Peldi (Balsamiq) - Continuous Learning as a Company DNA
Mastering Remote
English - October 29, 2019 08:00 - 49 minutes - 90.4 MB - ★★★★★ - 11 ratingsManagement Business Entrepreneurship remote work startup tech leadership management digital nomad entrepreneurship bootstrap silicon valley hiring Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Today I’m joined by Giacomo “Peldi” Guilizzoni, the CEO of Balsamiq. In this episode, we talked about Balsamiq’s culture (specifically around the core value of continuous learning and the importance of experiments), the growing pains Peldi experienced as a leader, and more.
We also had a quick peek into Balsamiq’s hiring and onboarding process. We also talked about why Peldi strongly prefers to employ remote team members, rather than have them as contractors (which is a common practice amongst remote/distributed companies).
I really admire the self-aware nature of Balsamiq, which is a byproduct of Peldi’s personality as a founder and a leader. Hope you enjoy it too!
We covered:
02:31 — Why Peldi moved back to Italy to build Balsamiq
07:26 — What Balsamiq does to maintain a self-aware and continuous learning culture
10:16 — Why “experiment culture” is important in Balsamiq
13:35 — Why Peldi prefers not placing too much weight on his own “voice” within the company
21:15 — The un-sexy part of remote hiring (legal challenges, paperwork, etc.)
28:05 — A peek into Balsamiq's hiring process
29:50 — Balsamiq's onboarding process and how it has evolved over time
32:46 — How Peldi moved away from doing the things he's good at
Mentioned resources:
Balsamiq
Peldi’s Indie Hackers Interview
Balsamiq Career Page
How TaxJar Creates a Remote Company Culture with Mark Faggiano
Baremetrics
Josh Pigford’s tweet
Zapier
Know Your Team: The Heartbeat podcast episode with Peldi
Buffer
Buffer’s co-founder Leo Widrich
Peldi’s Twitter
Peldi’s LinkedIn