Episode #98 - Meet the Startup Offering Developers a Toolkit To Resolve Their Most Pressing Problems

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ

• Where is the transcript for this webinar?

  Samantha Herrick:
  Welcome to the Tech Optimist, where we explore the ideas that are pushing the world forward. I’m Samantha Herrick, your host and producer of this show, here to guide you through the latest innovations, the minds behind them, and what they mean for the future. I don’t just ask the questions—I connect the pieces, challenge perspectives, and drop in tech notes here and there to give you the full story. So, if you’re ready to look ahead, let’s get started.

  Engineering teams are under more pressure than ever—expected to build faster, scale smarter, and do it all with fewer roadblocks. But here’s the reality: productivity isn’t just about writing more code. It’s about how teams work together, and too often, the biggest inefficiencies go unnoticed.

  That is where our guest company today, Quotient, comes in. Founded by Lizzie Matusov, Quotient is rethinking developer productivity—not with another dashboard of metrics, but with real insights and actions that help engineering teams work better, not just harder.

  Powered by the SPACE framework, Quotient pulls data from both systems and people to identify friction in engineering workflows—whether it’s slow onboarding, process bottlenecks, or unseen collaboration gaps. And unlike traditional tools, it doesn’t just highlight problems—it helps fix them.

  And this isn’t just an internal tool. Quotient is shaping the conversation around engineering leadership. Their team even co-authors Research-Driven Engineering Leadership, a newsletter dedicated to helping tech leaders apply research-backed strategies to their own teams.

  So, how does this all work, and how is Quotient setting a new standard for developer efficiency? Let’s turn to Lizzie for that answer.

  Lizzie Matusov:
  Quotient is a dev tool that discovers, prioritizes, and resolves the friction that slows down engineering teams. Each week, engineers spend up to 30% of their time on avoidable friction—things like slow builds, waiting for code review, or finding requirements for their work. Quotient learns how that engineering team works and uses it to find and fix the areas where engineering teams can be more efficient.

  Samantha Herrick:
  Let’s talk a little bit more about Lizzie, our guest today. Before launching Quotient, Lizzie walked the walk, working as a technical product manager and software engineer at Invitae and Red Hat. But her experience doesn’t just stop at code—she’s also a Venture Fellow, a Harvard MBA graduate, and an official member of the Forbes Technology Council.

  Beyond Quotient, Lizzie is shaping the industry dialogue. She co-authors the newsletter I mentioned earlier, Research-Driven Engineering Leadership, which brings real data and research into engineering team strategy. She’s also been a speaker at major conferences like Grace Hopper Celebration and Women of Silicon Valley, helping teams and leaders navigate the fast-evolving world of software development.

  But here’s what makes Lizzie stand out, and why we are so excited she’s here with us today—she’s not just an engineer or a founder. She’s an architect of better ways to work.

  Lizzie Matusov:
  Imagine getting that 30% of your development team’s time back to focus on what matters for your customer. That’s the Quotient promise.

  Meera Oak:
  I love this wave. I mean, I feel like development teams have been sort of hungering for something like this for many, many years, so it’s great to see this solution.

  Samantha Herrick:
  I hope by now everyone recognizes that voice. This is no stranger to the Tech Optimist. Joining us today is Meera Oak, a partner focused on early-stage investments in vertical SaaS, AI/ML, and infrastructure.

  She’s been a driving force behind pre-seed and seed investments, leveraging a background in finance, strategy, and operations to support high-potential startups. With an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and experience managing billion-dollar budgets at Yale, Meera brings a sharp analytical lens to every investment.

  She’s worked with early-stage venture funds, launched business ventures, and secured major corporate partnerships—all of which fuel her expertise in identifying and scaling transformative technology. And today, she’s sitting down with Lizzie to uncover how their startup is reshaping the industry.

  Speaker 4:
  Do you have a venture capital portfolio of cutting-edge startups? Without one, you could be missing out on enormous value creation and a more diversified personal portfolio. Alumni Ventures, ranked a top 20 VC firm by CB Insights, is the leading VC firm for individual investors. Believe in investing in innovation. Visit av.vc/foundation to get started.

  Samantha Herrick:
  As a reminder, the Tech Optimist podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not personalized advice, and it’s not an offer to buy or sell securities. For additional important details, please see the text description accompanying this episode.

  Every startup has a moment of realization—a point where a problem becomes too big to ignore. For Lizzie and her team, that moment came during her time at Red Hat and Invitae, where she saw engineering teams losing 30% of their time to inefficiencies. Instead of accepting it as the norm, she built the solution.

  Quotient was born out of real-world challenges, and with the help of her co-founder Joe, Lizzie set out to transform developer productivity. Now, let’s dive into the origin story of Quotient.

  Lizzie Matusov:
  The origin story is a fun one. Quotient really came about through my own life experiences. When I was working at Red Hat, I had a very unique job where I was a software engineer, but I was part of our consulting arm. That basically meant we would spin up a new team to deliver customer value over a six-to-nine-month time horizon.

  We would figure out how to work effectively together, and then nine months later, we would disband, form a new team, and focus on a new project. I learned a lot about how efficient teams can come together, really figure out what’s blocking them, and move faster.

  And then when I switched over to working what I would call in-house, or at Invitae, I had a very different experience. We went through the more traditional hypergrowth, and I saw how adding new team members did not necessarily help us move faster in all cases.

  That contrasting experience is what got me curious about understanding what slows engineering teams down and how we can figure out where those areas are so the team can move faster together. That’s really where the seed was planted.

  I went to graduate school and pursued a joint degree—an MBA and a Master’s of Engineering Sciences at Harvard. I spent the whole two-year time period thinking about this problem, testing out different solutions, and it was really when I was graduating in spring of 2022 that the idea for Quotient truly came to be. And that’s also where I met my co-founder, Joe. That is a great story.

  So, one of my professors—actually Julia Austin, who is both very involved in the entrepreneurial space and a professor at Harvard, as well as a former CTO and VP of Engineering—knew the work that I was doing and had previously worked with my co-founder at his first company.

  Samantha Herrick:
  Whoa.

  Lizzie Matusov:
  Yeah, he had previously started, grown, and eventually sold his company, Proletariat, to Activision Games. It was a gaming startup, and Julia was coaching him through the later years as a startup coach.

  She reached out and said, “Hey, I know you’re working on this, and maybe you guys should just talk.” I think she believed it was just an email intro and we’d see what happens. Three months later, I reached out to her and said, “Hey, great news—we’re going to work together on Quotient.”

  That was two and a half years ago, and it’s been an incredible ride ever since.

  Meera Oak:
  Oh my gosh, so many nuggets that I love about that. First, it’s always amazing that you saw both the enterprise level of developer productivity at Red Hat and what it meant to be in hyperscale mode with Invitae. That’s such a unique perspective on developer teams generally.

  And I love that your professor had real working experience with your co-founder. That testimonial is so important in founder matchmaking. I don’t know if that gave you more confidence in that partnership moving forward, but I’ve found that a lot of our founders really appreciate just having a real testimonial about what it’s like to actually work with a person.

  Lizzie Matusov:
  Yeah, starting a company with somebody is not an easy feat. It requires being comfortable with disagreement, owning a shared view of the future, and really working together to create the path to get there.

  Now looking back, I think of that story and can see all the places where things could have gone sideways, and I’m so glad that we had that testimonial. It’s also shown me over time how important having a healthy co-founder relationship is.

  I always try to remind earlier-stage founders to set a good foundation and continue investing in the co-founder relationship. There are going to be peaks and valleys, highs and lows, and you want to make sure your relationship is ready to withstand that.

  Meera Oak:
  Absolutely. I guess moving more toward Quotient and today’s state—since you’ve seen developer productivity at all levels of company building—I’m curious why you felt that was the place to really focus your energy. There are so many problems that face developers today. Why did that end up being the main pain point for you?

  And even looking at the broader landscape, there are already solutions out there solving aspects of this. What did you think about Quotient’s positioning in the market?

  Lizzie Matusov:
  There are really two ways to look at that. One is lived experience, which I think is an advantage founders have when they’ve experienced an unmet pain point firsthand.

  For example, I worked at a company that had tried to use one of these solutions to solve areas of avoidable friction. I was on an engineering team where sometimes we’d be stuck for a quarter of a day, unable to work because we were waiting on a build or a review from someone across the world. Without that review, we couldn’t move forward.

  Having lived that, you start to understand there’s a real problem that needs solving—that’s the emotional appeal.

  From a more analytical market perspective, it’s true we exist in what’s called a red ocean market, meaning there are tons of competitors. But when you closely examine the landscape, you see that it’s heavily focused on data and dashboards as the primary value.

  Quotient takes a very different approach. The market has changed: engineering organizations are flattening, teams need to do more with less, and the pressure to focus and deliver is much higher than in a zero-interest-rate environment.

  Our hypothesis is that customers don’t need more data to analyze. They need to know what the problem is and how to fix it—and that’s exactly what Quotient’s solution focuses on.

  We don’t promise to give you 50,000 dashboards that you, the engineering leader, have to sift through. We promise to give you a streamlined understanding of where friction exists and the solution to resolve it.

  Meera Oak:
  Got it. That’s really helpful—especially given how ROI on solving a problem quickly is so important. Businesses are always thinking about how this affects their customers. Giving them the tools to plug those holes effectively and immediately is what’s driving a lot of growth these days. It’s really about—

  Lizzie Matusov:
  Exactly.

  Meera Oak:
  —reinforcing that stickiness with customers. I really appreciate that.

  Samantha Herrick:
  Before we hop into the next topic of this interview with Lizzie and Meera, we’re going to take a short break, so don’t go anywhere.

  Speaker 5:
  Ready to back fiery female founders? Alumni Ventures Women’s Fund lets individual investors support women-led companies. Imagine the impact you could make by investing in the future of innovative women-run businesses. With AV’s Women’s Fund, you’re not just investing money—you’re empowering visionary female entrepreneurs to bring their groundbreaking ideas to life. Visit av.vc/womens to get started.

  Samantha Herrick:
  Raising a seed round is a defining moment for any startup. It’s when a vision gains momentum and turns into something scalable. For Quotient, that moment just arrived with $3 million in fresh funding, including investment from us at Alumni Ventures.

  The quotient is shifting gears. Lizzie and her team bootstrapped with just two full-time employees, proving their concept before bringing on a team. Now they’re expanding, hiring top talent, and scaling their impact.

  So, what’s next and what else are we missing? Let’s hear how this funding is shaping Quotient’s future.

  Meera Oak:
  You recently secured Quotient’s seed round, which I think is incredibly exciting—and that’s part of how we joined your journey. Can you share any specifics on that round and how this capital will allow you to think about the next chapter of growth for Quotient?

  Lizzie Matusov:
  It is such an exciting time for us, and we’re so excited to partner with the Alumni Ventures team too. Yes, we did just recently close our seed round. We raised $3 million from Resolute Ventures as our lead investor and a number of really fantastic funds, including Alumni Ventures joining our journey as well.

  It’s really fun for us because we’re actually a little bit unique. We made all of our progress moving from our pre-seed to our seed with myself and my co-founder as our only full-time employees. Because we’re both engineers, we could flex between building and selling much more easily, and I definitely see that as a huge advantage in how we built Quotient.

  Now that we’ve formed our initial hypothesis, proven that there’s a market need, and are actually capturing some of that demand, we’re moving toward the next chapter of Quotient. That looks like proving out more than just our initial hypothesis, expanding our rate of learning and impact, and actually bringing on a small and mighty team to support that.

  We’ve already begun that journey, and seeing Quotient enter this next chapter—moving from this smaller thing to a bigger thing—has been really rewarding for both of us.

  Meera Oak:
  Well, you totally set me up for my next and probably final question, which is really around what is the best way for our audience to engage with you and the Quotient team? Are there people you’re hoping to connect with? What are you focused on for 2025, and how can we be helpful?

  Lizzie Matusov:
  Thank you for asking. Right now, we’re focused on two really big areas. One is growing the team—that’s top of mind for us. We’re especially looking for software engineers who are excited about having tremendous impact and want to be early in a massive, growing opportunity. That’s one big thing.

  The other is getting deeper into the minds of our customers. Engineering has changed a lot in the last two years, especially in this new AI-driven world. That’s actually great news for us because it means processes are being disrupted, and we at Quotient know exactly where those best team optimizations are.

  To that end, we’re constantly working with engineering leaders to understand their pain points, to see how they evolve as they change their practices within engineering organizations. We’re always excited to talk to engineering leaders and folks who really know that space well to get into their minds and see what they’re thinking right now.

  Meera Oak:
  Got it. That’s so helpful. Wonderful. Thank you so much for being here with us today, Lizzie. It was such a pleasure to have you, and we really appreciate the time.

  Lizzie Matusov:
  Thank you. This was so fun.

  Samantha Herrick:
  Thanks again for tuning into The Tech Optimist. If you enjoyed this episode, we’d really appreciate it if you’d give us a rating on whichever podcast app you’re using, and remember to subscribe to keep up with each episode.

  The Tech Optimist welcomes any questions, comments, or segment suggestions. Please email us at info@techoptimist.vc with any of those, and be sure to visit our website at av.vc. As always, keep building.