May 22, 2023

How we build with velocity at Ramp

At Ramp, we think deeply about making every hour and every dollar count for businesses. In addition to helping our customers work faster and smarter, we constantly push ourselves to also do the same. How do we plan with velocity so we deliver value at a faster clip? How do we collaborate in the open so teams can get feedback more quickly?

One person who’s been a major influence in shaping the way we work is our VP of Product Geoff Charles. Geoff joined Ramp in early 2020 and has helped to guide the company's growth from sub-20 people to 500+. He recently sat down with Lenny Rachitsky to share how we approach the concept of "building" at Ramp, whether it's product, teams, or people. Check out key excerpts from their conversation below and subscribe to Lenny’s newsletter to see the full interview.

On business planning

Efficient execution starts with efficient planning. Geoff explained, "Our entire planning process is optimized toward product velocity. We believe that doing is better than planning. The moment you are aligned in a direction, you don’t need a high level of accuracy."

Instead of trying to predict everything you'll do in a given time period, build fast feedback loops feedback to determine if your execution is headed in the right direction. "Part of our competitive advantage has been that we can respond very quickly to the change in environment, strategy, or customer feedback," Geoff noted. "We learn something new every day that helps us adjust our plan."

On OKRs

One area where people tend to prioritize planning over execution is OKRs. Here is Geoff's view on common OKR pitfalls: "Oftentimes people get very bogged down with OKRs when where they should really start is strategy. You need to believe that the product strategy will deliver value to the customer and that in turn drives value to the business."

When you have a clear strategy, objectives and metrics will follow. In his interview, Geoff explains how we develop our product strategy, anchor it to the financial model, align it to the marketing calendar, and mobilize cross-functional teams accordingly.

On building product

Geoff also put a lot of thought into designing processes that accelerate context sharing, decisions, and alignment. What meetings are really critical? What matters most about project management tools?

"At Ramp, we build in the open and empower teams as much as possible to make the decisions in order to move quickly," Geoff shared. "What this means in practice is that every spec, design, decision, progress and status is published in project-specific Slack channels, and anyone is invited to read and opine. Teams farm for dissent, not approval. Eliminating gatekeepers ensures that things keep moving forward."

Check out the full interview to hear how our product and design processes have evolved over time and how we run our weekly product jam sessions now.

On team structure and staffing

Your organizational setup has a huge influence on speed of execution. Geoff advised, "Design your org the way you want your product to perform. Think about what are the core competencies you want to amplify to accomplish your product strategy." For example, if your product strategy depends on data as a differentiator, make sure your data team is set up as an equal to your product team to drive data-driven decision-making, products, and accountability.

Structuring teams for flexibility is also key to velocity. "We have a very flexible model where folks can jump to different teams based on the business needs, and work with engineers who might report to different people," Geoff explained. "By keeping reporting structures the same and re-organizing pods, we can respond quickly to new opportunities without needing to constantly destroy relationships between managers and their teams."

On hiring

Above all else, your ability to build fast comes down to people. Geoff noted, "The story of Ramp is the story of getting hiring right. First, we had to understand from first principles, the attributes needed for high velocity: high slope, not intercept; high agency; high humility."

Finding non-obvious ways to recruit talent is key in a competitive hiring marketplace. Some of Geoff's suggestions:

  • Find early talent before anyone else.
  • Allow only the best to interview.
  • Don’t hire managers, hire stellar individual contributors.
  • Always place new PMs on a team with top performers.

Check out the full interview

Geoff went into each of these topics in much greater detail in Lenny's newsletter. To get the full scoop, complete with templates and org charts, check out the full interview.

Try Ramp for free
Share with
Fiona LeeFormer Content Lead, Ramp
Fiona writes about B2B growth strategies and digital marketing. Prior to Ramp, she led content teams at Google and Intercom. Fiona graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in English.
Ramp is dedicated to helping businesses of all sizes make informed decisions. We adhere to strict editorial guidelines to ensure that our content meets and maintains our high standards.

When our teams need something, they usually need it right away. The more time we can save doing all those tedious tasks, the more time we can dedicate to supporting our student-athletes.

Sarah Harris

Secretary, The University of Tennessee Athletics Foundation, Inc.

How Tennessee built a championship-caliber back office with Ramp

Ramp had everything we were looking for, and even things we weren't looking for. The policy aspects, that's something I never even dreamed of that a purchasing card program could handle.

Doug Volesky

Director of Finance, City of Mount Vernon

City of Mount Vernon addresses budget constraints by blocking non-compliant spend, earning cash back with Ramp

Switching from Brex to Ramp wasn’t just a platform swap—it was a strategic upgrade that aligned with our mission to be agile, efficient, and financially savvy.

Lily Liu

CEO, Piñata

How Piñata halved its finance team’s workload after moving from Brex to Ramp

With Ramp, everything lives in one place. You can click into a vendor and see every transaction, invoice, and contract. That didn’t exist in Zip. It’s made approvals much faster because decision-makers aren’t chasing down information—they have it all at their fingertips.

Ryan Williams

Manager, Contract and Vendor Management, Advisor360°

How Advisor360° cut their intake-to-pay cycle by 50%

The ability to create flexible parameters, such as allowing bookings up to 25% above market rate, has been really good for us. Plus, having all the information within the same platform is really valuable.

Caroline Hill

Assistant Controller, Sana Benefits

How Sana Benefits improved control over T&E spend with Ramp Travel

More vendors are allowing for discounts now, because they’re seeing the quick payment. That started with Ramp—getting everyone paid on time. We’ll get a 1-2% discount for paying early. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you’re dealing with hundreds of millions of dollars, it does add up.

James Hardy

CFO, SAM Construction Group

How SAM Construction Group LLC gained visibility and supported scale with Ramp Procurement

We’ve simplified our workflows while improving accuracy, and we are faster in closing with the help of automation. We could not have achieved this without the solutions Ramp brought to the table.

Kaustubh Khandelwal

VP of Finance, Poshmark

How Poshmark exceeded its free cash flow goals with Ramp

I was shocked at how easy it was to set up Ramp and get our end users to adopt it. Our prior procurement platform took six months to implement, and it was a lot of labor. Ramp was so easy it was almost scary.

Michael Natsch

Procurement Manager, AIRCO

“Here to stay:” How AIRCO consolidated procurement, AP, and spend to gain control with Ramp