them everyday.

Slow, steady, and smile!

Before I left my last startup I spent 2 months reading about everything: new technology, management and leadership, customer development, and the list goes on.  I learned a lot, but it prepared me for some challenges but I’m still learning.  Everyday there is a new challenge that requires me to rally.  Somedays the challenges are simple, and somedays they’re extremely gut wrenching.  I fight, hustle, and above all else smile!  Because this is supposed to hard but fun

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As a woman turning getting older and 28 is supposed to be some big deal.  To me the big deal was being able to nap under the Eiffel Tower, eat a giant steak for lunch, chocolate cake for dessert, and not have anyone to answer to for that day.

The night of my birthday I decided to walk through the bar in Marais where I was staying.  Not knowing much French I ventured into an Australian bar thinking that at the very least I could strike up a conversation with the bartender.  I ended up making friends with a femgineer in the bar, and she invited me out the next night with a group of her friends.  We had a fabulous evening of dancing on a boat until 5am under the Eiffel Tower!

I’m telling this story not because I’m some big party gal, which I’m not.  But because I think too many people out there are afraid to take chances, meet new people, and experience what is out there… alone.  Its easy to say: “Oh I don’t speak the language”, “I’m waiting to go with someone”, “Oh I heard the people in X city are rude”, “Traveling alone as a single woman is dangerous!”  The list is filled with endless excuses.  I’m a first believer in pushing your own personal boundaries both professionally but also personally.  I’m also an optimist and try to envision the best outcome in any given situation and then try to make that happen.

When I came home a few of my close friends planned a surprise birthday dinner for me.  My little brother told the following story as a nice tribute to how my personality has remained untarnished after 20 years:

“The summer Poornima was 8, our tv broke, and unfortunately it was the same summer our dad lost his job.  Knowing that he wouldn’t fix it she went to the public library and started reading book after book.  By the end of the summer she had won every reading award!  When life gives her lemons, she definitely makes lemonade.”

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Awareness

My younger brother and I talk a lot about how we were raised from a very young age to think like engineers.  Our entire family is composed of engineers aside from my mom who is an accountant.  And even though I thought I was going to be a lawyer I somehow managed to come back to my roots.  No one pressured me into being an engineer, my dad did gently nudge me towards taking a computer science class, and even after I dropped out of my freshman year programming class my dad didn’t revisit the topic.  It was I, who out of a sense of failure decided to return and prove to myself that I could hack it (pun intended).

The reason I chose a path of technologist is because I believe it improves human life.  Since the industrial revolution people have been benefiting from technological advances and living happier and longer lives that don’t require back breaking labor.  Hence, my choice to pursue an engineering degree was based on upbringing, a curiosity to discover the space, and a desire to improve human life including my own.

I also had clear models growing up, which I don’t think a lot of kids have.  I knew what a fab looked like by the time I was 10, and my family’s dinnertime conversation revolved around a fascination with Wall Street and high tech.

Priorities

While most girls grow up playing with Barbies and dreaming about their wedding day, my dad banned Barbies, and I fixated on my career goals of being a lawyer, writer, and professor.  To this day I’ve thought about having a family, but it directly conflicts with the vision I have for my life for the next 5-10 years, which is one of freedom, freedom to pursue my own interests whether that’s a career, travel, or even hobbies.  To most people, men or women working at a startup is a huge time commitment.  It takes away time spent with their loved ones.  And for women who want to have a family they see their 20s as a time to find a partner and settle down, not to be working 40+ hours a week, which is the Valley norm whether you’re at a tech company or a startup.  There just aren’t many 9-5 gigs for talented engineers, but realize the compensation is commensurate.  You can’t deny mother nature and the fact that women have a shorter runway than men.  So if children and family are a priority then everything else including being an engineer must take a backseat to that dream.

Motivation

What motivates me is having a purpose and building something of value, which is why I’m in the startup scene.  I initially began as a startup engineer because I wanted to become a better engineer and I also wanted to learn how companies were created.  Next, as a startup founder, I want to learn what it takes to build a business.  Truth be told, the only thing I obsess about aside from my startup is food and staying healthy.  Everything else this year has taken a backseat to my business including dating, friends, and family.  But I knew that going in and I’m capable of staying focused for the long run, because I’m motivated to succeed.  So when people ask why there aren’t more women tech entrepreneurs they need to first ask the question, what does it take to be an tech entrepreneur?  And who is it right for?

Honestly, I wouldn’t have been capable of starting a business when I was 22.  It took me time to build up the courage, confidence, and competence.  And I’m one who enjoys being in uncomfortable situations (working at a startup, opposing arranged marriage, Bikram yoga, the list goes on…), I’m a bit of a masochist.  But that’s not true of all people men and women alike, which is why a large number of people drop out of things whether is engineering or med school and pursue easier paths in life.  It’s also the reason people give into social pressure or settle for things in life instead of trying to push the edge.

At the end of the day people can complain all they want about there not being enough support, funding, resources or peers in any community or scene.  Its up to you to create a vision for your future and amass the resources to reach that vision and it requires giving up some comforts to achieve it.  If there’s one thing that I learned from engineering school its about learning to make trade-offs!

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Risk and Rejection

As a first time entrepreneur I understand that I’m seen as a huge risk, even though I was on the founding team of a startup that successfully exited recently.  I’ve pitched at several events and met with angels and VCs.  I don’t know if a lot of other entrepreneurs feel this way, but from what I’ve observed and read I’ve developed some empathy.  I understand that all investors are just as concerned about their portfolio companies, and delivering value to their shareholders as I as an entrepreneur am to my employees and customers.  Investors have have to raise funds, and maintain a certain return/revenue stream to stay in business.  Given the current market conditions, their past experiences, and the overly zealous and optimistic nature of entrepreneurs investors have to be cautious.

I’m a big girl, I can take rejection, and I welcome it as a challenge to the way I think and present my product.  If I wanted someone to tell me I’m awesome I would just call my mom up everyday…

Following up with Feedback

I’ve found it immensely valuable to hear from an investor right on the spot: “I understand the first part of your pitch when you explained how you were trying to solve problem A.  But I don’t understand how problem B fits into it.  Perhaps you should focus on A first.  Or make it clearer to me.”  Or the investor who tells me on the first meeting that they wanted to meet with me, but are averse to space that I’m in, or just don’t feel like they know enough to add value.  Being clear and forthright makes the process not only easier for me, but then I start to learn and understand how investors think and what they are looking for.  I also have other founder friends who are fundraising and farther along that I am that I can then refer the investor to.

Followup calls and emails are really helpful too.  I’ve received a few of these where the investor will tell me that they aren’t sure about my distribution model, think that there maybe a conflict with one of their existing portfolio companies, or want to see how customers will react to make sure that I’m solving the right problem.
I’m not saying its mandatory to give feedback.  Its just useful, and I’m the type of person who wants someone to lay it on thick.  How else am I going to improve as an entrepreneur, and build a product and company if I don’t get beat up once in a while?  I think its important for investors to do this to test the strength of entrepreneurs.
What I’ve found hard to dissect is vague feedback.  The investors who take a meeting with me and state they are early stage, but early stage doesn’t include before Product/Market fit.  Or are very excited and like the concept of my product, but want to wait and see traction.  Whats hard to pin down is their criteria of traction.  And maybe that’s just an exercise for me as an entrepreneur to discover.

Before Product/Market Fit Push Back

I’ve been bootstrapping my startup and have taken in a small amount of angel investment.  For the last 7 months I’ve devoted myself to my startup: building the product, the team, acquiring customers, fundraising, and creating a vision.  As an entrepreneur I think its important to show a vested interest and belief in your own product, vision, and risk taking abilities.  And while these are all positives I know they aren’t enough to compel investors to invest.  When faced with push back the onus of proof is still on the entrepreneur to prove they are worthy of a large round.  Go home, get more customers, refine the problem, product and pitch.  Competition and market conditions will always be against you, but those are natural forces that you have to work against, its just part of the fun of fundraising.

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Engineers jump ship early for various reasons, its usually a combination of the following three: instability in management, unclear path to an exit, and work that is mindless and unyielding.  But there are those who stick around even if there isn’t an end in the near term, there are periodic shakeups in the organization, and they’re well past their vesting initial vesting period.  The reason they stay is that they are enjoying the work, being challenged, and experience the impact they are making on users.  They also have a manager who has given them the support they need to advance in terms of projects, and believes in quality of the work they are doing.  So how does an engineering manager retain talent?

Prized Projects

Managers should realize that if they have engineers on their staff that have a decent track record, have been at even one successful startup (including the present one), and can bang out code on a couple platforms then chances are they are going to be wooed all the time!  You can’t blame recruiters for trying to covet your prized programmers.  Instead you’ve got to learn to understand each of your engineers and continue to motivate them.  This is hard to do in a startup.  Why?  Because as a startup manager your time is limited and you’re under a lot of pressure to produce results and end up prioritizing it over making sure that everyone on your team is satisfied.  And even if you wanted to please everyone there are only a limited number of juicy projects to work on.  If you can’t promise a project don’t.  But if there is a chance to break up a project into parts, and divvy it up that might be the way to go.  That way you’re not playing favorites and you’ll benefit from building redundancy in the knowledge base over time.  Remember startup engineers don’t want hand-me-down projects, i.e. they don’t want to feel like someone else has built everything and now they just get to maintain it.  They want to be part of the creation phase, and if you can give them a slice of it then they’ll stay motivated because they’ll feel like you listened and cared about advancing their experience and skill set.

Communication and Coding Style

Most people speak up for what they want.  Some just go off and build stuff.  While others sit around and wait to be asked if everything is ok and are afraid to go off on their own.  As an engineering manager its important to figure out what your engineers’ coding and communication style is right off the bat.  Its perfectly ok to ask people whether they like having freedom to manage their own projects or need a more disciplined task master.   You also need to know their preferred work style.  Some people like to come in late and code into the night while others may be morning people and want time off to relax in the evening.   There are those who code away in noisy environments while others need a quiet room to think in for a few hours a day.  There are also some who work best if they just work on a single project and others like context switching or working along the entire stack as opposed to just front or backend development.  These are the types of questions an engineering manager needs to ask during the hiring phase to gauge their candidate’s personality.  It will of course change with time, which is why its important to do a monthly checkup at the very least.

Checkups

I’ve been on both sides of these, and frankly its awkward for everyone.  The manager sits there and first wants a status update then moves onto pressing issues, and then finally asks the engineer how things are going.  At which point an hour or more has gone by and everyone is exhausted.  Checkups should not be status updates.  A manager should know what the status is if they’ve reading checkins and tracking bugs.  One-on-one time is meant to place the engineer’s concerns first.  Find out if they’re stuck on something, if they’ve been exploring a new technology, how they like the project so far, or if they have any concerns with a member of the team or the company.

Rewards

Yes there are limited funds, so monetary rewards aren’t always possible.  If you can’t afford to give someone a raise then at the very least give them praise!  There are a lot of other ways to incentivize people: conferences, giving them time to learn a new technology, showcasing their latest achievements in front of their peers, and for heavens sakes tell the founders, investors, and management about the stellar job they’ve been doing!

Remember in a startup emotions runs high especially if there are periodic fires to fight.  If there is one unsatisfied engineer then chances are there are more or there will be soon.  As a manager your time is limited and its hard to motivate everyone on your team all the time.  But that’s another reason why you have to make sure the team dynamic is one where people help each other out.  Collaboration isn’t just about getting things done its about building a culture that can last through the fires.

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Here are some things to think about for those on the recruiting side:

1. When to start recruiting?

Engineers love to build, solve tough problems, and make progress.  If you’re a founder who is still trying to grasp the product roadmap and create a company vision its probably not a good time to hire an engineer.  There are a lot of engineers out there who have been burned by founders who pull and push them in a variety of directions. We engineers know that need to be agile in a startup and be able to scrap code and rebuild, but want we don’t want is to have a founder who manic or aimless.

2. Sweat equity or salary?

Engineers are humans, we have bills to pay, families to take care of, friends that we want to spend time with, and on occasion indulge in the latest tech gadget.  Contrary to the way we carry ourselves we’re not robots (although I do enjoy being called a machine - but I’m not Summer Glau).  So before you ask someone to even spend an hour of their time writing code or reviewing specs make sure you can pay them in some form (coffee, dinner, laptop, etc.), and if you can’t then you better start thinking of ways to raise enough funds to be able to pay them something.  Don’t expect someone to work for nothing endlessly.

3. How to find them?

The vast majority of us are a lonesome bunch.  We like sitting at home or in coffee shops on our laptops coding away fun projects.  You won’t find us going out to the normal startup networking events or partying all night.  The best places to find us are at tech conferences or panels.  We’ll respond to recruiters on LinkedIn, but we don’t want to be treated like a commodity, and more times than not we’re very happily and gainfully employed.  While we’re willing to indulge to see what’s out there the opportunity has to be ripe enough for us to leave our current position.  Our sense of pride an accomplishment comes from being a part of a team and building something.  So we get attached to our team and product, and its hard to forsake that for another opportunity that we’re unsure of.

When people ask where can they find someone like me, it makes me smile.  The truth is I’ve been created and molded by my experience.  4 years ago I started playing in the startup space.  My motivation was to become a better engineer and knew that the startup space was where I’d learn the entire breath of the development cycle.  It was a tough 4 years filled with mistakes and hard work, but I loved it because I got to create something of value that impacted millions of people’s lives.  And over that time period I learned from great engineering mentors.

There are probably a lot more people who like me have a fire and a hunger.  They want to work hard and prove themselves.  I think its important to keep that in mind rather than always trying to covet a rock star developer with a proven track record.  It’s a huge risk to take on a junior engineer, but would you rather have someone on your team who is willing to learn, grow, commit to the company, and put in the long hours to improve themselves?  Or do you just want a code monkey?

4. Motivating Them

Engineers are motivated by a variety of things.  The most basic is a good company culture.  They  want to know that the founder cares about his team, and his engineers and will give them the resources to get things done.  They want to work on challenging projects but understand that there will be grunt work that needs to get done.  The key is to balance it out.  By letting them learn and play with new technologies from time to time.  We don’t want to work on the same things for months on end without any sort of end in sight.  Part of an engineers desire to solve problems is also a reflection of them wanting to improve themselves by becoming a better developer.  This is only possible if we have time to learn and improve our own thinking, and practice.

There is a reason people choose to become engineers, they want to solve problems mostly those related to systems, usability, and improving people’s lives on a large scale.

5. Listen to Them and Develop Empathy

I’ve seen too many engineers express dissatisfaction at changes in deadlines, product features, and increased workload without gratitude.  Or founders who want the impossible done as of yesterday.  Remember people only have two hands!  You’ve got to understand what engineers are capable of accomplishing and how quickly they can move.  If they’re coming up to speed with the product, development cycle, and company dynamics is good to let them ramp up slowly.  Yes, building software is cheap and fast unlike other products.  But there is still the overhead of testing, scaling, and securing.  So while it might seem like a simple feature should take a day to implement there is more infrastructure and thought that need to go into it before it can be delivered to an end user.

Engineers are good guys, they’re builders, refiners, and affect the course of history by improving human lives.  Its up to the entrepreneur to unleash their potential to accomplish great feats together.  Don’t think of them as code monkeys or worse yet commodities.

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