IN THE TRENCHES: THE REALITIES OF BEING A FOUNDING ENGINEER

26 Nov 2025 18:00

Location: The Whitespace

Being a founding engineer isn’t for the faint of heart. You join before there’s product-market fit, before there’s certainty and sometimes before there’s payroll comfort. So why do some of the best engineers choose the path and how can you make it work if you do?

Join for a candid conversation on the realities of being a founding engineer: the trade-offs, the chaos and the incredible upside if you get it right. Our panel will feature engineers who’ve been there - helping take startups from zero to one (and sometimes, zero to zero).

We’ll cover:

• Why someone would take on founder-level risk for less equity and less certainty

• What a founding engineer actually does day-to-day (hint: it’s not just writing code)

• How to think about joining as a founding engineer if you plan to found yourself later

• Lessons from the trenches - on speed, pragmatism, and the race to product-market fit

Format: 40-minute panel + audience Q&A, followed by drinks

Who it’s for: Engineers considering early-stage roles, founders hiring their first engineers, and anyone curious about what really happens in the first 12 months of a startup.

Hosted by Dex and Concept Ventures.