This document discusses how to build a product customers love through an autonomous culture at a company. It advocates devolving decision making to independent teams focused on key performance indicators important to customers. This autonomous structure has allowed the company to scale rapidly, adding over 60 new currency routes in 2016 through 150+ weekly releases while growing from 60 to 700 employees in three years. Maintaining an autonomous culture with empowered teams moving quickly allows companies to iterate and learn faster.

1. BUILDING A PRODUCT CUSTOMERS LOVE
@harshsinha
… through an autonomous culture

2. @harshsinha

3. @harshsinha

4. @harshsinha

5. @harshsinha
> $1B PER MONTH
SAVING CUSTOMERS $60M PER MONTH
750+ CURRENCY ROUTES

6. @harshsinha
EVANGELISM IS THE BIGGEST
DRIVER OF GROWTH

7. @harshsinha
RATIONALRATIONAL EMOTIONAL

8. @harshsinha
RATIONALPRODUCT BRAND

9. @harshsinha
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Meh..Detractors Promoters

10. @harshsinha

11. @harshsinha
RATIONAL
SPEED
CONVENIENCE
PRICE
COVERAGE
BRAND

12. @harshsinha
TO ACHIEVE ADVOCACY YOUR PRODUCT
NEEDS TO BE AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE
BETTER THAN THE ALTERNATIVE

13. @harshsinha
RATIONALPRODUCT BRAND

14. @harshsinha

15. You can’t copy
that !

16. @harshsinha

17. @harshsinha
EVERY SUCCESSFUL START UP STARTS
HERE…

18. @harshsinha
SO HOW DO YOU SCALE THIS?

19. AT BIG CO
@harshsinha

20. @harshsinha
ACCOUNTABILITY
AND DECISION
MAKING AT THE TOP
OF THE ORG

21. HOW PRODUCT GETS BUILT AT STARTUPS
@harshsinha

22. @harshsinha
JIM

23. @harshsinha
FOUNDER HAS A VISION FROM GOD

24. @harshsinha
THEY THEN MICROMANAGE IT OUT

25. TRACTION == PRODUCT MARKET FIT
@harshsinha

26. @harshsinha

27. @harshsinha
CTO / CPO / VP SALES

28. @harshsinha
DOES A PLAN

29. @harshsinha
HIRES A TEAM

30. @harshsinha
ACCOUNTABILITY
AND DECISION
MAKING AT THE TOP
OF THE ORG

31. @harshsinha
CUSTOMERS

32. @harshsinha
ALTERNATIVE ?

33. @harshsinha
AN EMERGENT
WAY OF BUILDING PRODUCT

34. @harshsinha
COMPANIES THAT ITERATE, FAIL AND
LEARN FASTER WILL SUCCEED

35. @harshsinha
DEVOLVE DECISION MAKING TO
TEAMS

36. WE WORK IN AUTONOMOUS
INDEPENDENT TEAMS THAT
FOCUS ON KPIS THAT MAKE A
DIFFERENCE TO OUR
CUSTOMERS AND DRIVE OUR
GROWTH
@harshsinha

37. @harshsinha
THE CURRENCIES TEAM WORKS ON
LAUNCHING NEW CURRENCIES

38. @harshsinha
IT IS AUTONOMOUS & INDEPENDENT

39. @harshsinha
PRODUCT ENGINEER
CS BANKERS
PRODUCT MGR OPERATIONS

40. @harshsinha
A COMMON THREAD ?

41. @harshsinha
CULTURE

42. @harshsinha

43. @harshsinha
VALUES, PROCESSES, BEHAVIORS

44. @harshsinha

45. CADENCE
@harshsinha

46. @harshsinha
BEHAVIORS

47. @harshsinha
PRODUCT + CODE OWNERSHIP

48. @harshsinha
EVERY PART OF THE CODE IS OWNED

49. @harshsinha
ANY TEAM CAN CHANGE ANY PART
OF THE CODE

50. @harshsinha
WEAK CODE OWNERSHIP

51. @harshsinha
INTERNAL OPEN SOURCE

52. @harshsinha
ENGINEERS GET CLOSE TO
CUSTOMER AND MAKE DECISIONS
ON DATA

53. @harshsinha

54. @harshsinha

55. @harshsinha
HIRE SMART AND EMPOWER PEOPLE
http://tech.transferwise.com/we-inspire-smart-people-and-we-trust-them/

56. @harshsinha
PRODUCT MANAGERS CANNOT TELL
ENGINEERS WHAT TO DO

57. @harshsinha
IF YOU FAIL TO INSPIRE AN ENGINEER
YOU WILL FAIL TO INSPIRE CUSTOMERS

58. @harshsinha
HOW MANY THINGS CAN WE DO IN PARALLEL
WITHOUT BLOCKING ON DECISIONS?

59. @harshsinha
DECISIONS BEING MADE CLOSE TO
CUSTOMERS

60. @harshsinha

61. @harshsinha
Currencies
Payment
Processing
Verification Conversion Experience Virality
Perf.
Marketing
AML Fraud Business
Request
Money
US Infra Marketing

62. @harshsinha
TRADE OFFS
- Consistency
- Efficiency
- Singularity of vision
- Swiftness of collective decision making

63. @harshsinha
WHY DO WE OPERATE THIS WAY ?

64. @harshsinha
60 TO 700 TRANSFERWISERS
IN 3 YEARS

65. @harshsinha
> 60+ NEW ROUTES IN 2016

66. 150+ RELEASES PER WEEK
@harshsinha

67. @harshsinha
THANK YOU
@harshsinha