In this podcast episode, I spoke with Faris and Resad Zacina from Ministry of Programming (MOP), discussing their 10-year journey building a startup studio that helps entrepreneurs create successful products. They explained how MOP evolved from initially focusing solely on coding MVPs to now providing comprehensive support including product design, discovery, management, and strategy. The company has worked with over 100 companies, with more than 60 being in Sweden, and has generated €50 million in revenue.
We had an in-depth discussion about remote work and company culture, particularly in light of their rapid growth during COVID-19 when they hired nearly 100 people in one year. They shared valuable insights about the importance of balancing remote work flexibility with in-person interactions, emphasizing how face-to-face meetings remain crucial for relationship building and business development. This led them to recently establish MOP Sweden to strengthen their local presence in Stockholm.
The conversation also touched on the impact of AI on product development. They stressed that while AI tools are making coding easier, successful products still require strong team collaboration, strategic thinking, and human connection. They observed that the real challenge in the AI era won’t be the technical implementation but rather the human aspects of product development – understanding user needs, maintaining quality, and building effective teams. The team suggested that successful companies will be those that can combine AI capabilities with strong human collaboration.
Podcast and Key Points
01:03 🏭 Ministry of Programming operates as an innovation factory, leveraging the Startup Studio concept and working on corporate innovation for bigger companies, with almost 10 years of experience building new products.
02:00 🔄 The company evolved from initially misunderstanding Lean Startup as just coding and launching products, to realizing startups need comprehensive support including product design, discovery, management, strategy, and organizational design.
04:30 🤖 In today’s AI-powered world, successful product development isn’t just about coding – teams that can think things through together, understand real problems, and pivot quickly will have the advantage over those solely focused on building.
09:40 👥 The company experienced significant growth during COVID, hiring almost 100 people in one year and growing to 200 employees, which created challenges in maintaining company culture and relationships.
29:50 🌟 High-performance teams need both task completion and interpersonal bonding – they “ping pong” between performance and relationship building, making them more effective than teams that only focus on getting work done.
35:00 🤝 While AI might become smarter than any individual person, teams working together collaboratively can still be more powerful – human collaboration, co-creation, and professional intimacy remain crucial advantages in product development.
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