SoCal CTO

article thumbnail

Startup CTO or Developer

SoCal CTO

What worries me a bit is how often I read that startups should hire a developer / hands-on lead developer. I understand the desire for hiring someone who is going to product product. But often the result of a Founder hiring a developer or lead developer or even a VP engineering is a gap created between the founders and the developers.

CTO 225
article thumbnail

Equity for Early Employees in Early Stage Startups

SoCal CTO

For your first key hires, three, five, maybe as much as ten, you will probably not be able to use any kind of formula. For example, suppose you're just two founders and you want to hire an additional hacker who's so good you feel he'll increase the average outcome of the whole company by 20%. n = (1.2 - 1)/1.2 =.167. and we have 11.1%

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Startup Software Developers

SoCal CTO

First, early in the post, Mark mentions: The idea behind the meetup is to connect technology startups with prospective hires who may be interested to work for “alternative compensation”–e.g., Second, there’s this funny perception that the cost of software development have been dramatically changed in the past few years. They haven’t.

article thumbnail

Poor Software Developers - Pull the Plug Early

SoCal CTO

And the person is trying to get it from mostly done to done with little additional cost. The problem is that doesn't match with reality and likely they need to find more dollars. Recovery from this situation is hard. I wish I had a better answer.

article thumbnail

Startup Founder Developer Gap

SoCal CTO

This needs to fit with risk, cost, schedule, flexibility, etc. Do not hire a CTO at this point. I can almost guarantee a full-time CTO hire is wrong for you. From the technology strategy, you then look at your plan for who will do what. And this somewhat determines the specific skills you will need.

CTO Hire 170
article thumbnail

Finding Good Developers in Los Angeles?

SoCal CTO

Since then it has become much harder to find people and while we are talking about hiring relatively small numbers of people, the typical sources of candidates dont seem to be working. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

article thumbnail

Lead Developer to CTO at a Startup

SoCal CTO

I also recognize that while I am the first technologist on the team, I will not by any means be the last and I'm hoping that subsequent hires will be people I consider brighter and more talented than myself. for a Lead Developer: How much will it cost to build what we need to build? How do we balance concerns vs. cost?

CTO Hire 231