In this episode of The Better Build, Mission’s Steven Markow sits down with Wade Bruce, CTO of Fetch, America’s top rewards app with over 10 million users, to talk leadership, resilience, and how growing as a person can help you evolve as an engineer.

Wade shares candid stories from his career journey, including the bold career move he made while expecting his first child. We explore the strengths of smaller tech communities, how his time in the National Guard shaped his leadership approach, and why he believes in developing leaders at every level of an organization, not just at the top.

Key moments:

Wade’s National Guard experience (06:08)

Inside Fetch’s IC leadership program (08:15)

Wade’s leadership philosophy (13:50)

How AI factors into Fetch’s app (19:05)

Why “easy” matters in product design (25:46)

The importance of focusing on the present (29:25)