SoCal CTO

APRIL 18, 2012

Todd Gitlin of Safire Partners - a go to resource here in LA for recruiting C-level positions at startups - was nice enough to compile some data again this year (see last year's Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data ). Or they are looking at Hiring a CTO and want to see what salary and equity ranges look like.

CTO Hire 294

CTO Hire Salary Equity Los Angeles 294

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 10, 2012

It was like having a bunch of mini- Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions all in one room. This is exactly the kind of thing I'm doing as a Part-Time CTO or Technical Advisor for startups. And it made me come to a new realization: Every early-stage web/mobile/online startup should have at least one technical advisor, probably two.

Technical Review 332

Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO Software Review 332

SoCal CTO

MAY 27, 2010

And I always recommend it to people involved in early stage startups. I received a follow-up question from an early-stage startup about the Founder Developer Gap that I’ve described before and that was part of the interview with Frank. This is somewhat the heart of what a CTO does. Do not hire a CTO at this point.

CTO Hire 170

CTO Hire Developer Founder Startup 170

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

www.bothsidesofthetable.com

MAY 13, 2012

Want to Know Difference Between a CTO and a VP of Engineering? Because more technology people probably read startup blogs I’m guessing this post will come under more scrutiny. I hope many will read this and have an answer for the question, “what’s the different between a CTO and a VP of Engineering?”

Fractional VPE 89

Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE Fractional CTO CTO Hire 89

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

It occurred to me that although we mentioned our new thematic approach when we raised our last fund in 2017, we haven’t really shared a broader manifesto about how we are approaching the early stage market. It’s been an interesting several years in the early stage venture eco-system, and the sands have shifted considerably.

North America 120

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 120

View from Seed

MARCH 29, 2016

Founders furiously work their networks, post open positions on every reasonable-looking job board, and hope to quickly start hiring. While an entrepreneur’s enthusiasm is certainly necessary for effective recruiting, inefficient hiring processes put a strain on a startup’s already limited human capital resources.

Metrics 120

Metrics Founder CTO Hire Technical Review 120

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

A good early-stage CEO needs to be accessible, to be accountable for producing results and should be establishing the cultural norms of the company through direct leadership at all levels. You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on.

CTO Hire 308

CTO Hire Management Technical Review Part-Time VPE 308

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

In response, venture capital firms like Sequoia and Andreessen/Horowitz are hiring new partners just to work with their portfolio companies and match them to corporations. Ventures that are further along and now executing their business model are no longer startups, they are now early-stage companies.

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

I recently wrote a post about why I didn’t think early-stage startups should have COOs. I think people understand this title to mean more somebody who handles operational issues rather than somebody who is more like a “chief of staff&# as a COO often is. I expected it to be controversial and it was. and my favorite].

Operations 292

Operations CTO Hire Startup Early Stage 292

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 19, 2010

Early stage startups have that task many times over after they receive their first funding. That's why hiring at the stage that our companies tend to be at is a unique proposition.one that can seriously create or destroy a ton of value. We're going to adjust the frequency of the Key Hire Wire and perhaps wind it down.

CTO Hire 99

CTO Hire Hiring Portfolio Early Stage 99

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 14, 2012

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. She sold her first tech startup econfidant.com to a larger technology company. And you need to do it sooner rather than later.

Technical Review 159

Technical Review CTO Hire Software Review Startup 159

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 16, 2020

Being relatively a new service trend in today’s tech-driven world, CTO-as-a-Service (CaaS) is notably gaining its momentum. Though CTO as a traditional full-time position exists for decades, some companies do not feel they need a technology executive. Ideal scenario assumes there’s a CTO in house. Early-stage startups.

Fractional CTO 85

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Part-Time VPE 85

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Saturday, February 17, 2007 Finding Good Developers in Los Angeles? Im part of a CTO group that meets once a month to discuss various topics. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. He has been the CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Technical Cofounder Southern California CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

I seem to encounter a lot of people who want to attach a CTO label to me as I'm the only programmer on the founding team of three. While I do fill that role at the moment, I'm a little hesitant to refer to myself as a CTO as we still haven't launched a product, acquired a single user, or turned or a penny in profit. Who will do that?

CTO Hire 231

CTO Hire Technical Review Developer Software Review 231

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

You’ll need to hire and retain talen to grow your company. The more senior members you have (say you already have a CEO, CTO, VP marketing, VP Biz Dev, VP Products) then the less options you’ll need and vice versa. But this example above is all entrepreneur math, not the VC’s. That’s normal. This is a shame.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2010

When the CEO of an early-stage startup tells me that they plan to hire a COO I’m usually not interested in the next meeting. As I said, there are VCs who are fooled by all this but it doesn’t equal success. 12 months later the president and the CEO had moved on. But even then I think it’s funny.

Entrepreneur 286

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Cofounder Early Stage 286

www.entrepreneur.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

When you're getting started, sweat equity is often a critical component of your negotiating leverage with co-founders, early stage employees and others who aren't paid market wages to help you grow your business. Sweat equity is just one component of early-stage valuation. In fact, it could be worth much more.

Sweat Equity 55

Sweat Equity Equity Fractional CTO CTO 55

View from Seed

MARCH 3, 2015

Ellie Mirman was the first marketer hired by the CMO of HubSpot, the Boston-based marketing software startup that IPOed in 2014. Initially, we promoted it to a list that we’d already developed through Website Grader, the free app our CTO Dharmesh Shah had built before we even had a product. Where do you land on that spectrum?

Marketing 120

Marketing Sales Cycle Startup CTO Hire 120

Austin Startup

APRIL 2, 2021

I don’t confine hiring decisions to a particular type of person or a specific kind of experience; my team is made up of people that come from corporates, people that were looking for a career change and people who are just starting out. I base the majority of my hiring decisions on what someone will contribute to the team rather than title.

Austin 62

Austin CTO Hire Hawaii Hosting 62

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

It occurred to me that although we mentioned our new thematic approach when we raised our last fund in 2017, we haven’t really shared a broader manifesto about how we are approaching the early stage market. It’s been an interesting several years in the early stage venture eco-system, and the sands have shifted considerably.

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

Rob Go

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

For example: - Having any more “C’s” than the CEO and CTO. Seed and early stage companies are in need of people who like hand-to-hand combat. Early stage companies need to be free of politics and that kind of ego. Seeing a head of product that isn’t a founder. Check out the team at ThredUp.

CTO Hire 61

CTO Hire Seed Stage Startup Early Stage 61

BeyondVC

JANUARY 3, 2019

Tony Saldanha (P&G Next Gen Svces, Transformant), Farhan Shah (Allstate, CTO, Head of Platform Eng), Munu Gandhi (VP Infrastructure, AON), Virginia Lyons (CISO, Williams Sonoma) and GTM advisors?—?Natalie Either you’re a mega fund or an early stage fund, being caught in the middle is a place you don’t want to be.

Stealth 79

Stealth Advisory Board Cloud Virginia 79

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Capitalize - Regular pitch events where early stage companies get direct feedback from local VC’s. link] – Not a meetup, but a great mentorship program started by serial CTO Sean Lindsay. Scaling Companies To Watch (ie: probably hiring). Dharmesh Shah – Co-founder and CTO, HubSpot ( blog , @dharmesh ).

Boston 56

Boston Technical Review Community CTO Hire 56

ithacaVC

MAY 30, 2011

Company X raises some venture capital, and after about a year Jim goes to his non-management board members and basically says “Al has to go” See my earlier post Tech Founder Wins at Early Stage. So the board fires Al and, after a search process, hires Brett as the new CEO; Brett is thus hired in as a non-founder CEO.

Founder 53

Founder CTO Hire Early Stage Venture Capital 53

Hippoland

OCTOBER 9, 2016

If you’re still in the early stages of your entrepreneur-education/journey, you may even think you need to protect your idea and not share it with anyone. Demonstrate that you can pull the trigger on things quickly — whether it be getting customers, hiring / firing employees, or product development.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage CTO Hire Email Later Stage 48

OnlyOnce

MARCH 22, 2016

and 7 companies in 6 cities around the world, producing an impressive 80% hire rate. The participants who have been hired by us and our partner organizations have made impressive contributions to their companies’ businesses and cultures. The companies have benefitted from their experience and passion.

CTO Hire 48

CTO Hire Cofounder Programming Equity 48

ReadWriteStart

MAY 9, 2012

Ranjith Kumaran, founder and CEO of PunchTab (which creates instant loyalty platforms), and co-founder of YouSendIt , where he was the Chief Technology Officer (he’s still on the board) acknowledges the “topic of unique, creative and alternative titles keeps coming up as of late.” Is that really a smart move?

Founder 135

Founder Cofounder Early Stage Stock 135

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

Supercomputers get Personal Back in Sunnyvale my friend had not only been hired but had convinced the team that we should be building hardware – making a new class of computers not a software application. Wasn’t he a CTO or something? (He We’re building a supercomputer.”

North Carolina 125

North Carolina Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 125

firstround.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

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. I was their first full-time engineering hire and I helped build out the team and set the agenda for product development.

CTO Hire 52

CTO Hire Engineer Software Review Part-Time VPE 52

www.geekwire.com

JULY 10, 2012

According to the Dow Jones research, 43 early-stage funds raised $3.1 Madrona’s new $300 million fund — while the largest in the firm’s history — certainly qualifies in the early-stage group. Cheezburger’s ‘Luddite’ CTO Scott Porad on why his job beats laying railroad ties. 07/03/2012.

Venture Capital 42

Venture Capital Seattle Cofounder Software Engineering 42

Steve Blank

MARCH 1, 2016

A tech entrepreneur and inventor, Brandon McNaughton was entrepreneur in residence for Detroit Innovate , an early-stage venture fund. He also founded and served as chief technology officer of Life Magnetics. We said, “Well, we’re going to hire our first employee, and you know what?

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Entrepreneur Michigan Detroit 120

Mucker Lab

APRIL 6, 2023

What should an early-stage startup founder focus on if they want to implement PLG? But for early stage founders, I think there are two particular scenarios where PLG can be really helpful. So for early-stage founders, those are the two scenarios where PLG might be a great fit. That's the foundation.

Product 78

Product CTO Hire Startup Fractional CTO 78

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

We pride ourselves on being early-stage (thus the name, Upfront) but in this case it’s as early as it gets. The journey just under 18 months ago with a coffee meeting with my friend Sam Rosen in NYC just after Hurricane Sandy. I wrote about that experience here without giving away the details of the business.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Software Review Cofounder CTO Hire 380

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 14, 2008

The people who are the lifeblood of an early-stage startup are earlyvangelists. For example, my experience with teenagers is that they are very reluctant to call or email asking for support, even when they have a severe problem. They just dont need another authority figure in their life. Dont confuse passion with volume.

San Francisco 131

San Francisco Customer Lean Continuous Deployment 131

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

This is true for early stage funding as well as venture capital funding. Don’t hire people with skills and qualifications similar to yours. Hire based on functionality and avoid having too many C’s. Hiring the right people at the right time is key. Hiring the right people at the right time is key.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. In my last post, I mentioned that you should strive to hire people with the right kind of ambition. m the f%*kin’ boss.”.

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191