Toptal Blog

The Toptal Blog is the top hub for developers, designers, management consultants, executives, and entrepreneurs, featuring key technology updates, tutorials, freelancer resources, and management insights.

Toptal core team members share their experience, expertise, and perspectives on the Toptal Edge Blog

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Strategic Financial Leadership: 6 Skills CFOs Need Now

Succeeding as a modern CFO is more demanding than ever before. Here are the skills you need to become a strategic partner who leverages technology and insights to drive growth and plan for the future.

11-minute readContinue Reading

Puneet Sapra

Puneet is a management consultant who has worked for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Pfizer, and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has held CFO positions at public companies, middle-market private-equity-backed companies, and startups.

5 Signs Your Product Strategy Is Broken—and How Designers Can Help Fix It

A good product strategy aligns team efforts, cuts costs, and encourages long-lasting conflict resolution. Three Toptal product design experts discuss how product strategies get derailed and what designers can do to help get things back on track.

10-minute readContinue Reading

Christian Adolphus

Christian is a product designer, product owner, user researcher, and Webflow developer. He led the design team at Chaka, a financial solutions platform, and worked as the founding product designer at SquadPal. His product experience spans B2B, B2C, and SaaS enterprise software.

Designing VR Games Worth Playing: 6 Key Considerations

Despite decades of hype, virtual reality gaming has failed to be widely adopted. Better design can reduce player frustration, increase comfort, and make games more immersive.

10-minute readContinue Reading

Edward Moore

Edward is a veteran UX designer with a résumé of award-winning projects for Google, Sony, Electronic Arts, and Sega. He’s worked on iconic gaming franchises like Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and Sonic. In 2014, he launched a company to contribute strategic gamification and UX services to nongaming companies seeking to leverage AR/VR technology.

Security in Django Applications: A Pydantic Tutorial, Part 4

Django’s built-in security checker identifies vulnerabilities with ease. Here’s how you can enforce HTTPS redirects to tighten security on your web applications.

8-minute readContinue Reading

Arjaan Buijk

Arjaan is a software engineer and data scientist who creates mission-critical, Python-based cloud solutions focused on Rasa for international banks and insurance companies. He also architects and teaches large-scale Kubernetes solutions. Arjaan founded a company for the resale of manufacturing simulation software that he co-developed.

Keeping Sight of the Forest: Risk Management and Creativity in an Agile Ecosystem

Agile has a reputation for delivering results in uncertain times and high-risk industries. But when risk management turns into a culture of total risk aversion, you may find that it comes at the cost of innovation.

7-minute readContinue Reading

Scott Lee

Scott is a product manager and consultant with more than eight years of experience working in global markets for companies like LVMH, Kering, and Richemont, as well as startups at all stages of development, from pre-seed to scaling.

Tough Times Don’t Have to Mean Tough Terms: Leveraging Financial and Cap Table Modeling in VC Negotiations

When capital is scarce, VCs may tighten their terms to reduce their risk. Here’s how to think through three of the most common preferred terms to ensure you don’t give away too much of your company.

12-minute readContinue Reading

Erik Stettler

Erik is a co-founder of a global venture capital fund that has invested in 50 startups (raising more than $500 million) and has realized six exits. He serves as Toptal’s Chief Economist and holds an MBA from Harvard.

The Secret Behind Steady App Performance: Asynchronous JavaScript

JavaScript’s default synchronous methods can freeze an application, scaring off end users. Here’s how you can leverage asynchronous JavaScript techniques to increase control over front-end responsiveness.

7-minute readContinue Reading

Muhammad Ammar Ilyas

Muhammad is a full-stack developer with more than a decade of experience delivering web and mobile applications for various companies, including Scopic, Microblink, and Resulta. He has JavaScript expertise ranging across Node.js, Next.js, React, React Native, and headless WordPress solutions.

Shopping for Apparel in an Online World: UI/UX Design for Virtual Clothing Try-on

How is technology changing the way people shop for clothes? Designers explain how to use AR and VR to drive conversions and minimize returns.

10-minute readContinue Reading

Laurence Brothers

Laurence is an analyst and technologist with experience at Google, Verizon Laboratories, and Toptal who now writes about the intersection of technology, business, and design. He has five patents for AI and internet applications and a master’s degree in computer science from Columbia University.

Defining Who, What, and Why: How to Write a User Story

A good user story can drive efficient planning, on-time delivery, team engagement, and customer satisfaction. Here’s a guide to creating one.

7-minute readContinue Reading

Abhishek Choudhary

Abhishek is a senior product manager with a background in software engineering. He is a former B2C product manager at Amazon, where he identified and implemented numerous improvements to user experience.