Talking Code
Why Your First Developer is Critical
Episode Summary
Anthony Thomas tells us how he made the leap from manufacturing to starting a tech team at Sticker Mule. He explains why your first developer is so critical to your founding team.
Episode Notes
Anthony Thomas tells us how he made the leap from manufacturing to starting a tech team at Sticker Mule. He explains why your first developer is so critical to your founding team.
Here's what to listen for:
- 00:51 What was your background prior to starting Sticker Mule?
- 01:39 What was the drive to go from manufacturing into starting Sticker Mule?
- 03:13 Did you see other companies doing what you wanted to do?
- 04:02 What was your co-founder’s background?
- 06:09 Did you start your company as a non-technical founder?
- 07:42 Should a non-technical person learn how to code?
- 10:35 Did you build any basic background in tech?
- 11:40 Are you able to empathize more with developers having learned something about software?
- 15:09 How did you build a technical team as a non-technical person?
- 16:56 What interested you about open source?
- 20:47 What do you think led your first developer to work with you?
- 22:39 Why did you think the first developer was so critical?
- 27:42 How are you able to evaluate a developer as a non-technical person?
- 29:41 How do you guide the roadmap for your team?
- 34:15 What’s an example of a time you wanted to do feature polish?
- 35:19 What are some of the biggest productivity killers for your development team?
- 36:16 What do you mean by incomplete and changing specs?
- 37:18 What has helped make your specs more concrete?
- 43:24 What challenges have you faced as you scaled your team?
- 46:27 What advice would you give Anthony prior to starting Sticker Mule?