Pete Woodhouse

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Hey all, I'm Pete. I'm currently CTO and Head of Product (and interim COO) at a Healthtech startup called Sibly (www.sibly.com). We provide 24/7 on demand secure and confidential mental health coaching with trained human coaches through an app. I also advise startups on how to scale their product and engineering functions, and how to grow strong capable leaders. Most of the companies I advise are in the Healthtech or Fintech space but I'm open to helping where I can. Prior to Sibly I was CTO of PayPal's credit division with full responsibility for the technology from backend server operations through to the mobile app. I've managed software engineering organizations on and off since 1994, either as a direct manager or during a five year stint as a management consultant. Companies include H-P, Agilent, Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, Samsung, PayPal and more. I've built and managed teams of up to 350 engineers, in 10(ish) countries and across the US. I think that leading product and engineering engineers is one of the best jobs in the world, and I strive to get better at it - there's always more to learn. As far as management style goes, I'm big on transparency and candor, in multiple directions. I believe in finding and discussing problems and risks early, while they're small and fixable. I believe that an engineering culture should be one of merit and also where engineers can feel proud of the work they're doing and not just driving to a deadline or working on the next ticket. The job of an engineering leader is complex, but I feel that it can be distilled into three major things: 1. Set direction - where are we going, what's the goal, what are the priorities, what are the constraints 2. Provide support to the team working toward those goals through money, people, time, prioritization, organization changes, making decisions, equipment, etc. 3. Communicate! Give (and request) frequent feedback, represent your team externally and outwardly, give the team insight into what you're thinking and where your concerns might be I'm looking forward to talking with you at a mentorship session. Best, Pete