Don't underestimate the power of small talk, warned Google's VP of Engineering Anna Patterson in a keynote speech at the Dublin Web Summit where entrepreneurs, engineers and budding startups gathered to hear her advice on pitching, hiring staff, scaling a business or simply selling a product.
“The most common mistake engineers make when going to venture capitalists is worrying so much about getting through their presentation slides that they skip the chit chat,” she said. “If you refuse to engage in small talk the probability of being funded is drastically reduced.”
Patterson also spoke about lessons learned from her time as co-founder of the ill-fated search engine Cuil. She said that although it sounds counterintuitive, being too hands-on with your team can backfire as it can be perceived as a lack of trust. However, be detail oriented, she advised: “be in people’s business, don’t let your curiosity end where someone else’s job begins.”
With the rise in popularity of coding courses, especially those specialising in app creation there is a worry that the apps market has become saturated and making money is more difficult than ever before. Patterson addressed this, saying that she is seeing more paid apps on Android Marker than there were four years ago when the market was in its infancy.
“A lot of new app makers are trying to figure out a price point; they play around with various strategies like offering a free and paid version. This works because a lot of people will upgrade to get rid of ads or unlock more features.”
As a senior female engineer of one of the world’s most powerful tech companies and co-founder of Progressive Women of Silicon Valley organisation she also addressed the gender gap in the industry.
If you look at a typical class of children learning to code, says Patterson, “it’s not like girls think it’s hard and boys think it’s easy; they all think it’s interesting.” This idea that girls don’t like or understand coding as much as boys is a cultural misconception, she added.
There’s also a misconception that talent in coding arises from engineering minded individuals only: “Just being good at thinking makes coding really easy,” she stated, adding that statisticians and physicists can make good coders.
