Technology underpins BillFloat’s strategy to open up financial options for consumers underserved by traditional institutions. The company’s chief technology officer recently contributed a piece to CitizenTekk.com on his experience helping BillFloat build its technology platform, as well as on what lessons other start-ups could take from it.
The CTO focused his article on BillFloat’s use of Ruby on Rails, a software development framework that had earned a reputation for being easy and quick to use when he started work at BillFloat in 2009. A few years later, the company was expanding and needed its technology platform to grow as well. The CTO found himself needing to scale up the company’s efforts and create multiple products without damaging its ongoing efforts. Ruby on Rails proved up to the task.
When giving advice to other start-ups, the CTO focused on two ideas. First, he said, companies should initially focus on developing just one application, making sure to establish product interest before spending too much development time on it. Second, he said that technology is sometimes the easiest part of development and that the human side of managing teams and creating effective processes deserves plenty of attention as well.
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