Abstract
The Technical Leadership Challenge: Every successful engineering team faces the same inflection point: transforming beloved internal tools into a legitimate platform business. As a staff platform engineer, I built systems my team couldn't live without; but turning the products my team loved into something everyone loves is an art not a science. Let me share my secrets so you can build your own startup.
What You'll Learn: This session shares the real lessons from my journey from staff engineer to a16z-backed founder, focusing on the technical and business frameworks that actually matter:
- Platform thinking evolution: Transform toolchains into roadmaps, engineering roles into customer personas, and SLAs into investor-grade metrics that tell a compelling growth story
- Technical product strategy: Write a one-page Platform PRD that defines personas, boundaries, and "paved roads" for sustainable adoption
- Operational excellence at scale: Install trust layers (SLOs, error budgets) that enable velocity rather than gate it, plus self-service architecture that eliminates ticket queues forever
- Proving platform value: Use a proven 30-60-90 rollout framework with four critical metrics—lead time, change-fail rate, time-to-first-value, and platform NPS
Actionable Takeaways: You'll leave with battle-tested templates: Platform PRD framework, persona/JTBD worksheets, SLA/SLO starter pack, paved-road deprecation policies, self-service implementation checklist, phased adoption playbook, and a board-ready metrics dashboard that translates engineering impact into business value.
Speaker
Gonzalo (Glo) Maldonado
CTO & Cofounder of @Mocksi.ai, Staff Platform Engineer Turned Startup Founder, Turns Developer Platforms into Products, Temporal & MCP Fanatic
With over a decade of experience developing groundbreaking digital solutions, Gonzalo stands as a leading figure in technology democratization. Holding positions as an Engineering Manager and a Staff+ Engineer, this professional showcases exceptional skills in microservices integration, platform engineering, and post-agile leadership. Expertise in advanced frontend methodologies and efficient DevOps practices also marks Gonzalo's comprehensive skill set.
More than just a technical expert, Gonzalo is a fervent advocate for diversity, innovation, and remote collaboration. Excelling in environments that demand strong leadership, technological acumen, and a commitment to inclusivity, Gonzalo emerges as a prime candidate for not only the previous roles but also as an early-stage Founder. This blend of technical mastery and visionary leadership positions Gonzalo ideally to steer and shape the future of the technological landscape
