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 2, 2015

As the organizer of the LA CTO Forum , I get lots of inquiries by job seekers and people looking for CTO / VP Engineering talent. I’ve written quite a bit about aspects of this topic, especially from the perspective of startup founders looking for talent – you can find these in: Startup CTO.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Los Angeles CTO Hire Part-Time VPE 150

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

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I received an inquiry from a reader of my blog and thought I would provide some thoughts, but would definitely welcome input: I am an unpaid CTO of a small startup. I have been working full time with two founders for about 10 months on full time basis. Please let this be a lesson to everyone – founders and CTOs.

CTO 150

CTO CTO Hire Equity Vesting 150

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

I was just asked about a particular startup situation (seed stage, CMO hire, non-founder) and particularly what compensation and equity is appropriate.

CTO Hire 329

CTO Hire Equity Seed Stage Option Pool 329

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Are you a non-technical startup founder who’s about to go have a conversation with a Chief Technical Officer (CTO) or Technical advisory type person? Maybe you are going for a reality check on your current situation - wondering if you have a Weak Development Team or a Startup Founder Developer Gap.

Fractional CTO 211

Fractional CTO Conversion NDA Early Stage 211

SoCal CTO

APRIL 27, 2011

Several people have recently come to me to help them source and/or hire full-time CTOs for their startup having found me through my post that looks at: Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data. The first thing I do is suggest they explore if they really need to hire a full-time CTO for their startup and if so, what kind of CTO they need.

CTO Hire 225

CTO Hire Los Angeles Hiring Technical Review 225

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

Todd Gitlin of Safire Partners was nice enough to compile some data on CTO Equity and Compensation at Venture Backed Companies for the LA CTO Forum and present last year. The data is a bit tough to deal with via a post, so I've shared it two ways: You can find a PDF with some analysis at: CTO Equity Compensation PDF.

CTO Hire 273

CTO Hire Equity Southern California France 273

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

MAY 21, 2012

So, here goes: Dr. Tony Karrer Over the past 15 years, Tony has been a part-time CTO for more than 30 startups. Most notably, he was the original CTO for eHarmony for its first four years making him partly responsible for more than 4% of the marriages every year. Tony has a Ph.D. He is a frequent speaker at trade and industry events.

Fractional CTO 175

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Startup Social Network 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

SoCal CTO

MAY 21, 2013

I''m spending more of my time recently working with non-technical startup founders who are having challenges with their software/web/mobile development teams. These are often the same things that cause a founder to reach out to me about helping their CTO, VP Engineering, tech team, off-shore development, etc. Technical Leader.

Fractional CTO 219

Fractional CTO Developer Founder Architecture 219

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Based on my posts Startup CTO or Developer and Acting CTO , Chris O’Meara wrote an interesting post Startup CTO: Could It Work? If you think that's person you need, the question becomes "what else do you expect a CTO to contribute?" They can likely close a lot of the Founder Developer Gap.

CTO Hire 150

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Architecture 150

SoCal CTO

MAY 27, 2010

I was just interviewed by Frank Peters - Tony Karrer and the Founder-Developer Gap. 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. It was a lot of fun for me.

CTO Hire 170

CTO Hire Developer Founder Startup 170

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 10, 2012

I did a presentation recently for a graduate class from The Founder Institute around getting online/mobile products out the door. I LOVED it because, the presenting part was over quickly and we got into specific issues that the founders had in terms of getting things built. CTO Founder - Do they really still need a technical advisor?

Technical Review 332

Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO Software Review 332

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

Almost every day I'm talking to early stage startup founders (see Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions ) about what they plan to do. Many of these founders have talked with several developers or development firms about their plans. I tend to ask a lot of questions, challenge aspects, make suggestions.

Developer 396

Developer Founder Viral Oauth 396

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

Almost every day I'm talking to early stage startup founders (see Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions ) about what they plan to do. Many of these founders have talked with several developers or development firms about their plans. I tend to ask a lot of questions, challenge aspects, make suggestions.

Developer 384

Developer Founder Viral Oauth 384

SoCal CTO

MAY 13, 2014

Solving the Founder-Tech Gap that came out of some fun conversations that Bob and I have been having. You can’t afford and don’t want to hire a full-time CTO or architect. Getting someone who’s fully employed somewhere else to work with you on a limited basis to help close the gap is hugely important for the non-technical founder.

Advisory Board 241

Advisory Board Fractional CTO CTO Hire Startup 241

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

I've talked about that in lots of other posts, so you can visit some of these to help determine what you specifically need: Startup CTO or Developer Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Before You Develop Anything Key ingredients in the equation are: How complex is the system? Do you have dollars to pay for development?

Technical Cofounder 211

Technical Cofounder Cofounder CTO Hire Los Angeles 211

SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2012

Hiring seems to be the preferred use of seed funds (by investors and founders), whereas I'd prefer a focus on customer acquisition. And that should be the focus of the founders -- to find the special fit that will make your company take off. The startup founder is definitely not ready to hire a CTO. Far from it.

CTO Hire 205

CTO Hire Technical Cofounder Fractional CTO Los Angeles 205

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

Founders vs. Early Employees To help with this discussion, let me start with a definition of "early employee." The first few people into a startup are on a spectrum of founder vs. early employee. Founders are likely not paid for a long time and have a sizeable equity percentage for early risk and having the concept.

Early Stage 391

Early Stage Equity CTO Hire Sweat Equity 391

SoCal CTO

JUNE 13, 2011

We had an interesting presentation at the LA CTO Forum by the CTO of a startup who chose Groovy / Grails as the framework for their startup. t prompted a good discussion around how CTOs go about choosing the programming language and framework for their startup. Get get help (see Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions ).

Framework 330

Framework Programming Ruby Fractional CTO 330

SoCal CTO

APRIL 23, 2010

Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Before You Develop Anything Startup Software Developers Symptoms of a Weak Development Team Technology Roles in Startups Startup CTO or Developer Part-Time CTO Technology Advisor CTO Founder Acting CTO Software Development Company Finding Good Developers in Los Angeles Startup Opportunities in SoCal Really (..)

CTO Hire 219

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles Developer 219

SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2013

What's Going to Go Wrong A lot of founders don't really understand Lean Startup principles. They look at the following high level definition of Lean: and they interpret that as write up an executive summary with your ideas and hand it to developers to build. What's going to go wrong?

Technical Cofounder 219

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Developers Software Development 219

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 30, 2010

Funny graphic by @shanesnow that captures the difference between web designers vs. web developers: Like the issue of Startup CTO or Developer , often startup founders who are less technical have this same question. Do I need a designer or a developer?

Web Development 278

Web Development Web Design Developer 278

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

I was talking with an early-stage founder who has a product vision and wants to get it built. I asked some of the same questions I ask in my Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions and then I get to a very common conversation: Me : Do you have specs? Founder : Ummm. Founder : Umm. what do you mean? I know how it feels.

Developer 354

Developer Technical Review Fractional CTO Software Review 354

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. And don’t confuse having a CTO with getting an Technology Advisor.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Advisory Board Technology Fractional CTO 150

SoCal CTO

MAY 10, 2011

A long-time friend and colleague, Steve Wexler, who is great at visualization took my Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data and produced a really need interactive visualization via Tableau. You can click on the filters such as Founder Status (#3) and Job Title (#4) to filter to that particular data. Most non-founders have less than 2%.

Salary 198

Salary Equity San Francisco Dilution 198

SoCal CTO

MAY 10, 2011

A long-time friend and colleague, Steve Wexler, who is great at visualization took my Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data and produced a really need interactive visualization via Tableau. You can click on the filters such as Founder Status (#3) and Job Title (#4) to filter to that particular data. Most non-founders have less than 2%.

Salary 175

Salary Equity San Francisco Dilution 175

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 27, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, February 27, 2007 Stanford Podcasts - eHarmony - Greg Waldorf I was just pointed to a set of great podcasts done by Stanford B-School and particularly, I just listed to the podcast by eHarmonys Greg Waldorf. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

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

OCTOBER 6, 2011

" Today I had two conversations with early stage startups (see Free CTO Consulting ). In both cases, the founder and I brainstormed on ways to shift the product in order to get closer to what I perceived as something that would be great. " One was an enterprise software product. Customer Validation 101.

Customer 227

Customer Fractional CTO Viral Lean 227

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Sunday, February 25, 2007 Challenge of Predicting Winners I just read a bit on the payout to YouTube from the Google Acquisition ( Internet News , CNN ). He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. He has been the CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 5, 2007

link] [link] Posted byTony Karrer at 5:33 PM 0comments: Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) About Me Tony Karrer Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO.

Open Source 150

Open Source Business Model Technical Cofounder Southern California 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 23, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Friday, February 23, 2007 Events and Networking in Los Angeles One of the issues I discussed in Innovation and Geography was that the geography and traffic in Los Angeles generally makes it more difficult for networking. Startup Co-Founders: If You Cant Recruit Em, Should You Join Em?

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Technical Cofounder Southern California Networking 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. He has been the CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO?

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Thursday, March 1, 2007 Entreprenuer Network Great post by Ben Kuo - The Importance of the “Network&# to Entrepreneurs - the informal connections between people in the technology industry here who have a vested interest in helping entrepreneurs take their companies to the next level.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Networking Southern California Los Angeles 150