ELC Annual 2023

What’s it like to transition to a ‘Web3’ startup from the ‘Web2’ world? How do you ramp up and become proficient with the new technology? What parts of your engineering leadership experience translate across industries? What types of engineering verticals are in high demand? Join Li Fan (CTO @ Circle) and Sen Xu (VPE & CISO @ OKX) as they demystify the world of engineering leadership in Web3 companies! Li will share her experiences making the transition as an executive leader, how she quickly gained the right domain knowledge, the challenges she faced, and lessons learned about scaling Web3 engineering teams while maintaining agility and innovation!

Generative AI is the "it" productivity tool of the moment, but we're still at the very early stages of incorporating it into everyday workflows. In this session, Shailesh Kumar, SVP of Engineering at ClickUp, and Kelly Ehret, Latitude, will contemplate how engineering teams can take advantage of the "Era of AI" and use it to optimize and accelerate their work. Specifically, Shailesh can share his own experience as an engineering lead at ClickUp, offering anecdotes and advice on how generative AI has helped his team work more collaboratively across departments. He will also share his perspective on encouraging more AI adoption across teams and how to measure success. Listeners will walk away from this session with a tactical understanding of how to motivate engineers to use AI in their day-to-day to achieve meaningful productivity gains.

In an era where technological advancements hold immense promise, the disconnect between innovation and implementation has become increasingly apparent. Delving into the implications of this disconnect spanning industries and societies, the conversation will also investigate the emergence of a platform company model as a strategic solution - and how Autodesk has been able to successfully transform into that model. Fostering motivation and a sense of purpose within teams involves providing them with data that illuminates their impact. This data-driven approach also aids in identifying areas where teams require support and improvement. Simultaneously, the discussion centers on strategies for alleviating burdensome tasks and streamlining workflows, raising the question of how to effectively eliminate toilsome work from team responsibilities.

Leading B2B companies like Verkada, Ramp, Rippling, and Brex are now leveraging engineering for remarkable growth - But for most engineering leaders, this is an area of the business we don’t typically impact, yet there’s a huge opportunity for engineering to play a transformative role in driving growth and revenue! Join us as we explore case studies on how eng leaders can leverage growth engineering in B2B sales, and the emerging fusion of Engineering and AI in sales to help you expand engineering’s impact and ROI on the business!

We all want to unlock innovation in our companies, and a powerful way to fuel your company’s innovation engine is by cultivating a “startup within a startup” culture! But how does this work? And how do you operationalize this culture into norms, behaviors, and habits to produce greater innovation? Naveen Kondapalli shares his perspective on staying ahead through a culture of innovation, how to build smaller teams with autonomy, how to spin up multiple products, quickly spin down bets that didn’t work, and validate your hypothesis in areas beyond your expertise. Plus how to navigate the innovator’s dilemma while not losing focus on the core business.

In this presentation, Lawrence will cover the tensions that arise in an engineering team as a startup transitions from the “0 to 1” stage into a stage of growth, customers, and company building, and how you, as an engineering leader, can navigate the pitfalls and set your team up for success! To view the sildes for this session, click here: https://hubs.la/Q026N03q0

In this decade of expensive venture money, Dheeraj emphasizes the value of essentialism - the disciplined pursuit of less - for focused go-to-market strategies. He will share his insights and learnings on fostering customer-centricity across teams and removing information asymmetry between engineering, product, customer support, and sales. AI's potential, including simplifying tasks and leveraging knowledge graphs, empowers engineering teams to align with customer needs, reshaping product development and exceeding customer expectations.

Why should you stay in startup companies your entire career? How do you identify, evaluate, and decide on the right startup opportunity? How do you navigate and endure the tumultuous operating environment? This fireside chat between serial startup engineering leader Claire Hough (CTO @ Getlabs) and Ali Irturk (VPE @ CommerceHub) covers why and how Claire stayed in startup companies for her long-standing career - we’re talking at 12+ startups! Learn how to keep the excitement, engagement, and resilience through the ups and downs of startups. Plus how to set the right goals for yourself, ask the right questions, and find the right role that enriches you throughout your career.