3 ms·
Disclaimer: I've never worked at a startup. However... Tech debt is like any other kind of debt: a way to increase leverage. Some tech debt is like a mortgage
by zjs 6y ago
Disclaimer: I've never worked at a startup. However...
Tech debt is like any other kind of debt: a way to increase leverage.
Some tech debt is like a mortgage. You get significant value, immediately, and can keep the payments manageable.
Some tech debt is like a payday loan. You get ahead by days, but behind by weeks.
Some tech debt is like margin trading. You make an educated bet about the future and if you're right, you've multiplied your success, but if you're wrong you've multiplied your failure.
There's a time and a place for each kind of debt, but taking on debt in a haphazard fashion can get you into a situation where you need to chose between putting an inordinate amount of effort into paying off the "interest", declaring bankruptcy, or risk having the "repo agent" come calling when you least expect it.
(And note that even "tech bankruptcy" isn't necessarily a bad thing, if you can do so in a way that limits the blast radius.)
- dpenguin 6y agoGreat answer along the same lines I myself look at tech debt as well. Another important thing to keep in mind is that while you can leverage tech debt to move the business forward all you want, be extremely aware of your tech debt and reduce it before you go bust. It’s very easy to develop a belief of “this has worked for 4 years so it’s solid and doesn’t need to be looked at anymore” when in fact, you could be teetering on a total collapse of the system within 3 months because some aspect of the system/business started gaining traction non-linearly. PS: I have worked at very large, medium and small companies that grew big. Haven’t worked at a failed startup so far - so a bit of selection bias in my opinion.