How I Build a Tech Strategy and Team from Zero

Every tech leader faces this situation at least once: You join a company that has outsourced everything to vendors and needs to build up internal capabilities.

Here's how I approach this challenge

Why Build Internal Tech Capabilities?

Let's start with the obvious question: Why even bothering building internal tech capacity?

Here are the real reasons that matter:

• Vendor dependency creates strategic bottlenecks
• Custom requirements lead to expensive change requests
• Time-to-market suffers from coordination overhead

But just knowing why isn't enough. You need a clear path forward.

The Foundation: Tech Philosophy

Before hiring a single developer, you need a tech philosophy.

Here's mine:

• Focus on business value, not tech for tech's sake
• Expand on existing "boring" technology that works
• Reduce systems
• Build where it matters strategically, buy where it doesn't
• Minimize complexity at all costs

This philosophy helps tremendously when making decisions later. Should we build our own CMS? Probably not. Custom checkout flow? Maybe yes, if it's a core differentiator.

The 90-Day Foundation Phase
The first 90 days are crucial. Here's what I will focus on:

1. Technology audit

• Document all systems, flows, actors, and dependencies
• Identify high- and lowlights of current implementation
• Identify strategic vs. commodity systems
• Understand current costs

2. Deliver improvements instantly myself

• Identify quick wins
• Implement, document, train improvements

3. Hire the core team

• Define 1-3 initial roles needed
• Create realistic job descriptions
• Spread the word, start the interview process (focus on strategic match)

4. Set up governance

• Set up and share technology strategy ("Where do we go?")
• Establish development practices
• Define vendor collaboration model
• Share, get feedback, adjust, repeat x3

The Trap of Moving Too Fast
Don't try to change everything at once. It's tempting to immediately start building your dream tech stack, but that's a recipe for disaster. Instead:

• Maintain working core
• Start change with non-critical systems
• Keep vendors around during transition, but adjust contracts to include knowledge transfer
• Document everything you learn

Measuring Success
How do you know if you're on the right track? Here are the metrics I track:

• Time to market: Should decrease month over month
• System reliability: Should stay stable or improve
• Cost per feature: Should trend downward
• Vendor dependency: Should gradually decrease

Team Topology Who would I hire first?

• Pragmatic Senior Full Stack Developer with business acumen (to bridge the gap between today and tomorrow)
• Specialist for vendor software

The Long Game
Building a tech organization is a marathon, not a sprint. Plan for 24 months minimum to get to a stable state. Focus on:

• Steady progress for inhouse stack over quick wins
• Knowledge building over feature shipping
• Team culture over tool choices
• Business value over technical perfectionism