SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

I've posted quite a few things on the topics associated with being a Startup CTO. Here are some resources that come from other sources: Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering? Lessons Learned: What does a startup CTO actually do? Lessons Learned: What does a startup CTO actually do?

CTO Hire 175

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Equity 175

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

I've posted quite a few things on the topics associated with being a Startup CTO. Here are some resources that come from other sources: Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering? Lessons Learned: What does a startup CTO actually do? Lessons Learned: What does a startup CTO actually do?

CTO Hire 175

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Equity 175

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. And I tried to evaluate the idea and figure out: What did the founder really need here? Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? Did they really need a Startup CTO or Developer or both? Was it a case of needing Homework?

Technical Cofounder 241

Technical Cofounder CTO Hire Equity Sweat Equity 241

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

A version of this article is in the Harvard Business Review. Why do these founders get to stay around? Because the balance of power has dramatically shifted from investors to founders. Technology cycles have become a treadmill, and for startups to survive they need to be on a continuous innovation cycle.

Founder 274

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 274

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Of course, I provide part-time CTO services.

Fractional CTO 264

Fractional CTO CTO Hire NDA Technical Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Of course, I provide part-time CTO services.

Fractional CTO 259

Fractional CTO CTO Hire NDA Technical Review 259

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 13, 2022

Founders seem to get that. Don’t get me wrong—I don’t mean trust in the sense that VCs think founders are just going to get a fake passport and move to Fiji, or that investors are secretly plotting to take over the company. Maybe that would be helpful for a founder to share: “I’m excited to have you as part of this round.

Founder 166

Founder Fiji CTO Hire Term Sheet 166

SoCal CTO

MARCH 9, 2010

In my post, Technology Roles in Startups , I described some of the different ways I engage with startup companies such as CTO Founder , CTO , Part-Time CTO , Acting CTO , Consultant, Advisor and Advisory Board Member. Now, most often technical advisors are part of a broader advisory board.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Advisory Board Technology Fractional CTO 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

It’s true the some VCs have started writing so many checks that they resemble stock pickers but the majority of us still have less than 10 board seats at any time and tend to go pretty deep so the result is that we care deeply about where we commit our time. Meredith came to see me along with the CTO Marc Berte.

Technical Review 418

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Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 19, 2024

It’s been nice to review some of the most popular episodes from 2023. Ash Ali & Hassan Kubba – Uncovering the Hidden Power of Your Unfair Advantage Both successful tech entrepreneurs with humble roots, Ash and Hassan have a message of hope to share. I was able to visit with many phenomenal guests on the show this year.

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Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review Marketing 75

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

So today I’m excited to announce that Upfront Ventures is leading an $8 million round with some amazing co-investors including Founder’s Fund, OATV, Lowercase, High Peaks, Collaborative Fund and many great angel investors. After 9 months it was time to raise seed capital and go test drive our new software and processes.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Software Review Cofounder CTO Hire 380

mashable.com

MAY 9, 2011

Hiring the wrong person for key company positions can cost a business thousands — or tens of thousands — of dollars and man hours. This is especially true when it comes to tech companies hiring the wrong chief technology officer. Have an account? Solid leadership is essential to the success of any team.

CTO Hire 73

CTO Hire Fractional CTO CTO Technical Review 73

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, September 30, 2008 What does a startup CTO actually do? What does your Chief Technology Officer do all day? Thats an important job, for sure, and Ive been called upon to do it from time to time. So what does CTO mean, besides just "technical founder who really cant manage anyone?"

CTO 168

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

View from Seed

MARCH 29, 2016

Ask a founder of a growing startup what they need most, and you’ll often get an answer along the lines of, “We need great people, and we need them fast.”. Founders need to make sure the quality of the startup’s offerings remains high and provide adequate sales and service support for prospective customers and new users.

Metrics 120

Metrics Founder CTO Hire Technical Review 120

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

The press around the raise & company was fantastic and the promise of their technology – wireless charging that works as easily as WiFi – would positively affect many of our lives. uBeam’s tech does work and I have safely seen it demo’d in the real life many times. Working on it. And being ambitious.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review South Korea San Francisco Software Review 417

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 14, 2012

So many tech startups begin the same way: One founder, one dream and a plan to make it happen. To learn more about how your startup can find, hire and keep the top talent and quality workers it needs to succeed, download this free ReadWriteWeb Report: The Talent Wars: Today’s Toughest Startup Challenge. Rachel Blankstein.

Technical Review 159

Technical Review CTO Hire Software Review Startup 159

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

As your organization grows and you hire senior staff where you are no longer managing every employee directly the issue of how to manage people that are not your “direct&# reports arises. This applies to both founders and to VC’s that work with them. I see two common mistakes in companies (not just in startups, in fact).

CTO Hire 308

CTO Hire Management Technical Review Part-Time VPE 308

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

Eventually you need a VP of Product to handle your product roadmap, a CTO for engineering leadership and VPs of sales, marketing & biz dev. The “span of control” for a growing tech startup is probably 6-9 people. You hire great people. You help them prioritize their objectives and review the results.

CTO Hire 385

CTO Hire Entrepreneur Technical Review Leadership 385

Hunter Walker

JUNE 7, 2014

Hiring Has Changed: Before the press was a way of generating interest for hiring. However with so many companies being funded these days, just getting a mention in a tech blog doesn’t really impact job seekers. Now the employees carry your technology into the enterprise via their own phone and cloud services.

Technical Review 117

Technical Review CTO Hire Finance Stealth 117

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

Web Startup Lessons Advice from a CTO and Entrepreneur Home About Startup Advice: When to Use a Consulting CTO There are not many to be found. He or she might call himself a “consulting CTO,&# “freelance CTO,&# “on-demand CTO,&# “CTO on call,&# “CTO for hire,&# or just a “technology strategy advisor.&#

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Fractional VPE 40

konamoxt.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

January 18, 2009 Why Your Startup Can’t Afford To Hire a CTO Before Founding Konamoxt, my last gig was the Chief Technology Officer for a local Seattle Startup. Mr. Startup CEO, I’m here to tell you, you can’t afford to hire a CTO. Can you help us make sure this candidate would make a good CTO?&#

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire CTO Hiring Technical Review 40

Hunter Walker

JULY 6, 2017

When and how did I first meet Nancy Lublin , CEO/Founder of Crisis Text Line ? ” HW: The tech infrastructure needs to be reliable—you’re dealing with very personal and often time-sensitive issues. First two hires were a CTO and Chief Data Scientist and they were out of DoSomething.org.

America 83

America Technical Review Development Team Review CTO Hire 83

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2012

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. Expertise can be marketing, technical, financial, or sales. In many cases, one founder has started earlier and brings an important completed piece of work to the table, and that can have great value.

Intellectual Property 252

Intellectual Property Equity Cofounder CTO Hire 252

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2017

With industries from banking to transportation being transformed and, in some instances, undermined by new business models and technology, executives are smart to wonder, “Are we next?” To confidently answer no, co-founder of Strategyzer Alex Osterwalder told our attendees, “What you really want to do is work more like Amazon. …

Lean 245

Lean Startup CTO Hire Cofounder 245

The Next Web

JANUARY 24, 2014

Slowly but surely, however, we have a quietly emerging ‘ecosystem’ (as it is often called in tech lingo). So is the Dutch tech startup story sold short? But hedonistic pleasures aside, The Netherlands actually has a great foundation for tech entrepreneurship. Not in my view. A top-notch infrastructure.

Netherlands 143

Netherlands Technical Review Stock Silicon Valley 143

firstround.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

The Review. The Review. How to Go From Google Engineer to First-Time CTO. How to Go From Google Engineer to First-Time CTO. Today, he’s the co-founder and CTO of Artillery , bringing console-quality gaming to the web browser. First Round Capital. Plusstartup. Product and Engineering.

CTO Hire 52

CTO Hire Engineer Software Review Part-Time VPE 52

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

I did a presentation this week at Coloft that looked at how Non-Technical Founders can go about getting their MVP built. WordPress - we spent quite a bit of time talking about how you could do a lot with WordPress to provide simple forms of lots of functionality. It had a passionate group of 50 people attending.

Technical Cofounder 338

Technical Cofounder Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 338

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2011

Collectively (the founders & investors) agreed that it would be sensible to recruit a CEO to lead the next phase of the company so that the main founder could stay focused on the product where he excels and is passionate. or; “I don’t have enough money to hire my team yet. Is it book smarts? Dig deeper.

Leadership 363

Leadership CTO Hire Technical Review Cofounder 363

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. Expertise can be marketing, technical, financial, or sales. In many cases, one founder has started earlier and brings an important completed piece of work to the table, and that can have great value.

Equity 228

Equity Intellectual Property Cofounder CTO Hire 228

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Artificial Intelligence is an important, foundational technology that gets more important every year and will be used to solve more and more problems going forward. These events mean that technology is advancing fast enough to make better decisions than humans in order to accomplish a given task. Chris Rust, Clear Ventures).

Artificial Inteligence 122

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Startup 122

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Amidst the rise of new funds, new technologies, and potentially disruptive late stage players, I thought it was important to share what we consider to be our core operating principles here at NextView. . Belief #1: The best time to invest is early. Instead, it’s more of a Manifesto about the core beliefs that shape our strategy.

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North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Seattle should be the envy of any non Silicon Valley tech community in the country. It really wouldn’t take much to turn a great technology ecosystem into a truly electric one. Your highest priority right now is hiring the 1 or 2 people that are going to join your company and make a difference.

Seattle 317

Seattle Silicon Valley Technical Review Los Angeles 317

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Web Startup Lessons Advice from a CTO and Entrepreneur Home About Finding a Technical Partner for Your Startup Today I received an inquiry from a student at an Ivy League university who wants to launch a web startup. Or you can find seed-stage investors who will give you the money to hire a developer.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Fractional CTO Partner CTO Hire 40

Hearpreneur

JULY 8, 2017

Todd McGuire is the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of startup incentaHEALTH and we had to the opportunity to hear from him about starting business, the future of the company and what entrepreneurship means to him. I am the co-founder and CTO of the digital health care company incentaHEALTH. Hi, I’m Todd.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire 48

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

Growth will slow, partly due to internal limits and partly because the company is starting to bump up against the limits of the markets it serves.” ” There’s an allowance for a period of time where there’s “slow or no growth” while you’re figuring things out. Growth, again.

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 390

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 1, 2017

With any of your initial founders, to build a strong startup, building strong relationships is foremost. Operate on due diligence from this point: Identify your potential key crew members — background checks, personal references, past business review are all vital. It’s an arduous process and takes some skill.

Software Review 54

Software Review Technical Review CTO Hire San Antonio 54

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

9 Tech Entrepreneurs Share Their Secrets to Success | Entrepreneur – [link]. Misfit Entrepreneurs | Dan Pallotta-Harvard Business Review – [link]. Hire slow, fire fast” is not only overused–it’s also complete b t.” Obama CTO Harper Reed on Keeping Sane in a High-Pressure Environment – [link].

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Social Media Small Business CTO Hire Design 105