What you need to succeed in a startup with zero customers is different from what you need when you have a few thousand, and this changes many times as the company grows. Some of these changes are code and architectural changes, some are organizational changes, and some are mindset shifts. The one constant is that things will need to change. As a staff plus engineer in a smaller company, while you may be working with fewer engineers and fewer systems than you would be at a larger company, you have a huge impact on whether the company succeeds or fails.

Having navigated this transition a few times now at largely B2B companies, I will talk through some of the lessons I've learned working at a tiny startup (failed), Box (Series D through going public and beyond), Split (Series B through an acquisition), and now at Imprint (Series C and still going). I will talk through deciding if and when things need to change, how to get people aligned with the change, and continual evaluation of progress. While I will focus on the startup to platform transition, the skills and observations are universal for navigating change.