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[1:1] When a new feature is coded, who decides that it's ready to go live?
Everyday online and offline, CEOs, CTOs, sales leaders, marketers and engineers connect with each other inside of our Community at First Round to learn. They share best practices and give advice...
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The one cost engineers and product managers don't consider
Kris Gale, VP Engineering at Yammer, joined us recently for First Round CTO Summit and blew everyone away with his talk on "why the traditional engineering organizational structure is dead." He's now...
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The woman behind the Netflix Culture Doc
In the early days of Netflix, Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, wanted Patty McCord to help write out the company’s core values. At first, they considered something standard -- words like “excellence”...
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Not another VC blog - First Round Review
Over the past 4 months we’ve been quietly working on a project here at First Round Capital and today we’re excited to share it more formally. It’s called First Round Review. In short, our (modest)...
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Drew Houston’s morph from hacker to hyper-growth CEO
Drew Houston was upset. On a long bus ride with a pile of work to do, he’d forgotten the thumb drive with all his files -- before the cloud, back when that used to mean ‘game over.’ Minutes later, he...
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You aren’t born knowing how to be a CEO
Brett Hurt, former CEO and co-founder of Bazaarvoice stands before an audience of fellow Founders at CEO Summit and declares that they’re in for a rough, but exhilarating – ride. “You guys don’t know...
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What "making partner" means at a startup
"It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission." - Grace Hopper When he led the Netscape Browser team, Tom Paquin used to repeat this quote all the time. I was right there with him, on a large team of...
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The management framework that propelled LinkedIn to a $20 billion company
Before Jeff Weiner took the top spot at LinkedIn, he asked founder and then-CEO Reid Hoffman three questions: “How do you want to handle decision-making? What decisions would you like to make, and...
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42 Rules to Lead by from the Man Who Defined Google’s Product Strategy
Almost four years ago, Jonathan Rosenberg sent an email around Google stumping for more open systems, products, and services. As SVP of Products, he argued that more openness would mean a better Google...
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How Medium is building a new kind of company with no managers
After Ev Williams first started working on Twitter, he reached out to Jason Stirman in Texas. “You have to come out here,” Williams said. “Twitter is happening and we want you to join us.” But Stirman...
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The anatomy of the perfect technical interview from a former Amazon VP
Neil Roseman is downright tired of hearing Silicon Valley companies say they “hire only the best and the brightest.” No matter how many times they say it, most still make decisions based on gut feel,...
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What You Want in a VP Eng from the Recruiters Behind Twitter and Zappos
Years ago, real estate success story and $1.4 billion company Trulia was in its infancy and on the hunt for a VP of Engineering that would take the site to the next level. It wasn’t going to be easy....
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What to Do When You’re the Only Designer They’ve Got
Designer Jeffrey Kalmikoff joined Betable because it scared him. “I knew there was a lot about it I didn’t understand, that I’d have to learn,” he said. “But all my other offers were for...
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How to Go From Google Engineer to First-Time CTO
Ian Langworth started his career as an O’Reilly author and software engineer at Google. Today, he’s the co-founder and CTO of Artillery, bringing console-quality gaming to the web browser. Click...
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Why Most Startups Don't 'Get' Press
"I can't tell you how many times we've met with early-stage companies, and they start by telling us their big vision. They say, 'This is what we're about and what we want to change.' But when we ask...
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What Everyone Should Know About How Talent is Bought and Sold
Mike Brown's date stared at him in shock as he told her he’d have to cut their evening short after only 30 minutes. She must have assumed the rendezvous had gone terribly wrong, but that wasn't it....
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There’s a .00006% Chance of Building a Billion Dollar Company: How This Man...
David Friedberg was driving home from his job at Google, stuck in traffic in the pouring rain. On the side of the road, he noticed a bike rental shop for tourists, shuttered early due to the weather....
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The Secret to Making Board Meetings Suck Less
“When I was a young entrepreneur, board meetings were by far the worst days of my life,” says Jeff Bonforte, the veteran company-builder who just sold his latest, Xobni, to Yahoo. “Board meetings are...
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Top Hacks from a PM Behind Two of Tech's Hottest Products
Todd Jackson was in a small conference room with a handful of designers, engineers and Mark Zuckerberg. The topic at hand: the Facebook News Feed redesign, intended to declutter the Facebook experience...
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Fight Like You're Right, Listen Like You're Wrong and Other Keys to Great...
A psychology study at UC Berkeley broke students into groups of three, with one person chosen to be the leader of a project. At some point, the researchers would bring in a plate of four cookies. "We...
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