Engineering teams are often judged by the number of features they deploy, creating a feedback loop where more features equal a better team. However, true value goes beyond feature count. I'll share stories from startups where minor oversights led to significant repercussions, such as a missed service feature announcement costing tens of thousands of dollars, and outdated service architectures draining time and resources. Attendees will learn about refactoring and technical debt reduction by improving existing codebases and architectures periodically to prevent costly technical debt, and fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement by empowering teams to share lessons, experiment with new technologies, and refine practices. Join me to explore how these aspects can lead to more resilient, efficient, and successful engineering teams, even outside unicorn startups.