There's no textbook-approved technique for building a startup engineering team: in the early days, everyone wears several hats.

But when a company enters its growth phase, the recruiting process is systematized, new hires are sorted into discrete units, and a thin layer of management is applied to keep everything on track.

When Jean-Denis Greze accepted the CTO role at Plaid in 2017, the fintech company was still financing its Series A had "about 20 engineers who were still trying to feel their way to product-market fit," writes enterprise reporter Ron Miller.

Today, Plaid's engineering team numbers 350 people.

Full TechCrunch+ articles are only available to members
Use discount code TCPLUSROUNDUP to save 20% off a one- or two-year subscription

In an interview, Greze explained how Plaid moved away from an all-hands-on-deck ethos to a system where contributors had clearly defined roles they weren't locked into.

I asked Ron what surprised him the most while reporting this story, and he said it was the fact that Visa's failed attempt to purchase Plaid last year made it easier for them to hire new technical talent.

Suddenly, "people who didn't want to be part of a startup and wanted to solve bigger problems around scale and security were willing to talk to them," says Ron.

"Whereas before, they felt Plaid was a little too small for their ambitions."

Today and tomorrow, we'll have team coverage of Y Combinator's Winter 2022 Demo Day, including a selection of staff favorites, so be sure to check the site each afternoon.

Thanks very much for reading TechCrunch+ this week!

Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch+
@yourprotagonist

2 reasons why demo days are dead

Image Credits: Martin Harvey (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

Demo days are a showcase for tech media, but does this performative Silicon Valley tradition still benefit founders and investors?