Market-Driven Engineering Management Strategies

Jose Bergiste has seen companies waste MILLIONS because marketing and engineering work in silos. Nobody understands the customer. Everyone blames each other when projects fail. He shared his framework for building teams that actually collaborate. BACKGROUND: Jose has years of experience managing technical teams. He told me about a conversation that happens constantly: Marketing after six months: "This isn't what we wanted." Engineering: "That IS exactly what you asked for." Both are right. Both wasted six months. Marketing treated engineering like a vending machine. But Jose said that's not how software works. And most companies are missing software's biggest advantage. Here are 6 ways Jose builds teams that actually work: 1. Share Problems Not Solutions Jose compared bad requests to his old doctor who said "take this drug" with no explanation. His current doctor asks tons of questions first. Engineers need the same. Don't say "build a dashboard with these widgets." Say "customers can't find X and it's killing conversions." Context lets engineers solve the real problem. 2. Stop Treating Software Like Construction This is the big one most companies miss. You treat software like a building. One blueprint. One six-month build. Then you deliver and customers don't want it. Jose said software is fluid. Ship small pieces. Get real feedback. Change direction. When you do one massive build you waste its biggest advantage. The ability to adapt. 3. Build Overlapping Knowledge Jose creates Engineering 101 for marketers. Marketing 101 for engineers. Just enough overlap that marketers understand what a 404 error means. Just enough that engineers understand conversion funnels. This is where respect lives. 4. Connect Everyone to the Customer Jose makes engineers demo the UI to customers. When they see how their work affects a real person trying to buy something, they stop optimizing for technical elegance. They optimize for customers. 5. Let Data Kill the Opinion Wars Opinion wars destroy velocity. Jose shares customer data in every planning meeting. It neutralizes the fights. Teams learn to fail fast because the data shows them what customers actually want. 6. Embed Marketers in Engineering Teams Not for one kickoff. For the entire build. Marketers see engineers debugging errors at 2am. Migrating databases without breaking anything. When you understand what it takes, you work together differently. TAKEAWAY: Companies waste six months building products customers don't want. Marketing gives instructions without context. And engineering follows them perfectly. Jose's framework works because it treats software like what it actually is. Fluid. Adaptable. Built to change. Stop building like it's construction. Start shipping like it's software.

Europe's electronics manufacturing market is growing again. After years of volatility, the market will expand at 5 to 6% annually through 2029. That growth concentrates in three segments: defense (8 to 10%), medical (7 to 8%) and energy (6 to 7%). Automotive and the 3Cs remain stagnant. While the market remains highly fragmented, 2,300 companies compete, half generating under EUR 5 million. What will separate the needle from the haystack: ▶️ Maximizing market growth exposure: Profitable providers serve multiple end markets and weigh in on their exposure toward defense, medical and energy. Rebalancing their portfolios toward these high-growth, high-barrier segments through certifications and acquisitions. ▶️ Building resilient supply chains: 85% of capacity sits outside Europe. Leading players build on dual/multi-sourcing, regionalization, strategic inventory and digital risk mapping. OEMs demand resilience but often resist paying for it, creating the need to make it visible, measurable and chargeable. ▶️ Increasing competitiveness through M&A: Buy-and-build platforms consolidate capabilities, expand geographic reach and acquire value-added services. Targeting acquisitions for capability gaps (design, testing, compliance) and executing flexible manufacturing footprints (defense, medical and energy). ▶️ Fostering deep and lasting customer relationships: Switching providers costs time, money and trust. Product lifecycles span years. Qualification requirements create lock-in. Enter during prototyping when these barriers form. Companies brought in later never escape price competition. ▶️ Expanding services beyond EMS: Value has shifted to design for manufacturability, testing, compliance and lifecycle management. Delivering full-service capabilities across the entire product lifecycle becomes a necessity. ▶️ Prioritizing technology, talent & sustainability: Engineering talent grows scarcer. Companies lagging in AI adoption face accelerating technology gaps. Building talent pipelines and investing in AI, automation and digital tools to enhance both assembly and engineering services.

Most brands are playing the wrong game. They’re moving the Queen. They should be moving all of the pieces on the board. Let me explain. Marketing-led growth gets all the attention. It’s sexy. It’s visible. Founders obsess over it. But marketing is just one piece. A powerful piece — but still one. Business engineering? It moves all the pieces in symphonic coherence, And wins the game. When I advise better-for-you CPG brands, this is the shift I push for. Most teams pour everything into: – ad creatives – influencer UGC – CRO – new channels Good tactics. But they’ll only take you so far. Here’s what separates the breakout brands: They engineer growth at the business level. They move: – pricing – packaging – cash flow – operations – channel strategy – product architecture They see the full P&L → and use it. Let’s get specific. Example 1️⃣ → Gateway SKU Engineering: A Clean supplements brand. $60/month subscription = Hero SKU. Too much friction. First purchase wasn’t converting. The team launched a $15 trial SKU. Low-risk. Easy buy-in. Result? Trial → subscription conversion jumped 4x. CAC down 35%. LTV up. No ad change required. Business lever. Example 2️⃣ → Cash Conversion Engineering Frozen functional food brand. Growing fast, but cash-strapped. They restructured terms with co-packers. Negotiated faster pay from wholesalers. Cash cycle dropped: 120 → 45 days. Millions unlocked. That cash funded more growth. No new ad creatives needed. Business lever. Example 3️⃣ → Operational Engineering Gut health beverage brand. Local retail only. Wanted national. Cold chain shipping was blocking DTC. Their team reformulated + repackaged → shelf-stable. Suddenly: – DTC viable – National retail opened – Margins improved Game changed. Business lever. ____________ This is why I believe: Business-engineered growth > marketing-led growth. ♛ Marketing moves the Queen. ♗♖♕♔♘♙ Business engineering moves all of the pieces on the board. If you want to build a moat → If you want to scale with durability → You need to think beyond ads and creatives. ☑️ You need to think like a business engineer. Curious → are you moving just the Queen? Or are you moving all of the pieces on the board? ___________________________________________ 🔰 Better-for-you brands = better health, longer lives. 👉 Follow me, Kunle Campbell, and let’s scale impact together.

Understanding how your go-to-market strategy impacts technical decisions can make or break your product's success. I learned this lesson the hard way at my first company. We were building what we thought was a product-led growth engine, but our sales team was doing high-touch demos and custom implementations. Our engineers were optimizing for self-service features while our sales team needed robust demo environments. We were fighting ourselves. Here's the reality. Sales-led organizations need: Powerful demo environments Feature flags and customization Admin tooling for quick setup Flexibility for enterprise requirements Product-led companies need: Frictionless first-user experience Clear self-service onboarding Immediate time-to-value Built-in viral growth mechanics Your go-to-market strategy should drive your technical priorities. Not the other way around. The most successful companies I've built or worked with align their engineering efforts with their sales motion. What's your experience? Is your engineering team building for your actual go-to-market strategy, or are they optimizing for the wrong motion?