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Code + Culture: Sidu Ponnappa & Ajey Gore on Scaling Engineering Teams and Product Development

Sidu Ponnappa, Co-Founder of Realfast.ai and former Managing Director at Gojek India, chats with Peak XV’s Ajey Gore about the mindset changes required to build and scale engineering teams. Sidu takes this opportunity to dive into why product engineering teams shouldn’t be treated as feature factories. Recorded during Surge 07 in November 2022, this conversation underscores the significance of effective collaboration between decision-makers in navigating the complexities of product development.

Sidu dives into hiring practices, talking about how even those who aren’t hired can double as your brand ambassadors. He underlines why it’s crucial to recognize that candidates are drawn to work with individuals, not just the company or its vision. Designing a hiring strategy around this idea involves treating recruitment as a product and seeing candidates as customers in order to understand their needs and motivations.