Arpan Desai

Totally agree with Dan DiGangi here. If you don't understand the overall strategy of a business, it's hard for you to align and be fully effective. This goes from leadership down to engineering. What are you doing to try and understand that vision? Link in comments to the full interview with Dan!

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Question for engineering leaders (managers, directors, VP's, etc): I'm curious about the current landscape of developer productivity analysis + management tools - things like LinearB and Jellyfish. Which tool, if any, are you using? Any opinions/pros/cons on the tool you're using (or the entire domain overall)?

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Few agencies without a technical lead are able to get by (and none thrive). Relying on contractors can be a double-edged sword: they bring specialized skills but often lack a cohesive vision that aligns technology with your customer’s long-term goals. This disconnect results in software bloat, where unnecessary features and technical debt pile up. The pain is real: without a consistent, forward-thinking approach, your business is at risk of compounding technical debt that will stifle innovation. Don’t let short-term fixes lead to long-term problems. It’s time to rethink how you approach technology, ensuring it supports—not stifles—your growth.

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"Probably the worst decision that I made as CEO of Loudcloud was to take ona. 10-year lease with a $30M letter of credit. We leased the space right before the dot-com crash. Rents dropped 10-fold in Menlo Park... worse yet, due to the recession, we couldn't hire so the space we already had was sufficient and we never ended up moving into the new building. So I basically lost $30M for nothing." This is from Ben Horowitz's recent interview with Big Think. Even a quarter century ago the typical office lease construct is misaligned with how a company needs to operate. Our industry could get away with this when office spaces had a monopoly on how and where work got done, but those days are dead. As global markets are crashing, we'll be looking at another disruptive cycle for businesses which will create more cost cutting pressure and the first thing to go when they roll will be inflexible leases. CRE needs to develop new offerings and fast. https://lnkd.in/ePuZgzkU

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I recently navigated a complex acquisition and learned 4 critical lessons during post-LOI diligence: 1. Tech diligence reveals more than just code quality—it highlights security and scalability risks. 2. Quality of earnings is less about the revenues (it's a recurring revenue biz, after all) and mostly about validating costs and working capital needs. 3. Asset purchase agreements are mostly about defining and minimizing risk (the asset bit is pretty straightforward). 4. A smooth closing depends on proactive ownership transfers - block off a day and chop wood. What lessons have you learned from the Post-LOI stage? #BusinessAcquisitions #PostLOI #GrowthStrategy

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I spoke with developers recently. They were telling me their pain points when it comes to waterfalls and distributions. They underwrote a deal in which they’ll make a profit for a few years, then do construction (which they’ll raise more capital for), and after that, they will refinance and hold for 10-15 years. Their issue is that their returns and IRR for both the GP and LP weren’t adding up. I brought up a few good points for them to start looking into and asked them how they would solve these issues. Was their model created for construction and to handle multiple capital injections? What happens when you have different investors contributing at different times? When is capital being returned? All of these issues are common occurrences and need complex solutions to resolve. Everyone wants a simple waterfall, but every case is unique. How do you answer these questions when you are underwriting? If you need help structuring and organizing these types of distributions, reach out and let’s chat. --- If you found value in this post, please like and comment. Follow for more content! If you want to receive my newsletter, direct message me! Any distribution or waterfall questions? Reach out! Need help setting up or calculating a waterfall? Reach out.

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On this Tech Tuesday we're talking testing SDKs. Whether you're building SDKs or consuming SDKs someone else built, here are the topics to consider and ask your SDK vendor about.

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If you're running a data or AI-focused startup, connect with Stephan Goupille and his team! When three of the industry's brightest data minds join forces to back your venture, you get more than just funding – you gain invaluable operator expertise. They understand the challenges and opportunities you face because they've been there themselves.

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Polls can be a cheat code for earned media, and a great way to build authority. But there are levels to this. Here's how one of the best I've seen - Capital One - does it. (And what I'd do differently to increase earned coverage). Led by Shena Ashley, PhD, Capital One's Insights Center is a masterclass in leveraging polls to create unique insights that would do incredibly well via earned syndication. Here’s what they do great: ✅ Content that sticks: Crucial issues > fleeting trends. Focusing on topics like financial stability, mobility, and entrepreneurship, it's easier to rationalize investment on topics with a longer shelf life. Their insights + stories can drive coverage for months to come. ✅ Visual storytelling: Data doesn’t have to be dry, and Capital One presents original insights through clear and eye-pleasing visuals that are easy to understand. Publishers like charts, they love colorful charts, and they LOVE colorful charts that are easy to understand. Check, check, check. ✅ Strong methodologies and extensive polling numbers: Capital One frequently involves 7k+ participants in their studies - they are not half a**ing it. Well explained methodologies are table stakes to get your polls covered, and Capital One does a great job outlining their data collection process, sample size, and research methodologies.   ✅ Easy to steal: Each report has multiple easy to take stories/soundbites, and are also written as full pieces of content, which can be taken as whole. Finally --- if I could change one thing... Add a byline. Brand publishing NEEDS a byline - no news outlet wants to cover a story that can't be credited back to a human. All in all, polls can be incredibly valuable for driving earned syndication - check out Capital One's Insights Center in comments for killer examples.

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Being too experienced as an operator can be a curse... 🔑 In general, staying in the same industry / function has a lot of positives... You become an expert, have a bunch of folks in your network that you can reach out to, understand how the dots connect... This allows your brain to pattern match things faster thus minimizing missteps and ideally accelerating your ability to get sh&^ done. 🔥 But the drawbacks are real too... You tend to jump to conclusions without spending enough time learning about the "whys". You find yourself starting with judgement instead of curiosity because you have probably have seen a version of most problems! This ultimately leads to slowdown on creativity and thinking in terms of first principles. 🛑 I remember feeling this ^^ after 10 years selling to the same buyers across 3 companies with the same-ish motion... And this was my primary motivation to switch to Lattice in 2018! ✅ But it meant going from *Late stage, outbound driven, relationship based - high ACV sales selling to Fortune500 brands & agencies* >> TO >> *Early stage, inbound / PLG, low ACV / high velocity subscription based revenue selling to HR teams* 😅 Needless to say, most people thought I was crazy to go back early and do a full 180 degrees change instead of building on my successes over the last 14 years... 🤷‍♀️ But it was one of the best decisions in hindsight. It forced me to think in first principles, start with curiosity and find our unique winning formula vs apply some played out 'playbook' This is your reminder that you don't have to follow a linear path in your career. 🔑 Switch things up. Take on a new role or try out a new industry -- you never know what you'll learn about yourself 🩷 Run your own race 🏃‍♀️ #careerinsights #leadershipinsights #CRO #salesleadership #jobsearch

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Ever wondered where the perfect balance between tranquility and innovation lies? For me, it’s Seattle. Unlike the Bay, Seattle has a more serene environment that’s perfect for focusing on building products and businesses. The city’s vibe encourages deep work and creative thinking, free from the overwhelming hustle. But let’s be honest, Seattle’s founder and investor communities aren’t as vibrant as those in SF. Yet, this city holds a special place in my heart – a blend of my love for startups and the charm of Seattle. I believe in Seattle’s potential and I’m on a mission to help ignite its startup community. From connecting with fellow founders to engaging investors, let’s come together to build something extraordinary here. Seattle has all the ingredients to be a startup hub – talent, innovation, and a supportive ecosystem. What it needs is a spark. Let’s be that spark.

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When there is great uncertainty, there can't be predictability to any useful level. We have to reduce uncertainty to where it can be managed effectively, and we do this by running experiments... trying things. Does the stakeholder like what we've done? Does the customer like what we've done? Are we solving the problem that customers have? This puts us in the 'complex' quadrant of the Cynefin Model, where we have to try and (perhaps) fail, perhaps repeatedly, until we know enough. Yet, we still have a goal in mind and we at least know the first few things that need to get done... or the first thing we need to test to determine feasibility. Apple knew that unless it could source a ruggedized hard drive that would withstand being carried and occasionally dropped, the iPod would not be successful... so getting a commitment from Western Digital (who had been working on such a drive and was almost ready to ship) was the key decision point. The Wright Brothers knew that unless they could figure out a way to turn their airplane without 'skidding' and stalling a wing (a problem that had killed many of their inventive contemporaries) they couldn't build a safe airplane... oh, and find a lightweight, powerful-enough motor while you're at it. It all comes down to reaching decision points: do we know enough to know whether to continue, or whether to cancel our effort? In the example below (waterproofing a below-ground basement), we are going to have to continue. Therefore, we want to continue only at the pace at which we are certain of the decisions we're making. Is what we're doing working? If so, do more! If not, do something else. That is exactly what the contractor did in the post below, making 'MVP' experiments until the path to success was clear, until they had the 'Aha!' moment. So, when do we get predictability with useful accuracy? At the 'Aha!' moment. Figure out what 'Aha!' moments are needed, devise experiments to reach those moments and drive enough uncertainty out (you'll never get to zero) to where the range of uncertainty is acceptable. #predictability #forecasting #estimation #commitment #agile #planning #riskmanagement #projectmanagement

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Was playing around with v0.dev before last weeks Next.js conf, wanted to stress test how much it could help someone build a complex feature in Catalyst. One of our merchants was looking to add a Gift Certificates section like Stencil has and we just haven't got to it yet within the out-of-the-box version. Was a perfect scenario! High level take? If you are building in Next.js you should 100% add v0 to your toolbox. It'll help you slice away at features much faster than any other AI solution in market. I include more notes in the PR along with a demo of what was built on GitHub: https://lnkd.in/eBm6wVdP

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Data Rant #1 – Numbers without context. "It was a 4-point game, when…" Yes, that tells you nothing without context. The context? There were 8 minutes left in the NRL grand final between the Broncos and the Panthers. The Broncos were still up, but an errant kick had just led to a penalty in favour of the Panthers. My family is still too sore to speak of this loss over a year later.   Numbers without context are one of my pet peeves. For example, 4 points is an enormous lead had it been soccer – but this was Rugby League. And had it been 8 minutes into the game, versus 8 minutes remaining, it would barely be called a lead. Context changes everything. Please don’t ire the data gods by presenting numbers without context.   So how do you provide context? The two most relevant complements to a number are the target and a past value. Sometimes you can omit one of these if the other can be implied, but there is no harm in providing both. For example, if machine utilisation is 79% the context might be that this is up from 75% last month but still short of the 85% target. See how much richer the understanding is with the additional two context numbers?   An alternative is to include a chart with a target line. Charts are great because now you can see a 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥, however, be careful not to introduce too much visual noise. There is an art to good dashboard design. I'll pick this up another time.   'nough said. Please include context! And feel free to contribute your rants. I've plenty to come.   Note: this was the 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘦 Broncos and the 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘩 Panthers. Sensibly the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers don't play NRL. For the Australians, wondering why I'm still talking about last season, it's because this season has been wiped from my memory.

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I've seen clients waste millions on overcomplicated software before partnering with MEV. It can be hard to recognize wasted spending when you're in the middle of a process, too. We had a client who was facing this scenario: • A $2 million system, bloated with features • Complex workflows no one needed • Unfriendly user interface What did they really need? Much simpler requirements. The truth hit hard when we stepped in. We stripped it down. Focused on the essentials. Delivered a solution at a fraction of the cost – just $100,000. The result? A system that did exactly what was needed. Quick, efficient, and without the unnecessary frills. The lesson was clear: Saying "no" to good ideas can be tough. But understanding and focusing on what truly matters saves money, effort, and time.

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Software folks: Product people are not the enemy. The often adversarial relationship between Engineering and Product (or really any two departments) has been a continual source of frustration throughout my career. The amount of time I’ve spent reminding people with different roles that they work for the same company borders on the absurd. I understand why this happens, but it’s still troubling. For example, I recently listened to an engineering leadership podcast where the host asked the guest about an engineering manager negotiating priorities with a business leader. Negotiation is generally a good thing. Groups make better decisions when they take multiple perspectives into account. However, the host talked about “winning” and “losing” the debate. At the point where you frame a decision-making process as an argument, you have already lost. The goal in a process like this is to make the best decision possible, not to win or lose. One of my litmus tests for a healthy product development team has long been, “Do the engineers consider the Product Manager part of the team? Are they willing to go to bat for the PM?” When we remember our shared mission and all pull together, we can do amazing things.

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