Ariel Tseitlin began working on Netflix’s cloud platform in 2011. Here’s what it taught him about culture and high-speed innovation.
I joined Netflix at the beginning of 2011, just as the company was making the transition from operating in the data center to the public cloud. My job was to help build out Netflix’s cloud platform and manage streaming operations. It was an incredible three-year experience seeing the company scale its people, culture, and technology.
There are some patterns in the ways we react to changing course. Startup founders in mid-pivot make for great case studies.
Nobody likes having to change directions, backtrack, or start over from scratch—especially when they’re working on something big, challenging, or that they’re passionate about. But life is full of situations that make us change course unexpectedly, and our success often depends on how we face them.
We’re used to giving “praise sandwiches”—a criticism wedged in between two generic compliments—that give our brains indigestion.
A few years ago, I was working hard on a scrappy document that would eventually blossom into my first-ever book. It was still very early in the project, and I was hungry for guidance. So I was delighted that a colleague, who I’ll call Matt, had agreed to review my efforts and offer some constructive feedback. When he did, it went something like this:
Use this strategy to find a company that fits your career goals and philanthropic ambition.
Believe it or not, despite all of the negative stereotypes you read about millennials—they lack loyalty and want a trophy just for showing up, just to name a few—there is in fact a silver lining: Millennials want work that gives back to the community.
La Colombe’s canned draft latte is infused with nitrous oxide for a signature silky texture.
Todd Carmichael, cofounder of the growing Philadelphia-based craft-coffee authority La Colombe, had a beef with iced lattes: He couldn’t stand the watered-down beverage that results from cooling steamed milk over ice. So last year, he invented a draft latte system for his cafés. Cold milk is infused with nitrous oxide (producing a silky microfoam), mixed with cold-pressed espresso, and poured from a keg. When sales at one of his Philadelphia outposts jumped 17.5% the week the draft latte was introduced, Carmichael began to think about how to take the drink from his cafés to store shelves.
Being part of a minority group has always made me cautious to talk about diversity, so maybe we need to reframe the discussion.
For a long time, almost as long as I’ve been a member of the exclusive “Women in Tech” club, I’ve avoided talking about diversity.
The app moves beyond anonymous chatting with votes and polls that will produce insider data for the app’s maker to harvest.
Last year, former congressional staffer Ted Henderson released an anonymous chat app for Washington, D.C. staffers and insiders to freely discuss bills and issues—think Whisper but for Capitol Hill. After building a solid user base, Henderson released Cloakroom 2.0 last week with polling and social tools, which may turn what was once “just another anonymous messaging app” into a truly valuable knowledge base of insider politics.
Doppler Labs’s new Here earbuds let you selectively tune in—and out—the world around you. Here’s what that’s like.
Sia is on, and I am in hallway.
The FBI has contracted with the SunCorp subsidiary for $338,581 in gear and services since the December 2 San Bernardino attack.
The identity of the group that helped the FBI access the encrypted data from San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook’s iPhone is still a mystery.
Many people set aggressive networking goals, forgetting that it takes time and patience to build a business relationship.
Most people engage in networking in the hopes of landing a new job or business opportunity but, experts say, many approach it the wrong way.
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