Zoltán Dávid, with an engineering background (computer engineer, 2004, BME), together with five friends, built a B2B software as a service that is now used by developers at hundreds of organizations, including Microsoft, the Icelandic digital government and small startups.
Where he comes from, this is a great success. He claims that with a classical engineering background (e.g. physics, computer science, maths) and a bit of openness, anyone can master world-class skills such as sales, product management and strategic planning. In his experience, our region is home to incredibly talented engineers who are individually competitive as employees or freelancers. He also believes that by working together, they can build globally listed, fast-growing, revenue-generating companies that can compete with their US competitors that start with much more capital and a better sales culture.
Plenary presentation:
ConfigCat, 6 engineers’ journey to the first $1 million
In this presentation we will show how (with what concrete steps) 6 software developers, without external help, built a SaaS startup that is used by more than 300 companies worldwide.
Workshop:
Online Feature flag management with ConfigCat on a variety of platforms
Phased rollout, Canary release, Testing in production, Feature flag: these concepts are all about how big companies like Facebook, Google, Spotify (and the other – infamous – big ones) avoid disastrous new software features and how successful startups like Clipchamp (acquired by Microsoft) release really beloved new features. The basic trick is never some marketing bluster, but almost always a clever application of a single engineering trick: feature flags well placed in code and then well used. In this Workshop, I’ll show you how to use this technique well. We will code, and we’ll also get into the skin of a Product Manager – and we’ll look at best practices in both roles. The workshop is open, feel free to ask questions, and we will discuss any issues that arise. By the end of the workshop, you’ll at least understand why there’s hype around what is otherwise a very simple feature flag concept. At best, you will also find out if feature flags help you at all and how to use them if you have your own startup.