Scale a Sustainable Tech Organisation in a Hypergrowth Phase | PAKCon 2020

TL;DR

Scaling a logistics-based tech startup from 25 to 120 people with learnings and challenges.

Transcript

hello i think one of the greatest challenges in the startup industry is to build a strong tech organization but an even greater challenge is to scale it up to a large number of people diakus who is the cto of sember and stefan who is our cto of project a we're facing exactly that challenge at the beginning of the year at sender today they will shar... Read More

Key Insights

• ♿ Leveraged remote recruitment due to COVID, increasing access to talent.
• 🥰 Prioritized standardizing interview processes and HR tools for efficient hiring.
• 🔨 Emphasized writing engineering standards and tooling decisions early on for scalability.
• 👶 Equipped new joiners with tech buddies and structured onboarding processes.
• 👶 Integrated an academy to familiarize new hires with the company's products and culture.
• 👀 Looked for candidates with startup experience to handle chaos and drive innovation.
• 🧑‍💻 Developed tech playbook to outline organization structure and processes systematically.

Questions & Answers

Q: How did corona impact recruiting and onboarding at Sender?

Corona positively affected recruiting by providing access to talent previously unavailable. Remote onboarding strategies were implemented with dedicated tech buddies for newcomers.

Q: How can you determine if candidates can handle chaos in a startup environment?

Look at candidates' previous job experiences, profiles, and environments. Candidates with startup experience or high-growth phases are more likely to thrive in a chaotic environment.

Q: What key hiring strategies did Sender implement to scale its tech organization?

Sender used tools like Google Sheets for tracking, Trello for onboarding, and HR tools like Greenhouse. They also focused on hiring diverse talent with tech backgrounds who could adapt to chaos.

Q: How did Sender create a tech playbook, and what role did it play in shaping the organization?

The tech playbook was a foundational document outlining how Sender operated. It detailed everything from cross-functional teams to product development processes, providing a roadmap for the tech organization.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Discussing the journey of scaling a tech organization at Sender, a logistics startup in Berlin.

• Exploring the process of growing from a monolith to a microservices architecture for scalability.

• Addressing key learnings, challenges, and tips for onboarding, hiring, and culture maintenance in a growing tech organization.