Fellowship Induction

Welcome to Lyra

Your journey into Silicon Valley's most ambitious startups starts here.

Why We Exist

Better begins here.

Build the bridge between elite global talent and the best startups in Silicon Valley.

Vision

Design, build, and ship incredible products with world-class engineers from Canva, Atlassian, Airwallex, YC startups, and Eucalyptus who think like founders.

Values

Agency, good taste, relentless curiosity, and the drive to ship work that matters.

Business Model

How Lyra Works

US Startups

→

Lyra

→

You (FDE)

75+

Client Projects

10+

YC Companies

70+

Team Members

2022

Founded

What You Get

Paid to learn, access to Silicon Valley's network, and a guaranteed full-time role upon completion.

What Startups Get

World-class engineers who feel less like vendors and more like an extension of their core team.

Benefits

What You'll Get

Training from Lyra Engineers with Silicon Valley startup experience

High impact meaningful work on the best startups

Access to Lyra's US network and startup scene

Potential full-time offer upon successful completion

Paid to learn

Cohort of incredibly talented engineers

Partial Claude Code / Cursor reimbursement

Lyra clubs (cafe, book, running)

Catered lunch (Melbourne coming soon)

Core Principles

Agency & Good Taste

What separates great engineers from good ones

Agency

Own problems end-to-end
Don't wait for permission
Figure things out first
Communicate proactively
Take initiative

Good Taste

Know when code is "good enough"
Intuition for user experience
Write readable code
Balance speed vs. quality
Sense for what matters

"Proactive, communicative, and require no hand-holding... they bring valuable insights to improve product vision."

— What clients say about Lyra engineers

HR Onboarding

Company Structure

Leadership

Nam Dao

CEO

Anh Dao

COO

Emily Dao

CFO

Manan Jaiswal

Partner

Sukhesh Patro

Partner

Team

Alfie Chen

Fellowship Mentor

Eoin Redoblado

Fellowship Mentor

Tiff Nguyen

HR

Gia Luong

Ops/Growth Lead

Daniel Song

Culture Lead

HR Onboarding

Weekly Events

Monday Stand-up

Compulsory

Updates from leadership
Employee introductions
New client contracts

Friday Lunch & Learn

Ted-talk style

Productive topics
Recordings posted in #core-team

HR Onboarding

Office Culture

Conduct

Be respectful
No anti-LGBT language or attitude
No gender inequality attitude
No racism

Office Rules

Lock-in hours — grind time
Lunch provided
Ping pong after 5pm only
Guests welcome after 5pm

Kitchen rules: No stuff left in the sink, rinse food bits off, handle-side down in dishwasher

HR Onboarding

Getting Set Up

To Do

Run through onboarding document
Set up LinkedIn profile with fellowship branding
Set up dev environment

Join Channels

#core-team
#dev-email
#announcements
#dev-discussion
#lyra-pics

Overview

Fellowship Timeline

1

Week 1

Guided Project

2

Week 2

Client Simulation

3-4

Extended

Optional Phase

FT
Full-time
Offer

WEEK 1

Guided Project

T3 Stack Workshop

Day 1: Prisma & schema-first design
Day 2: tRPC & Zod validation
Day 3: TanStack Query & frontend
Build a fully typed feature end-to-end

Format

Morning lessons (45-60 mins)
Live coding together
Implement in your project
Loom updates to simulated client

WEEK 2

Client Simulation

What Changes

Less hand-holding
You receive requirements
Figure out solutions
Challenge features

What We Assess

Learning speed
Initiative & drive
Communication
Ownership & reliability

WEEKS 3-4 (OPTIONAL)

Extended Training

For engineers needing more technical development

Format

1-2 week product sprint where you pitch and build your own product

Assessment

Agency, drive, work ethic, and ability to ship independently

Goal: Ensure you understand what makes a great FDE

What to Expect

Roles & Expectations

Your Role

Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - embedded in client teams, shipping real features

Our Role

Training, support, client relationships, and career development

Work Hours

Part-time during fellowship, potential full-time upon completion

Availability

Responsive during working hours, async-first communication

Assessment

How Success is Measured

01

Learning Velocity

How quickly you pick up new concepts and apply them

02

Task Completion

Quality and speed of deliverables you ship

03

Communication

Proactive updates and client satisfaction

04

Agency

End-to-end ownership, solving problems independently

How We Work

Communication

Daily Updates

What you worked on
What you finished
Visual proof (Loom)
What's next
Any blockers

Golden Rules

Be concise
Never go silent
Bump when blocked
Don't ask to ask
Show you get it

Key principle: Do this every day, and your contract is safe.

Next Steps

Let's Build

Your journey starts now

Complete onboarding

Introduce yourself

Set up environment

Start Day 1