Fireside Chat with our CTO: Roadmapping retention through automations

Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Aument

We all get headhunter emails. Sometimes they’re brilliantly written or hinting at the possibility of becoming part of the next groundbreaking tech innovation. I used to get dozens via LinkedIn, but one simple message stood out:

“Hey buddy, we’re launching a startup and need someone to lead the development team.“

Little did I know that the author of that message, Mario Leon, would soon persuade me to jump feet-first into the most rewarding experience of my career.

In 2021, I was working at a cybersecurity company that used cryptocurrency bitcoins for computing activity, detecting intrusions and looting. The project was innovative and I’ve always loved learning about the latest technologies, but Mario’s message spoke to the risk-taker in me, so we set up a meeting.

Previously, I’d tried to start companies with friends but had been left wanting. Since I was a kid, I dreamed of starting a company and always told anyone who’d ask that I saw myself running my own company. So when the opportunity to become an entrepreneur arose, I grabbed it.

Initially, I only collaborated with Mario, Emilio, and Sacha by reviewing code and helping them hire engineers. I was sending reports on code for both the back and frontend, the overall architecture, essentially trying to make the code clearer and more efficient.

But as Mario predicted, Aument soon needed a leader to direct the young developers. I shifted to helping them hire a team leader with a developer profile, still unsure about leaving my employer. Sadly, 70 to 80% of candidates with the right skills simply lacked the natural ability for extensive social interactions that’s needed for people management. After a raft of interviews, the conversation shifted to integrating me as a co-founder.

How could I say no? This was my dream! And today, I am working harder than ever. I’ve never expected our team to pull crazy hours but I can’t help myself some days; I find myself going to bed at 5 am and get up at 9 am — “back to work!” — because I enjoy our mission at Aument. From the day I joined the executive team, Emilio, Mario, and Sacha trusted me entirely. They knew I was motivated to make Aument a top-notch product. 

In the last 3 months, we’ve overhauled more than 80 percent of the backend code, as well as how the frontend was built. We even changed the visuals for users, such as how the monthly sales charts were displayed. We prioritized improvements to tools whose design was paramount to the user experience (UX).