https://techsylvania.com

1. Only The Odd Survive
Scaling Technology Teams
Presented by Aryk Grosz

2. • Co-Founder and Chief Architect of Mixbook.com
• Attended University of California, Berkeley
• BS in Industrial Engineering
• Certificate of Innovation from CET
• Self-taught Programmer
ABOUT ME
@arykgrosz

3. Mixbook makes beautiful design easy.
Combining unique design with our
powerful editor, Mixbook allows
customers to create one-of-a-kind
photo products that truly reflect their
personal style.
WHAT IS MIXBOOK

4. QUICK HIGHLIGHTS
37M
Products Shipped
2.5M
Orders Placed
#3
Photo Book Provider
in the U.S.
16M
Projects Created by
Mixbook Users
750M
Photos Uploaded

5. “If you do everything the way the average startup does it, you
should expect average performance. The problem here is,
average performance means that you’ll go out of business. The
survival rate for startups is way less than fifty percent. So if you’re
running a startup, you had better be doing something odd. If not,
you’re in trouble.”
5
Paul Graham
founder of Y-Combinator

7. 7

8. 8

9. 9

10. 10

11. 11

12. 12

13. 13

14. 14

15. 15

16. 16

17. 17

18. 18

19. 19

20. 20

21. 21

22. 22

23. Developer Draft
• rules there are # of devs * 10 points available in the draft
• execs negotiate missions and draft budgets with POs
• POs try to sell themselves using charisma, vision, and backlog
• devs get 1 point per 6 months at Mixbook to express their team preferences
• POs get 1 point per dev to express their draft order preferences
• a draft is run at least every 6 months
• a draft is run after a new PO starts and their backlog is ready
• leftover points may (only) be used in drafting new hires between full draft rounds

24. Developer Draft

25. 25

26. 26

27. 27

28. 28

29. 29

30. 30

31. 31

32. 32

33. 33

34. 34

35. 35

36. Any Questions?s?
@arykgrosz