We’ve come a long way since our early days as a 20-person startup building Causal—now we’re part of Lucanet and leading xP&A. Our approach to product, engineering, and design has helped us move quickly and ship meaningful features to customers. Whether you’re a growing startup or a larger organization, we think these lessons can help you, too.

If you share our passion for building great products, we’re always on the lookout for talented engineers and creators to join our team!

Hire the Best People

Everything starts with a strong team.

• Set the bar high. We interviewed hundreds of engineers last year and made fewer than five hires. It’s a time commitment, but the payoff is huge.
• Onboard effectively. We invest heavily in onboarding, from a streamlined codebase setup (aiming for first deploy within a week) to a welcoming first-day experience. Early wins boost confidence and foster a fast-paced mindset.

Takeaway: When you have the right people on your team, everything else gets easier. We look for exceptional technical ability, genuine passion for the work, and people who are humble and fun to be around.

Buy the Best Tools

Your team deserves the best resources so they can do their best work.

• Don’t be afraid to invest. Tools like Cursor (AI code generation), Raycast (MacOS workflow optimization), DataGrip (SQL queries), and Hypertune (feature flags) can meaningfully improve everyday productivity.
• Use specialized platforms where it makes sense. We use Retool for building internal apps (like admin dashboards) so our engineers can stay focused on building customer-facing features. This strategy frees up engineering capacity and empowers our non-engineer teams.
• Hardware that keeps up. We equip our engineers with the latest-generation laptops so they’re never slowed down by performance bottlenecks and can stay productive from anywhere with a solid internet connection.

Takeaway: Give your team access to world-class tools so they can move fast and solve real customer problems instead of rebuilding existing apps.

Build the Best Tools

Sometimes, nothing on the market solves your exact problem.

• Automate repetitive tasks. Our motto is “If you do something twice, automate it.”
• Invest in internal tooling. We developed a CLI for deploying our app and handling on-call tasks; comparison tooling to verify changes in our calculation engine; and robust CI pipelines for rapid testing and deployment.
• Embrace a monorepo. Having all code and tooling in one place removes boundaries and encourages collaboration.

Takeaway: Great internal tools can save time and reduce mistakes—plus, they keep your team happier and more productive.

Improve Processes Constantly

You’ll never have the perfect process—so don’t stop iterating.

• Run regular retros. Every two weeks, we discuss what isn’t working and define concrete actions to fix it.
• Adapt as you grow. A process for a three-person team won’t cut it at 300. Be ready to experiment.
• Examples of our retros in action:
  • Avoid too many parallel projects
  • Focus on project deadlines, rather than strict sprints
  • Schedule “queue bashes” for monthly tech debt
  • Maintain a clear on-call rotation to shield the team from distractions
  • Perform incident reviews with actionable outcomes
  • Host tech talks to share knowledge and spark ideas

Takeaway: Continuous improvement is crucial, don’t follow norms blindly. Talk about what’s broken, fix it, and keep evolving.

Collaborate Across Engineering, Product, and Design

Making product decisions in silos is a fast track to slow progress.

• Bring everyone to the table. When product, design, and engineering plan together, decisions get made faster and better.
• Real-time feedback. Designers can show quick mockups, product managers know the user’s needs, and engineers assess feasibility right away.

Takeaway: Multi-functional collaboration is the key to shipping features people actually want—without endless back-and-forth.

Move Fast and Build Iteratively

Speed reduces risk and helps you learn faster.

• Ship quickly to learn quickly. If something is off, you discover it sooner and can pivot.
• Get real user feedback. Put new features behind a feature flag, share with select customers, iterate, and then roll out widely.
• Reserve capacity for quick fixes. If a customer flags an issue, fix it right away. This builds trust and shows you care.

Takeaway: Frequent, small iterations outpace big, delayed launches every time.

Designers in the Frontend

Front-end details matter, and designers notice them best.

• Leverage designer skill sets. Designers have an eye for nuance—padding, font sizes, and spacing.
• Tackle the projects together. Designers can code pixel-perfect components and then work with engineers on the complex logic. With modern AI tools, this collaboration is more seamless than ever.

Takeaway: When designers get involved in implementation, the result is often higher-quality, more consistent interfaces.

Engineers Work Closely with Customers

Empathy for users comes from real conversations.

• Join shared Slack channels. Engineers see customer issues and requests in real time.
• Collaborate with Support. Our on-call rotation includes direct support engagement, so engineers understand customer needs and frustrations firsthand.

Takeaway: Context is everything. Engineers who talk to customers build better solutions by understanding their problems firsthand.

Use Data

Data-driven decisions keep you focused on what matters.

• Empower teams with analytics. We use Amplitude so our product managers can explore data on their own, without needing SQL queries from engineering.
• Set up monitoring and alerting. Don’t let your customers be the first to tell you something is wrong. We page the on-call engineer and share important errors in Slack.

Takeaway: Data helps validate assumptions and keeps your product and infrastructure healthy.

Have Fun

This is a marathon, not a sprint.

• Invest in relationships. We run hackathons, remote socials, and in-person events.
• Celebrate wins. Building complex products can be challenging—take the time to enjoy the journey and the people around you.

Takeaway: A positive culture is key to sustaining high performance and making work enjoyable.

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Ready to Help Shape the Future?

We’re passionate about building tools that customers love—and we’re always looking for like-minded product, design, and engineering talent. If you thrive in a fast-paced environment, value close collaboration, and love shipping features that make a real difference, we’d love to chat. Reach out to learn more about our open roles and how you can help push our product-driven culture even further.

Check out our careers pages for current open job opportunities.

Thanks for reading—and here’s to building better, together!

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