My First Year at Prefix 🟣 🔧
My personal journey – my first year at Prefix.
Hello everyone! I must apologize for the hiatus in our newsletter. The truth is, I've been grappling with what content would genuinely resonate with you. I didn't want to churn out material just for the sake of it. However, I'm committed to bringing you more engaging and meaningful newsletters.
Today, I'm excited to share a personal yet insightful journey – my first year at Prefix. This piece might offer a glimpse into my experiences, and hopefully, you'll find something valuable or get to know me better.
Let's dive right in, promising to delve deeper into these topics in future posts, should they pique your interest.
Context
To give you some context, I'd like to share why and how I joined Prefix. I used to work for a startup where I was the first engineer and hire. I prefer joining small teams and companies because you learn much from the experience and grow alongside the product. I spent about a year with the founder building and iterating our MVP. We were lucky to have customers from day one, which provided a good feedback loop. I enjoyed being close to the customer and quickly building solutions to their problems and needs. Once we had some traction, we started hiring more people, and everything was going well for a while. But nothing lasts forever, and I started feeling that my opinions and vision for the product weren’t aligned with the founders. That's okay because I've learned that you must agree to disagree and continue with what you think is best. At some point, I started feeling a little undervalued, and ultimately, I left the company. It wasn't easy because I had a good relationship with my team, and we built something extraordinary together. However, it was for the best, not only for the company but also for me. The story is more complicated than that, but let’s focus on Prefix, not sad things.
Reflection
After taking some time off for myself and my family, I realized I could not stay inactive for long periods. I needed to find something interesting to work on. So, I started looking for a new job. I applied to a few startups I liked and interviewed with three companies. Although I usually don't prepare much for startup interviews, I wondered if I should join something bigger or less risky than a startup. I consulted my psychologist about it. I was having trouble deciding between the companies, as I had previous experience with small startups and knew they could be technically and mentally challenging. It's not always a win; sometimes, customers don't share your enthusiasm for what you are building, which can be disheartening. However, I found working for something stable and with traction dull. My psychologist then helped me realize that I had already made my decision. Three days later, I joined Prefix.
Discovering Prefix
The story of how I found Prefix is super funny. I'll keep it short, but I saw a LinkedIn post for a founding engineer position in a small start-up in "stealth mode"” The job description was so good that I became excited immediately. Although there was a small description of what the start-up was doing in the post, I could tell it was in the restaurant industry, where I had some experience when I was at Fanbot, the first start-up I joined. The rest of the job post was written in an amazing way that stuck with me, so I applied immediately (thank you, quick apply). The funny part was that I got a notification like 2 minutes later that the person who posted the job downloaded my CV. Another 2 minutes later, he sent me a message asking if I had 5 minutes to discuss the position. I said yes and jumped on a call immediately. The call went super great. The CTO was a great dude; you could tell he was super bright just talking with him for 5 minutes. I was pumped when I left the call and wanted to move quickly. They wanted the same because the interviews were within the same week. When I had the last call with Jared, our CEO, I knew I wanted to join the company. How he described the product and how he thought we should run this start-up was different from my previous experience. You can tell when someone is passionate about the problem and the industry, and at this moment, I think that passion has only grown more on Jared, which is always refreshing for the team.
Day One: A New Beginning
My first day at work was awesome! I felt super productive and even pushed my work into production on day one. Our CTO did a fantastic job of laying the foundation for the development experience, which I think is the best one I have ever experienced. If I ever build a company myself, I will follow his steps because I think this is something that every engineer in our team appreciates the moment they join.
I think this is something that some founders forget when they are building a company. It is always fun to start something and move fast, but it can lead to technical debt or the need to rebuild the whole product from scratch. These things take time and resources, which are always in short supply in the startup world. So, I appreciate that our CTO took the time to build something that has helped us move fast. The foundation and the tooling we use have only improved because of the learnings he gave us.
If you find this interesting, I can write a complete post about how we do engineering at Prefix, including more information about our tooling and tech stack.
Leadership and Growth
When I joined Prefix, I started having weekly calls with our CTO. These 1-to-1 meetings are pretty common in the industry, but this one was unique. When I joined, he had a document with a format I had never seen before. It contained questions, thank you notes, suggestions, and other things about my first week in the company. I was blown away by how these things helped me improve weekly in my work. Then, I realized that I had never experienced a real 1-to-1 meeting before. Honestly, all of my other calls like this in my previous companies were just small talk and a little feedback with no actionable items, and no record was tracked. This one was different. It was great and productive.
The Team Dynamics
I want to emphasize the importance of building a strong, remote team culture. Creating a fully remote company is challenging, especially when starting. Video calls can only do so much to help you get to know your team members. I've been in situations like this before, such as in my previous job, where I worked for two and a half years without ever meeting my team in person. While the founders might be at fault for this, I strongly believe that occasionally meeting in person is crucial for building a stronger company culture.
Thankfully, within just four months of working at Prefix, we had our first offsite, which was an amazing experience. As a small company, we could travel to cool places easily, and we spent a week in Cancun talking, building, and getting to know each other. During this time, we discussed what we wanted our company's culture to be like.
Balancing Act: Work and Life
I don't like the title of this article because everyone talks about work-life balance, and sometimes I think that we, as individuals, are more responsible for it than companies. Of course, there are cases where both parties can't achieve balance. However, I have learned that having a good work-life balance is achievable if you allow it to happen. The hustling culture always rewards productivity and the lack of rest, and I used to be part of that group. But a good manager can encourage you to balance your life and your job. I struggle with this because I love what I do but also want to enjoy other things outside of work. Fortunately, we work with tools that help our team achieve this, as we are fully remote. We promote asynchronous communication and use tools like ROAM, Twist, and Reclaim, which have worked like a charm. We are always open to trying new tools and products that can boost our productivity or help with our asynchronous approach.
Not all roads are smooth; some are strewn with obstacles.
During my pre-planned vacation, I received an unusual personal phone call from Jared, our CEO. He informed me that our talented CTO had decided to leave the company for personal reasons. I was worried about how the rest of the team, especially the engineering team, would react to this news. Our CTO was one of the reasons I joined Prefix, and his departure would have a significant impact on the team. However, I assured Jared that I was committed to the team and our goals and that we could continue to replicate the engineering culture he had taught us. When I returned, I was pleased to find that the rest of the team had the same attitude. Although we were sad, we did not let this setback dampen our enthusiasm for building Prefix and achieving our goals. I want to express my appreciation for our CTO's inspiration and motivation to become a better engineer while balancing my personal and professional life. He taught me that work is not the only important thing in life and we should always strive to improve.
How We Build.
Ok, enough sad stories. I want to share how, despite having a small team of just three engineers at Prefix, we have successfully implemented the Shape Up methodology with four-week cycles. This approach has allowed us to prioritize and execute projects effectively, ensuring we deliver valuable features to our users within a predictable timeframe.
In our context, the four-week cycle starts with a period of "shaping." During this time, we identify and define the problem or opportunity we want to address in the upcoming cycle. We collaborate to outline the desired outcomes and set clear boundaries for the project.
Then, we evaluate and prioritize different project proposals based on their potential impact and feasibility. As a small startup, we have limited resources, so it's crucial to make well-informed bets on the projects that align with our goals and have the potential to deliver the most value to our users.
With a clear project scope defined during the shaping phase, our engineers dive into implementation and development. Having a four-week fixed cycle length, we can make progress and iterate quickly. The short timeframe allows us to stay focused and maintain a sense of urgency.
Throughout the cycle, we emphasize effective communication and collaboration. Daily stand-ups, regular check-ins, and shared project documentation keep everyone aligned and enable us to promptly address any challenges or roadblocks.
At the end of the four-week cycle, we enter the "cool-down" phase. This is a time for reflection, evaluation, and celebration of the work completed. We assess the project's outcomes, evaluate the effectiveness of our approach, and plan for the next cycle.
If you'd like to learn more about how we implement the Shape Up methodology and our experiences with it, I'd be happy to share additional insights in future posts.
Looking Ahead
I am writing this down on my way back from our third company offsite. It's unbelievable how much we've grown since our last offsite, from just four people to seven. We had an amazing time, catching up with old colleagues and finally meeting the rest of the team in person. I feel reinvigorated and excited about what the future holds for us. There's so much to learn from my team and the industry, and I can't wait to see where this year takes us.
I hope this post has given you a glimpse into my journey at Prefix. Perhaps in the future, as we expand, this might even inspire some of you to join us on this incredible adventure.
I am looking forward to sharing more with you all soon!
Feedback and Suggestions
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