https://www.infoq.com InfoQ Staff Plus feed https://www.infoq.com/presentations/staff-founder-lessons/?utm_campaign=infoq_content&utm_source=infoq&utm_medium=feed&utm_term=Staff+Plus <img src="https://res.infoq.com/presentations/staff-founder-lessons/en/mediumimage/GonzaloGloMaldonado-medium-1790247060435.jpg"/><p>Gonzalo Maldonado explains how technical leaders can translate engineering skills into startup success using their "VC Abstraction Layer Knowledge" (VALK). They share hard-won lessons on finding product-market fit, structuring pitches like technical docs, avoiding co-founder drama, and evaluating internal platforms as commercial ventures in a post-ZIRP environment.</p> <i>By Gonzalo Maldonado</i> Staff Plus QCon San Francisco 2025 Transcripts Best Practices Culture & Methods presentation Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:14:00 GMT https://www.infoq.com/presentations/staff-founder-lessons/?utm_campaign=infoq_content&utm_source=infoq&utm_medium=feed&utm_term=Staff+Plus Gonzalo Maldonado 2026-09-29T09:14:00Z /presentations/staff-founder-lessons/en