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Engineering culture is a system: incentives, habits, standards, and how decisions get made when things break. On SphereCast, host Adin Heric sits down with Krzysztof Ras to explain how to design that system from zero – and evolve it through scale across the Middle East and China.

Kris breaks down what “culture” really looks like before the first engineer is hired, how the first 100 days set long-term norms, and how leadership must shift as teams grow from a handful of builders into distributed organizations.

In this episode, we cover:

• What “culture” means before the team even exists
• The first 100 days: what to prioritize (hiring, values, process, delivery)
• How culture is defined through daily behavior, not decks
• Speed vs. stability: architecture, testing, and discipline under pressure
• Lessons from building teams in the Middle East
• What China’s execution pace changes about leadership expectations
• Leading across languages and time zones while maintaining trust and shared values
• How AI is reshaping engineering culture – where it helps, and where it can harm collaboration

Whether you’re a founder hiring your first engineers, a CTO scaling a team, or a leader managing globally distributed development, this episode offers practical frameworks for building a culture that holds up under growth.

Key Topics: engineering culture, scaling engineering teams, first 100 days, hiring and values, engineering leadership, clean architecture, testing discipline, startup vs scale-up, distributed teams, cross-cultural leadership, Middle East tech leadership, China tech leadership, AI in software development, SphereCast, Sphere Inc.

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In this episode of SphereCast, host Adin Heric sits down with Nicolas Cava — serial founder, former Zendesk engineering leader, and now a fractional CTO and executive coach helping tech teams scale without burning out.

Nicolas has built startups, led engineering organizations through hypergrowth, and personally experienced burnout twice. Today, he shares practical insights on how tech leaders, CTOs, founders, and engineering managers can build sustainable systems for growth.

In this episode, we cover:

• What burnout really looks like for engineering leaders
• The subtle early warning signs most founders ignore
• How “grind culture” still shapes tech organizations
• Delegation as a burnout-prevention tool
• Leadership habits for scaling teams 500%+
• How AI and uncertainty contribute to stress and “AI anxiety”
• Why fractional CTO roles are rising
• How to stay ambitious without sacrificing wellbeing

Whether you’re a founder navigating rapid scaling, a CTO managing distributed teams, or a leader struggling to balance ambition with sustainability, this episode offers actionable strategies and real-world stories to help you lead with clarity — not burnout.

Key Topics: Burnout in tech, CTO burnout, engineering leadership, startup scaling, tech leadership podcast, hypergrowth teams, fractional CTO, AI anxiety, engineering management, leadership wellbeing, sustainable tech culture, avoiding burnout in startups, leadership coaching, Nicolas Cava, SphereCast.

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In this episode of SphereCast, we sit down with Wes Ezzeddine, a seasoned technology leader who’s built and scaled engineering teams across startups and growth-stage companies. Joined by Sphere’s COO and Director of Talent Delivery, Katya Savenkova, we explore what it really takes to scale tech organizations sustainably – balancing speed, quality, and culture.

From knowing when to hire internally versus bringing in external experts, to identifying high performers, to keeping accountability clear across blended teams: this conversation dives deep into the real-world challenges behind rapid growth in tech.

💡 You’ll learn:

• How to structure scaling beyond headcount — and where most teams go wrong
• When to leverage external talent delivery to move faster without compromising quality
• How to spot and nurture true high performers
• How to keep execution sharp and accountability clear as teams grow
  
  

Whether you’re a CTO, COO, or founder, this episode offers practical frameworks and lessons to help you scale smarter, not just bigger.

🎧 Tune in and get insights you can put to work right away.

#SphereCast #TechLeadership #TeamScaling #EngineeringManagement #AI #TalentDelivery #Sphere