The Remote Team Blueprint for Startup Founders to Build Engineering Culture that Scales - Ariel Ades cover art

The Remote Team Blueprint for Startup Founders to Build Engineering Culture that Scales - Ariel Ades

The Remote Team Blueprint for Startup Founders to Build Engineering Culture that Scales - Ariel Ades

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 In this episode of The Dark Arts of Team Optimization, hosts Kyle Johnson and Franz Aliquo talk with Ariel Ades, former Co-founder and CTO of TBM Labs and previously Senior Engineering Manager at iConnections and Holonic. The conversation explores how culture, hiring philosophy, and resilience shape successful teams from the ground up. Ariel Ades shares lessons from scaling engineering teams across fintech and healthcare, with a focus on nearshore talent, remote leadership, and navigating failure as a core part of innovation.Ariel Ades is an experienced engineering leader with over 25 years in the tech industry. He has played a pivotal role in building and scaling teams in fintech and healthcare, including serving as the first engineer at a startup where he shaped both the technical architecture and company culture. Ariel specializes in nearshore team building, distributed systems, and leadership strategies that blend technical excellence with human-centered thinking.Expect to Learn-How to build strong engineering culture from day one-Why understanding the “why” behind a product drives team performance- The real advantages of nearshore teams beyond cost savings-How to use failure as a strategic learning tool in startups- Why hiring for mindset and passion beats hiring for resumeEpisode Breakdown with Timestamps[00:00:00] – Teaser[00:01:20] – Introduction [00:02:57] – Building Culture as the First Engineer[00:06:02] – Early Hiring Mistakes & Team Growth[00:07:48] – Learning Through Failure[00:10:53] – The Problem with “Routine” Post-Mortems[00:13:57] – The First User Failure Story[00:18:38] – Nearshore Teams: Myth vs Reality[00:24:44] – Trust vs Control in Remote Leadership[00:37:40] – Common Mistakes in Remote Engineering Management[00:41:46] – AI vs Human Engineers[01:00:00] – Closing Thoughts & Where to Find Ariel📱 Follow the Guest Ariel Ades:👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariel-ades/👉 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ariel.ades/👉Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ariel.ades/👉Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tbm-labs/👉Company Website: https://tbmlabs.com/📱 Follow the Hosts Kyle Johnson and Franz Aliquo:👉 Kyle’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyleclaytonjohnson/👉 Franz’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franz-aliquo/ 📱 Follow Holonic:👉 Website: https://www.becomeholonic.com/👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/becomeholonic/
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