1 hr 18 min

The hard power of management and the soft power of senior ICs | Josh Wills Software Misadventures

    • Technology

As a self-described “gainfully unemployed data person”, Josh Wills is an angel investor and has worked on and led data teams at Slack, Cloudera, WeaveGrid and Google. We discuss:
How to get started with angel investing without a ton of $$
Attributes that define great engineering managers
What’s it like transitioning from management back to IC
Challenges in Climate Tech from a software perspective
And more
 
Segments: [0:01:35] Transitioning from management to individual contributor (IC).
[0:10:19] Emotional intelligence and its role in engineering management.
[0:25:21] Contrasting the hard power of management with the soft power of senior individual contributors.
[0:37:18] Addressing challenges in climate technology.
[0:51:34] The importance of practicality and how to assess it in interviews.
[0:56:01] Josh's journey into angel investing.
[1:12:59] Criteria used by Josh to evaluate whether to invest in a startup.
 
Show Notes: Josh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/josh_wills
The “Touchy Feely” course at Stanford: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/experience/learning/leadership/interpersonal-dynamics
Jason Calacanis’s book on angel investing: https://www.amazon.com/Angel-Invest-Technology-Startups-Timeless-Investor/dp/0062560700
 
Stay in touch: 👋 Make Ronak’s day by leaving us a review and let us know who we should talk to next! hello@softwaremisadventures.com

As a self-described “gainfully unemployed data person”, Josh Wills is an angel investor and has worked on and led data teams at Slack, Cloudera, WeaveGrid and Google. We discuss:
How to get started with angel investing without a ton of $$
Attributes that define great engineering managers
What’s it like transitioning from management back to IC
Challenges in Climate Tech from a software perspective
And more
 
Segments: [0:01:35] Transitioning from management to individual contributor (IC).
[0:10:19] Emotional intelligence and its role in engineering management.
[0:25:21] Contrasting the hard power of management with the soft power of senior individual contributors.
[0:37:18] Addressing challenges in climate technology.
[0:51:34] The importance of practicality and how to assess it in interviews.
[0:56:01] Josh's journey into angel investing.
[1:12:59] Criteria used by Josh to evaluate whether to invest in a startup.
 
Show Notes: Josh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/josh_wills
The “Touchy Feely” course at Stanford: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/experience/learning/leadership/interpersonal-dynamics
Jason Calacanis’s book on angel investing: https://www.amazon.com/Angel-Invest-Technology-Startups-Timeless-Investor/dp/0062560700
 
Stay in touch: 👋 Make Ronak’s day by leaving us a review and let us know who we should talk to next! hello@softwaremisadventures.com

1 hr 18 min

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