I just got scammed $10,000 by a developer working 5 jobs at the same time.
I just got scammed $10,000 by a developer working 5 jobs at the same time. Here is what I learned Hiring the right developer is harder than shipping code. I thought I had found the perfect hire—until the second sprint revealed the truth. When companies modernize their tech stack, sometimes the hardest part isn’t the […]
How can a company with barely any users have AWS bills bigger than their revenue?
How can a company with barely any users have AWS bills bigger than their revenue? That’s the question a CEO asked me one morning. When I dug in, here’s what I found: Cloud costs spiraling out of control. ⚠️ excess backups. Do you really need to take a snapshot of the application server EVERY day […]
My secret to dev speed ?
My secret to dev speed ? Tiny teams deliver faster and better than Giants How many developers do you really need to scale? Most founders assume the answer is “a big team.” I’ve seen the opposite play out. The 2-Developer Principle You don’t need 10 engineers to build scalable systems. You need 2 senior developers […]
I saw headline lately claiming “the era of pure SaaS is dead”, often pointing to valuation drops in public companies lik…
I saw headline lately claiming “the era of pure SaaS is dead”, often pointing to valuation drops in public companies like Monday, Wix, and HubSpot. I think that framing is wrong. SaaS isn’t dead. Undisciplined SaaS is. For years, companies were rewarded for: Shipping more features Growing headcount and cost ahead of revenue Optimizing for […]
I keep seeing the same pattern in growth-stage companies.
I keep seeing the same pattern in growth-stage companies. Cloud spend rises. Delivery slows. Complexity increases. And the instinct is: “Should we rebuild?” Usually, that’s the wrong first move. Before rewriting anything, I ask a simple question: When was the last time someone actually opened AWS Cost Explorer (or any otherr cloud) and reviewed the […]
I audited an AWS account last year.
I audited an AWS account last year. (screenshots attached. 90% reduction !!) Monthly bill peak : ~$5,600 Nobody could explain why. So I opened Cost Explorer. Also, to remove confusion I always make sure I cancel savings plans or reserved instances. they are just confusing and lower the bill in an artificial way. It’s another […]
Part 2 of The Hidden Margin Framework: Tool Sprawl
Part 2 of The Hidden Margin Framework: Tool Sprawl Last week I wrote about infrastructure waste. This week: subscriptions. When I start working with a company, I don’t begin with architecture diagrams. I ask the CFO or accounting for the last 12 months of company credit card subscriptions. That alone usually reveals where hidden margin […]
Part 3 of The Hidden Margin Framework: Teams & Throughput
Part 3 of The Hidden Margin Framework: Teams & Throughput In Part 1, I wrote about infrastructure waste. In Part 2, I covered subscription and tool sprawl. (You can find both on my profile.) Now the harder layer: teams. AI has dramatically increased developer leverage. Which makes one thing very clear: Coordination cost now scales […]
Shipping Faster Isn’t Always Winning
Shipping Faster Isn’t Always Winning In one company, we were deploying to production almost every day. Sometimes twice a day. On paper, it looked impressive. Velocity was high. Features moved fast. Roadmap items closed quickly. But instability increased. Bugs increased. Support load increased. And eventually, churn increased. At another company, we ran disciplined 2-week sprints. […]
Part 4 of The Hidden Margin Framework: Architecture & Technical Debt
Part 4 of The Hidden Margin Framework: Architecture & Technical Debt In Part 1, I wrote about infrastructure waste. In Part 2, subscription and tool sprawl. In Part 3, teams and throughput. (You can find the full series on my profile.) Now the deepest layer: architecture. Most companies don’t realize that architecture decisions are financial […]