Block's CTO Says 'Perfect Code Doesn't Make A Great Product, Solving Real Problems Does' — Cites YouTube's Success Over Google Video

Benzinga
2025.10.27 10:10
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Block Inc. CTO Dhanji Prasanna emphasized that perfect code does not equate to a successful product, highlighting the importance of solving real user problems. He referenced YouTube's success despite its poor code quality compared to Google's failed video project. Prasanna urged developers to focus on their mission rather than technical perfection. Additionally, Telegram's CEO discussed hiring through coding contests to identify talent, while Nvidia introduced a new AI chip designed for large-scale workloads.

Block Inc.‘s (NYSE:XYZ) Chief Technology Officer Dhanji Prasanna challenged one of software engineering's core beliefs, arguing that clean, elegant code doesn't guarantee success in solving real problems for users.

‘Perfect Code Doesn’t Make A Great Product,’ Says Block CTO

Speaking on Lenny's Podcast on Sunday, Prasanna said that too many engineers equate technical perfection with business success.

"A lot of engineers think that code quality is important to building a successful product," he said.

He added, "The two have nothing to do with each other. Perfect code doesn’t make a great product, solving real problems does."

He emphasized that developers often lose sight of their real mission, building tools that solve user problems.

"Just focus on what we're trying to build and whom we're trying to build for," he said. "All this code can be thrown away tomorrow."

Google's YouTube Vs. Google Video: The Lesson In Imperfect Code

Prasanna recalled learning that lesson during his time at Google, when the company acquired YouTube in 2006.

"Google’s engineers were horrified by the video site’s codebases and how terrible their architecture is," he said. "It really has very little to do with how well it was architected."

Despite its messy foundation, YouTube became one of Google's biggest triumphs, while the company's technically refined Google Video project failed.

Prasanna added that chasing every new tech trend is also unnecessary, saying, "Technology is here to serve us, and if we have an important reason for being, we can make it serve us."

Nvidia's AI Chip And Telegram's Coding Contests Redefine The Future Of Tech

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said top engineering talent came not from interviews but from coding contests.

He explained that competitions revealed real skills and helped identify developers already familiar with Telegram's platform.

Telegram frequently hired contest winners for its 30-member engineering team, with one Android challenge offering a $1 million salary. Durov, who began this hiring method in 2007 at VK, said it replaced HR and sped up development.

Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) unveiled its Rubin CPX GPU at the AI Infra Summit, built for large-scale AI workloads like million-token coding and generative video.

Paired with Vera CPUs and Rubin GPUs, the platform delivered 7.5x more AI performance, 100TB of memory, and 1.7 petabytes per second of bandwidth in a single rack.

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