For this episode of Tech Leaders’ Intel, we’re joined by Imran Arshed, CTO and co-founder of Plum Guide, a marketplace peer to peer vacation booking site based out of London. From the first days of coding the system to scaling up swiftly, Imran’s insight is invaluable when it comes to understanding development and hiring processes in a fast-growing business. Whether trying to hire while still writing the bare bones of the code yourself or expanding a team to meet the developing needs of your company, prioritisation is crucial, says Imran. This means looking specifically at what will have the biggest impact at each specific moment in time. As a result, Imran doesn’t focus on headcount and explains to us why he started out by building a very small team of senior engineers. He also talks us through how he goes about sifting CVs, his interview process, and how he slots his own role into the mix to meet business needs. Finally, Imran takes us through his way of nurturing communication skills within the engineering function using ‘stack meetings’ which gives his team members a regular opportunity to share something they have been working on. Why? Because communication is an often overlooked but hugely important part of being an engineer. After all, not everyone understands the jargon and being able to explain the how and the why of complex processes to stakeholders is crucial. We definitely agree! If you want to get in touch with Imran to learn more, you can connect with him on LinkedIn. Or, if Plum Guide has piqued your interest, head to www.plumguide.com to see it for yourself!