Rebuilding at scale: A CTO’s journey in a high-growth fintech
summary
A fintech rebuild actually moves £15 billion of client assets through a 16-month rebuild that finishes and carries production traffic, not just diagrams. The decisive claim is that scaling failings were commercial debt—bespoke early-stage deals and processes—so the project uses phased checkpoints, exec sponsorship, and targeted tactics: search sprints of cross‑functional staff, hand‑selected core team members with grit, and even 10 vetted temps cleaning addresses by hand to make migration succeed. Technical migration works because the organisation changes.
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chapters (12)
- 0:00The 16-month journey
- 2:17Introduction and context
- 3:15Defining your leadership
- 5:18Managing project expectations
- 6:00The reality of commercial debt
- 7:36Securing organizational buy-in
- 11:56The first team concept
- 14:30Execution strategies
- 20:18Agile versus reality
- 21:56Team building and grit
- 23:22Personal sustainability
- 24:15Summary of lessons
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