#010: From Pebble to Intel: can hardware startups beat the big players?

In today's Coredump Session, we explore the wild early days of Pebble and what it takes to scale a hardware startup against industry giants. From scrappy hackathons to 100+ person engineering teams, Kean Wong, former VP of Software at Pebble and now CTO at Igor, joins Memfault’s François and Chris to unpack how startups can outpace Big Tech by staying nimble, hiring wisely, and embracing constant change.

Key Takeaways:

• Early-stage hardware startups benefit from direct engagement with developer communities for recruiting.
• Transparency and shared business context can create stronger, more motivated engineering teams.
• Scaling a hardware company requires embracing organizational change—not resisting it.
• “Trial by fire” can be an effective onboarding path for technical leaders in fast-moving environments.
• Engineering leadership should balance short-term firefighting with long-term vision setting.
• Hackathons and passion projects can be powerful hiring channels in embedded tech.
• Growth requires thoughtful infrastructure investments—even when it's tempting to keep things scrappy.
• A good leader earns respect by doing the hard work, not just delegating it.

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Today’s Topic

06:00 Lessons from Scaling Teams at Pebble

12:00 Chaos, Structure, and Growing as a Startup

18:00 Building Process Without Killing Agility

24:00 Hiring Smart in Fast-Growth Environments

30:00 From Product Complexity to Organizational Change

36:00 Staying Productive Through Engineering Transitions

42:00 Applying Startup Lessons in Larger Organizations

48:00 What Kean’s Building Now at Eagor

54:00 Live Q&A and Closing Thoughts

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