S2 #8 Sophie Novati
Sophie Novati is Applying Lessons from Facebook and Nextdoor to Build Formation
On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Alexis and I had the pleasure of sitting down with Sophie Novati, the founder and CEO of Formation. Sophie's journey from being an early engineer at Facebook and Nextdoor to founding her own company is nothing short of inspiring.
We had a fun chat and came away with some incredible insights on mission-driven entrepreneurship, the challenges to equitable hiring in tech, and how Formation is reshaping the way underrepresented engineers grow in their careers. Here are some things that stood out to me during our conversation.
Sophie's Mission-Driven Approach
Sophie's unwavering focus on mission has been a throughline in her career. From her early days at Facebook to her time at Nextdoor, Sophie has always been passionate about solving the problem of equitable hiring in tech. She shared her experiences at Facebook and Nextdoor, where she noticed many brilliant individuals -- especially those from underrepresented groups or non-traditional educational backgrounds -- were often overlooked during the hiring process. This realization fueled her desire to create a more equitable tech industry, one exceptional engineer at a time.
This mission-driven approach eventually led her to found Formation, a company dedicated to helping engineers reach their full potential.
The Problem with Traditional Hiring Practices
During our conversation, Sophie pointed out that there's often a disconnect between how well someone performs in an interview and how well they perform on the job. This is something we've also seen time and time again. Alexis also recalled reading about a study that found no correlation between interview success and on-the-job performance.
That’s where Sophie's company, Formation, comes in. Formation focuses on helping engineers bridge the gap between their current skillset and what's needed to succeed in top-tier tech roles.
The Importance of Personalized Learning
Unlike traditional bootcamps or degree programs, Formation doesn't have a fixed curriculum. Instead, the platform benchmarks each engineer's skills, identifies gaps, and provides tailored training to help them improve. This method, Sophie explains, is crucial because every engineer is different and has different individual needs.
Using a personalized approach ensures that every engineer gets the support they need to achieve their career goals, regardless of their background or experience level.
Sophie's Advice for Founders and Early-Engineers
As someone who transitioned from engineering to founding a company, Sophie emphasized the importance of loving what you do, especially when the going gets tough. Building a company is a challenging journey, and having a deep sense of fulfillment in your work is essential for pushing through the inevitable obstacles.
For early-engineers, Sophie stressed the importance of understanding that coding is only one part of the job. Successful engineers need to be able to explore problem spaces, weigh different solutions, and collaborate effectively with their teams.
If you're an engineer looking to advance your career or a founder seeking to build a more equitable tech industry, I highly recommend checking out Formation! Sophie and her team are doing incredible work, and I can't wait to see what they accomplish next!
Catch you again next week!
About Us:
1st10 was founded on the simple philosophy that there is nothing more important to the success of your startup than the first ten engineers you hire. Because the first ten will impact the next ten and any wrong misstep can be the difference between success and failure. 1st10 works with visionary founders and exceptional engineers to build world class engineering teams.
1st10 was founded by Boris Epstein, original founder of Binc, the firm best known for pioneering embedded recruiting in Silicon Valley. Binc built early teams for Pinterest, Ripple, Stripe, Square, Airbnb, Reddit, Tesla and many more. Binc was acquired by Robinhood in 2021.