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Learning the language
An engineering-driven company has its own language, and a non-technical person has to learn it to add value in the engineers' minds. Cristina Cordova joined Stripe at 24 and spent time with people, learned the product, and learned its use cases, at a depth people didn't expect from her.
Speaking for customers
When she saw a trend in the market or in the feedback she was hearing, she didn't stay quiet. She pushed and advocated for customers and for partners. It was less about her own opinions on strategy and more about being the voice of a partner or a customer, and working with those parties incredibly well. That was the one thing she aimed to be the best at.
Explaining partnerships
She also learned that hitting your number or producing the most isn't everything: how you do the work and how it is perceived count too. Partnerships meant something different at every company, so she spent a lot of time explaining what the function was and what value each partner could add. Once a partner represented a real share of the overall business, people started to get it.
Why do engineering-led companies have their own language?
Technical teams use specialized vocabulary for systems, tradeoffs, and constraints, and shared vocabulary makes their discussions faster. For someone outside engineering, learning those terms is a way to take part in decisions as they happen. Without it, a non-technical person's input can be dismissed as uninformed. Companies built by engineers often grant trust first to the people who can speak that language.
What do partnership teams do at a software company?
Partnership teams, sometimes called business development, work out deals with other companies that build on or sell alongside the product. A software company might integrate with a platform, share customers with another firm, or be bundled into a larger offering. The team's work sits between sales, product, and legal, which makes it hard to explain to those who do not see the deals up close. Its value is often measured by the revenue that flows through partner relationships.
How does customer feedback reach a product team?
Feedback usually travels through the people closest to customers, such as sales, support, and partnerships. They gather patterns across many conversations and bring them to product and engineering. A single anecdote carries little weight, while the same request repeated by many customers does. Teams that stay close to this flow tend to build features that match real use.
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