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Cristian Guerrero
Founder @ Veriph.One | Phone-based MFA that is reliable and cost-efficient
Engineer, entrepreneur, fastest learner in the west, art enthusiast, designer, and all-around-nerd with over thirteen years of experience delivering award-winning digital products for a myriad of industries and driven by an enormous passion for continuous learning and pushing the limits of what's possible through technology. I've worked with Fortune 500 companies, disruptive startups, and governments to improve human life one digital product at a time. I specialize in developing and managing high-complexity software under extreme conditions, growth-focused product management, and designing and launching new disruptive products and services. My best work happens when quality is a top priority and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams on clear objectives.
Highlights
My hot take on the Crowdstrike drama: the issue is way worse than you think.
Even though the Crowdstrike bug triggered the catastrophe, it isn't its leading cause. The core issue is Windows; Microsoft has neglected its operating system for decades, and instead of creating safeguards to keep software programs from bricking computers, they continue to pursue the next shiny thing.
It's not just this one bug. Windows is a minefield of potential disasters. Blue Screens of Death are everywhere—billboards, kiosks, vending machines. I've seen millions of them. Windows is a fragile ecosystem, easily broken by shoddy software.
Let's contrast this with modern OSes like iOS or Android. When was the last time you saw an app render a phone useless? It's not impossible, but in my 15+ years of software development, I've only encountered it a handful of times. Why? Because these OSes have proper sandboxing architectures that protect users from buggy host apps.
And the worst part? This isn't going to stop. As long as Windows remains neglected, these issues will keep cropping up.
Ironically, I'm posting this rant bashing Windows on a Microsoft-owned platform. However, it only strengthens my argument. Perhaps we should reconsider the billions of dollars poured into AI and fix a core product that is a pillar of the world economy. Or am I asking too much?
We might avert this crisis today, but who will be the next CrowdStrike? The vulnerability is in the platform, not the software, and it will either be exploited by hackers or triggered again by poor software development practices.
☣️ Toxic revenue is alluring; here are four tips on how to avoid it 👇
Let's understand what toxic revenue means by analyzing Unity's latest debacle: As a platform that enables you to build video games and virtual experiences, Unity decided to update its pricing model to turn a profit.
It decided to go from charging an annual fixed fee to charging developers for each installation. Going as far as applying retroactively! 😱
Financially speaking, this might sound reasonable to Unity. Videogames do get a ton of installs, which could be a great source of income. However, many games have different business models - some are free to install but charge microtransactions.
This enormous lack of alignment between Unity and its developers led to outrage, as the shift would destroy entire companies and livelihoods.
We don't need to go into the details, but it was an absolute blunder of a decision that led Unity to reconsider the update. Yet, the reputational damage was irreversible, and the CEO had to step down.
So, what can we learn from this?
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📊 Not all revenue is created equal. New sources of income are an excellent way of improving margins, but some can poison your company and even kill it. One must analyze new income on all fronts to ensure no invisible side effects will come along.
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🗣️ Build empathy with your users and customers. Incredible that I have to write this in 2023. Still, it seems the message hasn't permeated the top echelons of business. Unity could have avoided this drama if its decision-makers had better understood its developers and their reality.
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⚗️ Experiment! Testing ideas and hypotheses before launching full-scale is the best way of reducing risks. A/B testing is not limited to features and minor modifications; you can experiment with pricing and entire business models to get more information before going all-in.
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♟️ Profitability requires an org-wide strategy. If a company or product isn't profitable, fixing it goes beyond sales and cost management. Bringing new revenue can create more expenses, and cutting costs can hinder your ability to innovate.
Profitability, especially for digital products, is a high-complexity problem that requires a multidisciplinary approach to pull off properly. Hopefully, this post will shed some light on the topic and help others avoid these critical mistakes.
