The Guest – Matt Dalton, VP of Engineering at Finimize
With 15 years of experience in hands-on and leadership roles within the software industry, Matt Dalton oversees the development of Finimize’s finance platform designed to empower one of the largest retail investor communities in the world.
Finimize offers an information platform that empowers people to become smarter investors with accessible news, research & education from world-class analysts. Matt joins us to share his insights on how to be impactful as a small team, how Finimize approaches product development, and ways in which AI is helping them become more resourceful.
Insights on Resourcefulness and Maximising Impact
Fostering ownership and curiosity within teams is essential to building a culture of empowerment and continuous learning. Encouraging engineers to suggest solutions, while educating the organisation on tools like no-code platforms, helps create an environment where teams can thrive and innovate.
One quote from Matt encapsulates this philosophy:
“We (at Finimize) really believe in taking smart people, giving them the context of what problems we’re trying to solve, and letting people figure it out.”
Here are some of insights shared in this episode:
1. Maximising Impact in Small Teams
With a lean engineering team of just eight members, Finimize has adopted an empowerment culture. Matt discusses the importance of:
- Hiring entrepreneurial, self-starting individuals.
- Providing clear context and ownership of problems.
- Encouraging cross-functional collaboration where engineers contribute beyond coding, influencing product decisions and business outcomes.
2. The Role of AI in Finimize
AI has brought incremental efficiency gains to both engineering and content teams. From using tools like GPT-4 and Copilot for code generation to implementing no-code automations for internal processes, Finimize is actively experimenting with AI. As a result, these tools have saved time (at least an hour a day for each team member in certain departments) and increased productivity, but Matt notes the importance of maintaining accountability and understanding when to leverage AI in production systems.
3. Product Development Philosophy
Finimize adapts its product development frameworks to suit its growth stage and objectives. By using different frameworks and switching gears for different project needs, they are able to keep the focus on progress, without hindering innovation.
- For subscription metrics: Cross-functional teams use data deep dives and iterative approaches to optimise performance.
- For early-stage initiatives: A scrappier, experiment-driven approach prioritises discovery over optimisation.
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