01:07:52 · Molly O'Shea
[01:07:52] S5: So I'm going to be interviewing Jim Lanzone of Yahoo! I think in a week or so, this might come out around the same time. I don't know, you never know when these get released. But in the prep of that and speaking with their team, it's kind of underrated. A lot of people will say, okay, AOL is a dead brand, it's, you know, kind of like a zombie company or something like that, but talking with their team and understanding the acquisition, no, it was like a very healthy company. They got it to a great place, you guys are gonna make it to an even shinier place, but what were the kind of initial observations of the company and what you wanted to change?
01:08:38 · Valentina Jerusalmi, Molly O'Shea
[01:08:38] S1: Yeah, as you say, AOL was a pretty healthy business when we acquired it and it's still as of today. I think there are many misconceptions about the brand just because it's been there for a while. People think that it's dead but instead it has like millions and millions of users who are still very active and still very engaged. We have the news portal where we are envisioning to improve the content we can offer to users, the way we recommend content to users. And despite many perceptions, our user base is also very interested exploring AI, maybe having someone who can start like start them to this experience. And of course there is also the mail product and the mail product is like extremely retaining by design, right? So people are extremely engaged with their mail. We have many ideas of how to make the mail better for our user base and we believe that the product has been slightly neglected in the past few years. So we believe to give it a fresh start with Bending Spoons. You have [01:09:44] S5: a data background. So how do you think in terms of data and kind of the measurements of what success looks like?
01:09:44 · Molly O'Shea, Valentina Jerusalmi
[01:09:44] S5: a data background. So how do you think in terms of data and kind of the measurements of what success looks like? [01:09:50] S1: So we are extremely scientific. I am also, but in general at Bending Spoons I would say we are very scientific in the way we approach things. So everything we do for our products, everything we want to test, we really test it. So we AB test everything we release because we never want opinions to get in the way of success. So I'm never asking people to do something or we never say let's do this and then we just roll it out because of an opinion or because of a hunch, because of an idea we have, we always test what we do. So that's where data really comes in unless there are KPIs that are really responding to what we're doing and that are indicating clear success, we don't release anything. So that's what I love because we have the possibility to test also very bold ideas and see how numbers and KPIs roll in that direction or in the other and then very statistically and very rigorously we apply the changes. [01:10:59] S5: Since spending spins is quite the first principles approach to software and you worked across so many products, what are the commonalities between maybe mistakes that were embedded in initial products that you had to fix or kind of intuitive things were missed or some things that were overlooked within those products?
01:11:23 · Valentina Jerusalmi, Molly O'Shea
[01:11:23] S1: Think the issue most of the times is that while obsessing on perfection, people miss so many opportunities to get things done and testing things. So I think the analysis paralysis, especially when it comes to, for example, code deploy or infrastructural design, those things can really slow down a product. So you need very few but very solid basis when you build something but then you need to add a lot of flexibility and make sure that there are not super constraining processes or approval lines and things like this because in my experience, those are the things that kill a product, the inability to act on the product. And sometimes companies just because they become bigger and bigger, they tend to, you know, overweight themselves with these processes and approvals and inability to really run the business. Well, when you have an extremely talented and responsible team who really feel like owners of what they do, you really get to a place where people can drive change safely and meticulously, but like without ever adding too much, you know, in terms of processes and all those things. So I think this is always reflected in the code, it's always reflected in the infrastructure but it's also reflected in the processes people have to follow that sometimes it's just overly long or overly burdensome, like cumbersome. [01:13:06] S5: What are the typical compositions of the teams working on various projects?
01:13:06 · Molly O'Shea, Valentina Jerusalmi
[01:13:06] S5: What are the typical compositions of the teams working on various projects? [01:13:10] S1: It's very diverse, wouldn't say there is one fits all kind of organization. It depends on the product but I would say there is always maybe a 40, 30, 40% of engineers in our teams and the rest is divided into more business oriented roles like product managers, growth managers, customer support managers, designers. So I would say a 40, 60 business, engineering to business. [01:13:41] S5: And where do you see most people are coming from? [01:13:44] S1: Yeah, so we are looking to hire talent across all Europe. So of course we have a new close-up in Italy just because that's where the company started. So that's where our brand is very strong, but I think we are becoming stronger and stronger in Europe. And at some point very soon, [01:14:06] S5: probably we're already doing it. We will start higher also in The US. For someone with such drive and motivation, this is a question I'll ask in most of my interviews, people will say like performance is derivative of who you surround yourself with or who you're inspired by. Where did you get that drive? Like who are the people that keep you motivated?
01:14:06 · Molly O'Shea, Valentina Jerusalmi
[01:14:06] S5: probably we're already doing it. We will start higher also in The US. For someone with such drive and motivation, this is a question I'll ask in most of my interviews, people will say like performance is derivative of who you surround yourself with or who you're inspired by. Where did you get that drive? Like who are the people that keep you motivated? [01:14:27] S1: You know, as cheesy as it could sound, really, I think all of my team does this with me every day just because it's composed of people who are so generally interested in moving things forward that it's impossible not to feel driven in this company. When I first started for sure, Francesco Mancone who's the CTO today and Luca, Luca Ferrari, our CEO, they have been two of the most relevant people in my growth, but there are so many others that it would be like unfair not to mention just because they have all really participated in who I am and who I became in Bending Spoons. So I'm thinking of my software engineering lead, Martina, like she's awesome. Many others, so many others. I really couldn't name them all, but so many. [01:15:20] S5: Do you find this culture to be unique between your friends cultures or people you went to university with?