{"id":18464,"date":"2020-08-06T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-08-06T14:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/?p=18464"},"modified":"2020-08-14T02:36:41","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T09:36:41","slug":"a-founders-guide-to-technical-architecture-with-subbu-balakrishnan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/a-founders-guide-to-technical-architecture-with-subbu-balakrishnan\/","title":{"rendered":"A Founder\u2019s Guide to Technical Architecture with Subbu Balakrishnan"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You don\u2019t need to be a technical founder to drive smart decisions on your architecture. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/subbubalakrishnan\/\">Subbu Balakrishnan<\/a>, CTO at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/apresdotio\/\">Apres<\/a> and a longtime technologist, explains the fundamentals of architecture and the natural trade-offs startups founders must take at different stages of development. <\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your product\u2019s technical architecture isn\u2019t a one-and-done project. It\u2019s an iterative process that often goes\u00a0 in cycles &#8212; and you don\u2019t need to be highly technical yourself to ask smart questions and drive key decisions about your product\u2019s underlying technology.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/subbubalakrishnan\/\">Subbu Balakrishnan<\/a>, current CTO at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apres.io\/\">Apres<\/a> and a veteran technologist, says that founders should be prepared to make trade-offs in their technical architecture, and rebuild that architecture a few times throughout the life of the company. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/e\/a-founders-guide-to-technical-architecture-with-subbu-balakrishnan-tickets-116142299745\">Register here<\/a> for Subbu\u2019s full webinar on technical architecture to get insights on:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Building Your Initial Stack<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Go-to-Market Models<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Innovating and Inerating\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Informed Risk-Taking<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Growth vs. Efficiency<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe theory is that you\u2019ll build something three or four times,\u201d says Balakrishnan. \u201cYou&#8217;re going to build something initially to have an MVP or a proof of concept. Then you might need a version of it that lets you just focus on measurement and iteration. Once you&#8217;ve built something that you think people like, then it needs to scale.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The proof-of-concept stage, the iterative phase, and the scaling phase each come with different needs, and accordingly, come with differing technical demands that founders should be aware of, no matter your level of technical proficiency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D18464&#038;text=%E2%80%9CThere%27s%20a%20certain%20level%20of%20understanding%20of%20how%20the%20functionality%20comes%20together%20--%20that%20is%20non-negotiable.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40apres_io&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cThere&#039;s a certain level of understanding of how the functionality comes together -- that is non-negotiable.\u201d - @apres_io <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D18464&#038;text=%E2%80%9CThere%27s%20a%20certain%20level%20of%20understanding%20of%20how%20the%20functionality%20comes%20together%20--%20that%20is%20non-negotiable.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40apres_io&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThere&#8217;s a certain level of understanding of how the functionality comes together &#8212; that is non-negotiable,\u201d he adds. \u201cA nontechnical founder is better informed if they understand that their product is made of these pieces that need to work together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The trade-offs in technical decision-making sometimes simply boil down to what you want to spend money and effort on building now versus later. But there are risks in sacrificing time and efficiency, or missing out on an opportunity because you waited too long.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D18464&#038;text=%E2%80%9CThe%20nontechnical%20founder%20is%20more%20informed%20if%20they%20understand%3A%20How%20does%20data%20flow%2C%20what%20needs%20to%20happen...and%20what%27s%20easy%20to%20do%20versus%20what%20might%20take%20some%20time.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40apres_io&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cThe nontechnical founder is more informed if they understand: How does data flow, what needs to happen...and what&#039;s easy to do versus what might take some time.\u201d - @apres_io <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D18464&#038;text=%E2%80%9CThe%20nontechnical%20founder%20is%20more%20informed%20if%20they%20understand%3A%20How%20does%20data%20flow%2C%20what%20needs%20to%20happen...and%20what%27s%20easy%20to%20do%20versus%20what%20might%20take%20some%20time.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40apres_io&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe nontechnical founder is actually more informed if they understand: How does data flow, what needs to happen, and what functionality needs to take place, and what&#8217;s easy to do versus what might take some time to do,\u201d Subbu adds. \u201cHaving that I think gives founders a sense of informed risk-taking.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Founders should always ask themselves: What\u2019s the purpose of building a feature?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cA feature might be: I want to do inventory optimization, and inventory optimization for retailers is a great revenue generator,\u201d Subbu says. \u201cBut it\u2019s hard to determine, should we spend 8 or 10 weeks and hire some engineering and do this right now? Or can we test out the idea in the form of metrics that are produced by hand? Arguably, most of these trade-offs are about whether this is the time to do so.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D18464&#038;text=%E2%80%9CFounders%20should%20be%20constantly%20tuned%20in%20to%20what%20stage%20of%20development%20they%E2%80%99re%20in%2C%20and%20what%20their%20needs%20are.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40apres_io%20&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cFounders should be constantly tuned in to what stage of development they\u2019re in, and what their needs are.\u201d - @apres_io  <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D18464&#038;text=%E2%80%9CFounders%20should%20be%20constantly%20tuned%20in%20to%20what%20stage%20of%20development%20they%E2%80%99re%20in%2C%20and%20what%20their%20needs%20are.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40apres_io%20&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the bigger picture, the trade-offs might also be framed as growth versus efficiency: a constant cycle of acquiring customers, receiving feedback, innovating and iterating &#8212; and then focusing on efficiency again. Founders should be constantly tuned in to what stage of development they\u2019re in, and what their needs are.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s a constant cycle,\u201d Subbu says. \u201cWe&#8217;re just repeating these three things, and you need to know where you are, so if you&#8217;re in the growth mode of things, then you\u2019re less concerned with efficiency.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you find yourself with a stable and dedicated customer base, it may be time to turn your focus to efficiency again: Thinking about costs such as AWS bills, your profitability outlook, and whether you have the right analytics, tracking or other features in place to continue on sustainably.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt seems obvious, but your engineering staff are a little bit more focused on making things faster so that your customers are happy, or you&#8217;re maximizing your revenue per customer, so to speak,\u201d Subbu adds. \u201cAnd then there is a stage when you&#8217;ve decided now that you need a new set of features &#8212; maybe you need to innovate and go back to the first step &#8212; because you want to go back to the same set of customers and try to grow them again. And this is a different model altogether.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You don\u2019t need to be a technical founder to drive smart decisions on your architecture. Subbu Balakrishnan, CTO at Apres and a longtime technologist, explains the fundamentals of architecture and &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/a-founders-guide-to-technical-architecture-with-subbu-balakrishnan\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":18466,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[22,90],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-18464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-startup-advice","tag-silicon-valley","tag-tech-founders"],"acf":[],"featured_image_data":{"src":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/SubbuTechStarsFounderRetreat-e1596738189883.jpg","alt":"SubbuTechStarsFounderRetreat","caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18464"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=18464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}