On the fourth episode of the 1st10 Podcast, we are joined by Jono Spiro, the Principal Software Engineer for Fractal Software. Fractal is a unique venture studio that “provides ambitious entrepreneurs with the support, insights, and capital needed to build generational businesses.” Jono joined us on the show to discuss the concept of founding engineers and early engineering teams in startups. He shared insights from his extensive experience advising Fractal’s 145 portfolio companies on engineering, product development, and team building.

Listen to the whole episode to hear Jono talk about:

• Founding engineers - “Find somebody that compliments you as a CTO that's ideally better than you, if possible.” (9:46 )

  
  



• Spotting talent through resumes - “"Reading resumes. It's an art. It's also BS." (12:06 )

  
  



• Take Days Off Regularly - “if you find yourself (burning the midnight oil) all the time, you're doing it wrong.” (20:05 )

  
  



• Consolidating Knowledge - “Pick a place to store your company's knowledge.” (28:56 )

  
  



• Advice for Early Engineers - “Make sure that you're ready to join a startup. You're going to make less money. You will not have job security. You're going to meet some scummy people.” (30:58 )

  
  

Chapters

02:45 - Jono's Background & History

03:44 - What’s a Founding Engineer?

07:01 - How to Identifying and Hire Early Engineers

20:35 - Building Early Engineering Teams & Fostering Culture

25:40 - Tools for Remote Work & Knowledge Consolidation

29:27 - Advice for Founders & Early Engineers

36:18 - Additional Thoughts on AI, Take-Home Assignments, and other stuff

Connect with us

Website: www.1st10.com

Podcast: www.1st10.com/podcast 

Twitter www.x.com/1st10engineers

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/1st10/

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@1st10podcast 

Links

Fractal Software: www.fractalsoftware.com

Jono Spiro's GitHub: www.github.com/jspiro

Glitch & Tiny Speck: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitch_(video_game)

Game Neverending and Flickr: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flickr

Producer: Shrikant Joshi

Music by ⁠Roman Senyk⁠ from ⁠Pixabay⁠