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Also: Our experience with Appium and what we learned about multiplatform mobile testing

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👋 Welcome to today’s edition of Build & lead (formerly the CTO blueprint), a newsletter by Appolica. Every two weeks, we dive deep into the tech, product, and leadership challenges that keep founders up at night.

In this week’s issue, we break down how we grow tech leads. Then, we compare the performance of traditional and cross-functional dev teams. Finally, we share our experience with Appium and what we learned about multiplatform mobile testing.

Today’s insights:

How to grow tech leads
Why we need cross-functional dev teams
Our experience with Appium and what we learned about multiplatform mobile testing
5 AI tools to make you more productive
Everything you need to know this week

How to grow tech leads

Promoting developers into leadership roles is a natural progression in tech teams, but it’s rarely as simple as it seems. Leadership isn’t a role you can assign overnight—it’s a skillset that requires time and intentional development. One of the most common mistakes is assuming that the best developer will automatically make the best lead. That's rarely the case and it often creates unnecessary pressure for both the individual and the team.

Instead, here’s a step-by-step guide, drawn from my experience, to help you nurture developers into confident and capable tech leads.

At first, cross-functional dev teams might seem chaotic - engineers swapping hats between backend and frontend, or even occasionally stepping into new dev territories. It’s tempting to dismiss this approach as inefficient or impractical, especially when specialists have been the go-to model for decades. But that’s a mistake. Some of the most effective teams today thrive on flexibility, breaking silos, and solving problems across disciplines.

Cross-functional teams unlock a level of productivity that specialists can’t match. And the good news? You don’t need to overhaul your organization overnight to see the benefits. It starts with a shift in mindset, some smart changes, and the willingness to experiment.

Here’s what makes cross-functional teams work—and how they consistently outperform traditional setups.

Our experience with Appium and what we learned about multiplatform mobile testing

About five years ago, I was part of a large-scale project where we invested heavily in Appium for UI testing. At the time, it seemed like the perfect solution for automating tests across platforms. The promise of writing once and testing everywhere sounded too good to pass up. But after two years of work, we threw it all away.

That experience wasn’t just a failure - it was a masterclass in what not to do when approaching UI testing. Recently, a fellow CTO friend asked me about using Appium, and it brought me back to those lessons. While the tool may have evolved since then, the challenges we faced and the solutions we found remain relevant today. Here’s what went wrong, what we changed, and how it shaped the way I think about UI testing.

5 AI tools to make you more productive

✅ Pear: Access a collection of AI tools integrated directly into your development environment to streamline coding.

✅ Paragon: Connect your app to dozens of third-party tools and integrations with the help of AI.

✅ Height: Manage projects with AI that understands your team's processes and provides relevant insights.

✅ Gene: Summarize and analyze any webpage with a browser-based AI assistant.

✅ Octomind: Use AI to scan your web app and automatically generate tests for key workflows.

Everything else you need to know this week

Amazon may reveal Olympus, a powerful new AI model: At this week’s re:Invent conference, Amazon is expected to introduce Olympus, a next-generation AI model. Rumored to have 2 trillion parameters, it could analyze images, understand videos, and even create video content from text prompts. If true, this release would position Amazon as a major contender in the multimodal AI space.
Anthropic adds personalized preferences to Claude AI: Anthropic has introduced a new Personalized Preferences feature for Claude AI, now available in Beta through the Settings menu. This update allows users to create custom instructions tailored to their specific needs. The feature can be toggled on or off via a Custom Styles drop-down menu, offering flexibility in applying these preferences.
Google’s Gemini Ultra spotted in LMArena leaks: A series of new anonymous models dropped on LMArena, sparking speculation about the long-awaited Gemini Ultra model. Codenamed "Goblin," the model is rumored to be designed for advanced vision capabilities, potentially supporting features like Gemini Live, which is already available on mobile apps. Additional Gemini models, possibly named Gemini Pro or Gemma, have also surfaced, though their authenticity remains unclear.
Elon Musk escalates legal battle against OpenAI: Elon Musk has filed a preliminary injunction to halt OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit entity, accusing the company, key executives, and Microsoft of anti-competitive practices. Filed in California’s U.S. District Court, the motion alleges actions like discouraging investment in rivals like Musk’s xAI and benefiting from sensitive information via Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI. Musk’s attorneys argue the shift undermines OpenAI’s original nonprofit mission, with “irreparable harm” likely if the transition proceeds.
OpenAI reflects on ChatGPT’s second year and hints at what’s next: November 30 marked two years since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Over the past year, OpenAI introduced GPT-4 with enhanced capabilities across text, voice, and vision, as well as the o1 model series, which excels in reasoning through complex tasks in science, coding, and mathematics. In recent weeks, OpenAI also unveiled SearchGPT, a browser extension providing quick, relevant answers with linked web sources. However, the year wasn’t without challenges—co-founder Ilya Sutskever resigned, the team researching superintelligence was disbanded, and the company faced lawsuits over alleged copyright infringement.

Build and scale your startup’s tech

At Appolica, we build the technology that powers startups at the pre-seed, seed, and Series A stages. Specializing in these crucial phases, we've helped over 75 ventures scale rapidly, with $500M raised collectively. You can learn more about partnering with us here.

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Thanks for reading & until next time.

Best,

Martin & the Appolica team

How to grow tech leads, why we need cross-functional dev teams, and more