For the latest episode of our podcast, Build to Succeed, we had the privilege of sitting down with Jorge Coca, Head of Engineering at Very Good Ventures.
Jorge’s career spans over a decade of innovative contributions to the Flutter ecosystem and mobile engineering. His journey from Spain to the U.S., his time at BMW, and his leadership in engineering have all shaped his perspective on scalable and user-friendly engineering practices.
Here's just a sampling of our favorite moments in the episode.
Cooking, Music, and Coding? It’s All Related
If you know Jorge, his humor and storytelling skills are unmistakable. It was no surprise, then, when he began the conversation by drawing intriguing parallels between cooking, music, and coding. He likened software development to jazz improvisation, where a strong foundation enables creativity and innovation. “Once you understand the foundations, you can go and explore uncharted territories and try to innovate. In a way, those activities—though sometimes stressful—can actually be very relaxing”, he explained.
The Beginning of a Long Journey
Jorge’s path to the U.S. began with the Erasmus program, an initiative that allows European students to study abroad. What started as a one-year academic opportunity turned into a transformative career move. He landed his first job in an advertising agency, where he delved into Ruby on Rails and web development, eventually paving his way into mobile engineering.
Later, at BMW, Jorge played a pivotal role in scaling Android and Flutter development. He was the first Android hire tasked with delivering a mobile app in just six months while building and upskilling a team. BMW’s digital footprint extended across multiple brands—BMW, Mini, Rolls Royce, and even collaborative projects with Toyota. The challenge was immense, as they needed to maintain 49 different applications for various brands and regions, each with unique requirements and integrations.
By 2017, BMW faced a pressing issue: the disparity between iOS and Android app development. While 70% of BMW’s customers used iOS, 30% relied on Android, yet investment in Android development lagged behind. The company needed a way to ship features simultaneously across platforms and markets. This led to the formation of an internal task force dedicated to identifying the best technology for future mobile development.
After extensive research and testing across various frameworks—including Ionic, Cordova, and even native development—BMW’s engineering team identified Flutter as the optimal choice. Despite its early-stage maturity at the time (it wasn't even in beta yet), Flutter’s promise of multi-platform consistency, performance, and scalability made it the most compelling solution.
Overcoming Stigma and Embracing Innovation
BMW’s transition to Flutter wasn’t without challenges. There was internal skepticism about multi-platform development due to past struggles with tools like PhoneGap and Xamarin. However, through rigorous data-driven decision-making and leadership support, the team took a calculated risk. Switching to Flutter had its challenges.
A defining moment came during a pivotal “go/no-go” meeting. After months of research and testing, the team was still hesitant—until a senior architect firmly declared, “We are technologists, and if the data supports Flutter, we have to try.” With the leadership’s backing and a step-by-step approach, BMW successfully transitioned to Flutter, leading to faster development cycles, improved app quality, and, ultimately, higher customer satisfaction.
If you want to gain more insights into the journey of adopting Flutter in companies like BMW and Tide, watch our 'Maximizing Organizational Success' webinar here.
Fostering a Culture of Ownership and Leadership
Jorge emphasized the importance of leadership in fostering ownership within engineering teams. At BMW, leadership provided clarity and direction while allowing engineers to take responsibility for their work. This created an environment where individuals felt empowered rather than pressured, ultimately leading to better decision-making and more innovative solutions. “If you get that sweet spot with just a few but critical ideas, everyone has that ‘aha’ moment. That’s how you can get 300 people on board and drive value for the organization,” he added.
Jorge noted that companies like BMW, unlike modern tech giants, were not inherently software-driven. This presented a unique challenge—transforming a 100-year-old hardware company into an agile, software-driven organization. The key to success lies in balancing complexity with simplicity, ensuring that scalable solutions do not introduce unnecessary complications.
Learn more on how Flutter can transform engineering team culture in this blog post!
Scalability in Engineering
Jorge described scalable code as code that’s not only maintainable, but also accessible to new developers without extensive onboarding. In large organizations, engineers spend the majority of their time understanding existing code rather than writing new features. Simplifying and organizing code structures enhances productivity, enabling teams to focus on innovation rather than untangling technical debt.
BMW’s experience demonstrated that scalability isn’t just about handling more users or increasing infrastructure but about ensuring that development teams can efficiently build and iterate on features. The key was to strike a balance between scalability, simplicity, and long-term maintainability.
Learn VGV’s best practices for a healthy, efficient, and maintainable codebase.
Measuring Success in Engineering
For Jorge, success in engineering is context dependent. For startups, success might mean finding product-market fit quickly, while for larger organizations, it could mean stabilizing a product and reducing technical debt. At BMW, success was defined by the ability to ship faster and more reliably, ensuring that new features added business value without introducing instability.
Investing in scalable solutions, fostering an engineering culture that encourages risk-taking and experimentation, and leveraging the right tools were essential factors in achieving long-term success. Jorge pointed out that simply increasing developer headcount is not a sustainable solution—efficiency and automation are key to long-term scalability: “Success is about shipping faster and safer—delivering value while maintaining business stability.”
The Next Technological Revolution: AR, Wearables, and Cloud Simplicity
Looking ahead, Jorge sees augmented reality (AR) and wearable technology as potential game-changers. Companies are experimenting with different approaches, from Meta’s smart glasses to Apple’s Vision Pro. While the ultimate direction of these technologies remains uncertain, they represent a new frontier in user interaction and software development.
He also highlighted the complexity of cloud computing, noting that despite its promise of simplicity, the proliferation of services and options has made cloud infrastructure increasingly difficult to navigate. Jorge sees an opportunity for innovation in making cloud services more accessible and user-friendly without sacrificing scalability and power.
Building for the Future
Jorge’s journey from BMW to Very Good Ventures underscores the importance of embracing risk, fostering a culture of innovation, and leveraging scalable technologies. His experience serves as a blueprint for engineering leaders looking to drive transformation within their organizations.
With Flutter continuing to revolutionize multi-platform development and new technologies on the horizon, the key takeaway is clear: success in engineering is about making bold decisions, balancing complexity with simplicity, and creating an environment where innovation thrives.
Reach out
If you want to learn more about Jorge and his background, check out his Behind the Unicorn Magic spotlight. You can also follow him on LinkedIn!
If you’re looking to build scalable, high-quality mobile solutions and want expert guidance from industry leaders, Very Good Ventures is here to help. Our team has deep experience in Flutter and modern engineering best practices, ensuring your apps are built to succeed. Contact us now!
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