# Surviving SVB's Collapse & Outsmarting Uber /w Kyte's Head of Product & Engineering, Nick Cobb | Dev Interrupted Powered by LinearB

> Nick Cobb, the Head of Engineering at Kyte, discusses SVB, product innovation & what it takes to outmaneuver his former employer, Uber.

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Surviving SVB's Collapse & Outsmarting Uber /w Kyte's Head of Product & Engineering, Nick Cobb

# Surviving SVB's Collapse & Outsmarting Uber /w Kyte's Head of Product & Engineering, Nick Cobb

By Nick Cobb

|

April 10, 2023

![NYC_Nick_Cobb_dev_to_a997742aa8](https://assets.linearb.io/image/upload/c_limit,w_2560/f_auto/q_auto/v1/NYC_Nick_Cobb_dev_to_a997742aa8?_a=BAVMn6ID0)

It hasn't been smooth sailing for startups this year. As this week's guest Nick Cobb puts it "You can add bank runs to the list of things founders have to deal with." Of course, it hasn't been easy going for engineering leaders either. 

That's why Nick, the VP of Engineering & Head of Product at Kyte, sat down with us to discuss how to build an engineering culture with a bias toward action, why he deleted his team's staging environment, and what it takes to outmaneuver his former employer, Uber. 

An angel investor, Nick also touches on the aftershocks of the SVB crash and its lasting effects on the startup community.

Recorded live at LeadDev New York, this episode is a must-listen for engineering leaders who want to place product innovation in the driver's seat of their engineering org.

### Episode Highlights:

* (2:21) Impact of SVB on startup ecosystem
* (7:59) Is now the perfect time to invest in an early stage startup?
* (13:02) Metrics to pay attention to
* (19:33) Uber's lack of innovation
* (24:44) Dogfooding culture
* (27:30) What's happening in self-driving?
* (30:23) Leading engineering teams at Kyte
* (41:09) Postmortem culture

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