alphalist.CTO Podcast - For CTOs and Technical Leaders
Technology
About
This podcast features interviews of CTOs and other technical leadership figures and topics range from technology (AI, blockchain, cyber, DevOps, Web Architecture, etc.) to management (e.g. scaling, structuring teams, mentoring, technical recruiting, product etc.). Guests from leading tech companies share their best practices and knowledge. The goal is to support other CTOs on their journey through tech and engineering, inspire and allow a sneak-peek into other successful companies to understand how they think and act. Get awesome insights into the world‘s top tech companies, personalities with this podcast brought to you by Tobias Schlottke.
Episodes
- #137 - Only Three Search Engines Left Standing: One of Them Powers Your AI with JP Schmetz // Chief of Ads @ Brave
This episode features Jean-Paul Schmetz, Chief of Ads at Brave, who discusses the search engine industry and its relationship with AI. He explains the independent search indices, how AI grounding works, and the complexities of building sea…
- #136 - AI Writes Code: Who Architects the Consequences? with Neal Ford // Software Architect & Author
Neal Ford discusses how AI agents write code and raises questions about responsibility for architecture. He explores architectural fitness functions, agentic guardrails, and why experienced architects are crucial in the AI era.
- #135 - From Legacy to Innovation: Yahoo's Modernization & AI with Lee Zen // CTO @ Yahoo
Lee Zen, CTO of Yahoo, discusses modernizing Yahoo in the private-equity era, including legacy systems, shipping velocity, and AI-native consumer products. He covers topics like Yahoo's consumer portfolio, cloud adoption, and AI integratio…
- #134 - From Inner to Outer Loop: Agentic Coding, Stacking PRs, and the Cursor Merger with Greg Foster // CTO @ Graphite
Greg Foster, CTO of Graphite, joins the alphalist.CTO Podcast to discuss agentic coding, stacked PRs, and the Cursor merger. He explains how AI impacts code review and the future of engineering, focusing on the "Outer Loop" bottleneck in s…
- #133 - Build the Learning Machine: AI Adoption, Flow Metrics, and the Future of the CTO Role with Eric Bowman
This episode features Eric Bowman, CTO at King.com, discussing how AI is changing programming, creativity, and technical leadership. He also talks about the future of the CTO role and building adaptable organizations focused on time-to-val…
- #132 - Clarity Over Tooling: Velocity & Building Teams Without Drama with Loïc Houssier // CTO @ Superhuman Mail
Loïc Houssier, CTO of Superhuman Mail, advocates for achieving engineering velocity and building quality products through radical clarity in team missions and strategic alignment, rather than relying on improved tooling. He shares insights…
- #131 - AI Product Strategy: When to Build and When to Wait with Matthias Keller // CPO @ Kayak
Matthias Keller, CPO of Kayak, shares strategic lessons on making AI product decisions amidst uncertainty. The episode covers evaluating AI platforms, lessons from early experiments, and how LLMs are democratizing AI development.
- #130 - From PhD Research to DuckDB: Building the Next Generation of Analytical DBs with Mark Raasveldt // CTO @ DuckDB
Mark Raasveldt, CTO of DuckDB Labs, discusses his journey from academic research to co-founding DuckDB, focusing on embedded analytical databases, single-node performance, and open-source business models.
- #129 - $32B Lessons: Building CTO Teams, Rapid Innovation, and Staying Customer-Connected with Solal Raveh
Solal Raveh shares lessons on scaling CTO teams, rapid innovation, and customer-centric leadership, drawing from Wiz's journey to a $32B valuation. The discussion covers CTO office evolution, remote team strategies, incubation philosophy,…
- #128 - From Tickets to Problems: Klaus Breyer // Head of Product & Technology @ Edding
Klaus Breyer shares insights on improving team dynamics and overcoming development silos, drawing from his experience at Edding and unconventional management lessons from online gaming. The discussion covers shifting from a ticket-based sy…
- #127 - Kelsey Hightower's Unfiltered Truths: 25 Years of Infrastructure, DevOps, and Retiring at 42
Kelsey Hightower discusses his 25-year tech career, focusing on infrastructure, DevOps, and career strategy, including his decision to retire at 42. The episode covers technology lifecycle, managed services, evolutionary architecture, busi…
- #126 - AI Transformation at Scale: Practical Adoption Across 150+ Engineers with Peter Gostev // Head of AI @ Moonpig
Peter Gostev, Head of AI at Moonpig, shares insights on the practical challenges of AI transformation at scale within large engineering organizations, including managing adoption across over 150 engineers and collaborating with non-technic…
- #125 - Two CTO Dinosaurs vs. Today's Tech Hype with Raz Shuty // CTO @ auxmoney
Raz Shuty, CTO at auxmoney, shares his pragmatic approach to technical leadership, focusing on business outcomes over trends. He discusses avoiding microservices rewrites, embracing modular monoliths with DDD, and implementing FinOps strat…
- #124 - The Path to AGI: Inside poolside’s AI Model Factory for Code with Eiso Kant
This episode explores Poolside’s AI model factory for code, detailing their methods for building human-level AI, scaling reinforcement learning with millions of agent tasks, and managing distributed teams. It also touches on leadership, th…
- #123 - From Nokia to AI-IoT: Engineering the Physical World with Bernd Groß // CEO @ Cumulocity
Bernd Groß, CEO of Cumulocity, shares insights on engineering industrial IoT systems, detailing the platform's journey from a Nokia spin-off to managing tens of thousands of connected assets. The discussion covers architectural evolution,…
- #122 - Grid Control in Milliseconds: Engineering Energy Systems with Barbara Wittenberg // CTO @ 1KOMMA5°
Barbara Wittenberg, CTO at 1KOMMA5°, shares insights on the engineering challenges of the energy transition, focusing on real-time system architecture for optimizing thousands of energy assets. The discussion covers building unified tech p…
- #121 - Canva's Playbook: Scaling Teams, Tech, and AI with Adam Schuck // Senior Engineering Director @ Canva
Adam Schuck, Senior Engineering Director at Canva, shares insights on hypergrowth strategies, scaling engineering teams from 150 to over 2000, and implementing career frameworks. The discussion covers Canva's AI approach, viewing it as a t…
- #120 - AI's Singularity & Commoditization: Navigating Hype vs. Reality with Georg Zoeller // Co-Founder @ C4AIL
Georg Zoeller discusses the commoditization of software engineering due to AI trained on public data like Stack Overflow and GitHub, leading to security risks such as prompt injection. He advises CTOs to focus on AI governance and strategi…
- #119 - Navigating Ambiguity and AI's Impact on Engineering feat. Ivan Kusalic // CTO @ Enpal
In this episode, Tobi interviews Ivan Kusalic, CTO of Enpal, about leading engineering teams in ambiguous environments and the effects of AI. They explore the technical challenges of renewable energy systems, Enpal's Virtual Power Plant, a…
- #118 - Radical Engineering Culture and High Bar Hiring feat. Stefan Richter // Founder & CTO @ freiheit.com technologies
Stefan Richter, founder of freiheit.com technologies, discusses building high-performance engineering organizations. The episode covers radical engineering culture, high-bar hiring, the mission to ship great software, and achieving a 'Neve…
- #117 - Navigating AI Trends with Dat Tran // Partner & CTO @ DATANOMIQ, VP AI/ML @ Beams Safety AI
Dat Tran joins Tobi on the alphalist.CTO Podcast to discuss the rapid evolution of AI. They cover topics like AI agents, coding assistants, the global AI race, and strategies for CTOs to adopt AI effectively.
- #116 - Exploring Platform Engineering feat. Camille Fournier // CTO @ Open Athena & Author @ O'Reilly Media
Camille Fournier shares insights on platform engineering, its evolution from DevOps, and strategies for building effective platform teams. The discussion covers career growth, CTO strategies, and the importance of trust and customer focus…
- 115 - Exploring Growth and Compliance feat. Dennis Winter // CTO @ Börse Stuttgart
Dennis Winter, CTO of Börse Stuttgart, shares insights on building engineering organizations in regulated environments, covering topics like security, compliance, team scaling, and culture.
- #114 - Building an SDK feat. Dr. Daniel Hauschildt // CPTO @ IMG.LY
Dr. Daniel Hauschildt shares insights on the SDK business, covering documentation as developer marketing, API design, modularity for future-proofing, and cross-platform support challenges. The discussion also touches on algorithm optimizat…
- #113 - Faster Incident Response feat. Tim Armandpour // CTO @ PagerDuty
This episode features PagerDuty CTO Tim Armandpour discussing the importance of both planning and practicing for effective incident response. Key topics include practicing failure scenarios, the role of tech and business teams in post-mort…
- #112 - Cross Functional Team Members feat. Daniel Bartholomae // CTO @ optilyz
Daniel Bartholomae, CTO at optilyz, explains the concept of cross-functional team members, where individuals cover multiple roles to own the product lifecycle. He details how optilyz utilizes this model to eliminate silos and enhance effic…
- #111 - Organising for Impact feat. Eric Bowman // CTO @ King
Eric Bowman, CTO at King, shares insights on organizing teams for impact, discussing the challenges CTOs face, the relationship between output and outcome, and various leadership models.
- #110 - Developer Efficiency feat. Rebecca Murphey // Field CTO @ Swarmia & Co-Author of Build
On the alphalist.CTO Podcast, Rebecca Murphey, Field CTO at Swarmia, explores aligning engineering with business outcomes, developer productivity, and experience. The discussion covers queuing theory, metrics like DORA and SPACE, and the e…
- #109 - Cloud Cost Optimisation feat. Claire Fautsch // CTO @ Joblift
Joblift CTO Claire Fautsch discusses reducing monthly cloud costs from €100,000 to €30,000. The episode covers building dashboards, aligning costs with KPIs, team involvement in optimization, resource allocation, and technical adjustments…
- #108 - Monitoring as Code feat.Hannes Lenke // CEO & Co-founder @ Checkly
Hannes Lenke, CEO and Co-founder of Checkly, discusses "Monitoring as Code" and its differences from traditional observability. The episode explores how DevOps has impacted QA, the role of dedicated QA teams, and Checkly's evolution into a…
- #107 - Sustainability Over Hypergrowth feat.Tuomas Artman // CTO @ Linear
Tuomas Artman, CTO of Linear, shares insights on prioritizing sustainability over hypergrowth, discussing how Linear achieved success with a smaller team by focusing on quality, avoiding feature bloat, and building for longevity.
- #106 - Meritocracy, Backend and Engineer-led Sales feat. Shyam Sankar // CTO @ Palantir Technologies
Shyam Sankar, CTO of Palantir, joins the alphalist.CTO Podcast to explore engineer-led sales, the nuances of meritocracy, and the future of backend development, including insights on LLMs and data strategies.
- #105 - Trust & Accountability in Remote Teams feat. Sabrina Farmer // CTO @ GitLab
Sabrina Farmer, GitLab's CTO, shares insights on fostering trust and accountability in remote teams. The episode covers AI's role in DevSecOps, GitLab's CEO Challenge for innovation, and rethinking the developer experience using AI.
- #104 - End-to-End Technical Independence feat. Alexander Matthey // CTO @ Adyen
Alexander Matthey, CTO of Adyen, explains the advantages of their end-to-end technical independence and in-house strategy. He details how this approach enhances efficiency, prioritizes security, and utilizes direct communication, all while…
- #103 - David Cramer // Co-Founder + CPO @ Sentry
David Cramer, co-founder and CPO of Sentry, joins the alphalist.CTO Podcast to discuss DevTool 101, the evolution of a product and his role from CEO to CTO to CPO. The episode covers Sentry's journey through different business stages, mone…
- #102 - Platform Engineering feat. Boyan Dimitrov // CTO @ SIXT
Boyan Dimitrov, CTO of SIXT, discusses the implementation of platform engineering to achieve modularization, standardization, and automation. The episode covers strategies for reducing cloud costs, automating infrastructure, and evaluating…
- #101 - AI Revolution Roundtable feat. Jonas Andruilis (Aleph Alpha), Rasmus Rothe (Merantix) & Johannes Schaback (SumUp)
This alphalist.CTO podcast episode features a roundtable with AI leaders discussing the AI industrial revolution, focusing on transformative AI rather than AGI. Key topics include AI strategy, balancing R&D with sales, build/buy decisions…
- #100 - Intuition over 'Data Driven' feat. Jason Fried // co-founder + CEO @ 37signals
This alphalist.CTO podcast features Jason Fried, co-founder and CEO of 37signals. Fried discusses the importance of intuition over data-driven decisions, the concept of 'hooks' over 'towel rails' for product design, and the dynamics of the…
- #99 -Team Topologies 101 feat. Matthew Skelton, co-author of Team Topologies
This episode features Matthew Skelton, co-author of Team Topologies, discussing concepts like Value Flow, Continuous Stewardship, and Decoupling in Time. The discussion covers structuring teams for reduced cognitive load and increased user…
- #98 - Service Levels 101 feat. Alex Ewerlöf - Sr Staff Engineer @ Volvo Cars & SRE Thought Leader
This episode features Alex Ewerlöf, Sr. Staff Engineer at Volvo Cars, discussing the fundamentals of Service Levels, including SLIs, SLOs, and SLAs. It explores the distinctions between SRE, DevOps, and Platform Engineering, and delves int…
- #97 - From Maker to Multiplier feat. Pat Kua // CTO Coach and Founder of the Tech Lead Academy
Pat Kua, CTO Coach and Founder of Tech Lead Academy, shares insights on leadership unlearnings, metrics, communication strategies like the CRY Principle and TCP vs. UDP, and the transition from a "Maker" to a "Multiplier" role in this CTO…
- #96 - Radical Transparency feat. Charles Gorintin // CTO @ Alan & Co-Founding Advisor at Mistral
Charles Gorintin, CTO of Alan and co-founder of Mistral, discusses the implementation of radical transparency at Alan. Topics include public salary frameworks, searchable board meetings, the split manager role into Leads and Coaches, and t…
- #95 - Self-Efficacy and the journey from CTO to CPTO and Back feat. David Gebhardt // CTO @ mobile.de
David Gebhardt, CTO at mobile.de, shares his experiences transitioning between CTO and CPTO roles, detailing the dynamics of leading product and tech teams. The episode covers self-efficacy, innovation sources, time management strategies i…
- #94 - Melanie Rieback // Co-founder & CEO at Radically Open Security
Melanie Rieback, CEO of Radically Open Security, shares insights on the 2024 cybersecurity landscape, emphasizing PenTesting and realistic internal IT policies. The discussion covers their unique not-for-profit business model, prioritizing…
- #93 - The Technical CTO + Readying for IPO feat. Allan Leinwand // CTO @ Webflow
Allan Leinwand, CTO of Webflow, shares insights on the importance of deep technical knowledge for CTOs, how to build products, attract talent, and prepare a company for an IPO. His experience spans various industries and companies includin…
- #92 - Manage yourself to better manage others feat. Johanna Rothman // The Pragmatic Manager
Johanna Rothman, "The Pragmatic Manager," joins the alphalist.CTO Podcast to share insights on self-management as a foundation for effective leadership. The episode covers the negative impacts of micromanagement and contrasts traditional p…
- #91 - Autonomous Teams: Why, How and Who with Andy Walker // Former Senior Tech Leader @ Skyscanner + Google
This alphalist.CTO Podcast episode features Andy Walker, discussing autonomous teams. Walker shares insights on balancing autonomy, motivation, and purpose, drawing from his experience at Skyscanner and Google. Topics include decision-maki…
- #90 - Bob Moesta // Co-Architect of the "Jobs to Be Done" Theory
Bob Moesta, co-architect of the Jobs to be Done Theory, explains product discovery for engineers and CTOs. The discussion covers why "Build and They Will Come" is a myth, customer interview strategies, and hypothesis building.
- #89 - Melissa Perri // Author of "Escaping the Build Trap" and "Product Operations"
In this alphalist.CTO podcast episode, host interviews Melissa Perri, author of "Escaping the Build Trap" and "Product Operations". They discuss crafting product strategy, the importance of ProductOps, balancing qualitative and quantitativ…
- #88 - Luca Rossi // Creator @ refactoring.club 🌀
Luca Rossi, creator of refactoring.club, shares insights on time management, continuous learning, and leadership for CTOs. He discusses structuring his day, organizing ideas, productivity techniques, and the role of CTOs, drawing from his…