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. I'd suggest: Startup CTO or Developer , Startup Founder Developer Gap , Part-Time CTO , Technology Advisor , CTO Founder , Acting CTO.

CTO Hire 282

CTO Hire Los Angeles Hiring Technical Review 282

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. Because we were so busy in the last 3 months, I did not had a chance to talk to the founders about my compensation for the time spent and future salary etc.

CTO 150

CTO CTO Hire Equity Vesting 150

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 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. I'd suggest: Startup CTO or Developer , Startup Founder Developer Gap , Part-Time CTO , Technology Advisor , CTO Founder , Acting CTO.

CTO Hire 225

CTO Hire Los Angeles Hiring Technical Review 225

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Did they really need a Startup CTO or Developer or both? And do I fit as a Part-Time CTO , Technology Advisor , CTO Founder , Acting CTO ? He needed some kind of CTO and as well Developers.

Technical Cofounder 241

Technical Cofounder CTO Hire Equity Sweat Equity 241

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2023

You need to find the skills or experience you don’t have in business, technology, or money. Giving a cofounder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. The CTO of many technical startups was the original founder. So, the first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth?

Technical Cofounder 247

Technical Cofounder Equity Distribution Cofounder 247

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2020

You need to find the skills or experience you don’t have in business, technology, or money. Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. The CTO of many technical startups was the original founder. So the first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth?

Cofounder 435

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Equity Intellectual Property 435

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

This week they set out to create their cap table and hire a CTO. Jane and Dick want to bring in their friend Praveena as CTO, but they don’t know how to structure the compensation. With the funds Jane and Dick have, a big salary is not possible. The founders each have common shares that will vest over four years.

Cap Table 133

Cap Table CTO Hire Technical Cofounder Cofounder 133

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 10, 2023

For starters, first figure out which industry you want to work in, narrow it down, and work hard to get intros at the senior levels to a handful of companies (Board of Directors member, Advisory Board member, member of the C-suite (CEO, CTO, CFO, etc), and/or investor.) This all came in handy when negotiating salary, title, and function.

Government 174

Government CTO Hire Technical Review Advisory Board 174

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

Suppose further that he's going to cost $60k a year in salary and overhead, x 1.5 = $90k total. You can also look at some data around this in Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data at some specific numbers at different stages Where I Come Out Again, like Fred Wilson says, early employee equity is more art than science.

Early Stage 391

Early Stage Equity CTO Hire Sweat Equity 391

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. For example, if you hover over the big circle in California you can see that there were 303 responses for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Salary 198

Salary Equity San Francisco Dilution 198

Business Plan Blog

AUGUST 20, 2013

In order to be a successful tech startup, the team must consist of a Chief Technical Officer (CTO) level member to help with the technology plan. This is generally achieved in one of the following ways: CTO Level Co-Founder (Equity). CTO Level Board Member or dedicated Adviser (Free or Equity).

CTO Hire 55

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Architecture Cofounder 55

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. For example, if you hover over the big circle in California you can see that there were 303 responses for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Salary 175

Salary Equity San Francisco Dilution 175

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

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

You need to find the skills or experience you don’t have in business, technology, or money. Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. The CTO of many technical startups was the original founder. So the first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth?

Equity 238

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 238

Occam's Razor

DECEMBER 3, 2008

My goal is to climb the ranks and increase my salary." I am getting to how you can increase your salary part. It is quite likely that you'll sit in the IT (CTO / CIO) function. Each unique in its job, salary and future prospects. I feel like am an Analytics God. " Let me hasten to add two things.

Technical Review 115

Technical Review Analytics Salary Fractional CTO 115

www.huffingtonpost.com

MAY 10, 2011

Ive occasionally worked with executive recruiters, for example in hiring a CTO for my first company, Eve.com. To sum up, heres what I would do again as a non-technical founder looking for a technical co-founder or CTO. Minted.com is both a global design community and stationery retailer. Dove Ad Casts Spotlight On Madison Avenue.

CTO 43

CTO CTO Hire PHP Cofounder 43

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2022

CEO brought in to replace the founder, 5 - 10% CTO, CFO, VP of Marketing or Sales, 1.5 - 3% Chief Engineer or Architect, 1 - 1.5% Offers near the high end of a range will likely come with a lower cash salary, maybe even 50% of the going rate. Your compensation is the total package of stock plus salary plus benefits.

Stock Options 343

Stock Options Advisory Board Stock Startup 343

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

Have a CTO Advisor Provide Their Guidance & Due Diligence Suggestions on a Large Upcoming Technology Expenditure. There is no better return on investment that you can make – you can pay them on a quarterly or annual fee for a mere fraction of what their normal salary would be.

CTO Hire 100

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Small Business Hiring 100

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. By referring to ?TO-as-a-Service

Fractional CTO 85

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Part-Time VPE 85

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

This includes establishing sales objectives and compensation plans for all sales personnel, including salary structures, commission plans, sales contests and bonus plans. CTO, Modcloth – San Francisco, CA (corrected from e-mail version) Remember that girl from back home? How do you like them apples?

Part-Time VPE 92

Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Engineer Sales 92

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2014

You need to find the skills or experience you don’t have in business, technology or money. Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. The CTO of many technical startups was the original founder. The first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth?

Cofounder 261

Cofounder Stock Founder Technical Cofounder 261

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 21, 2022

One of the greatest ways to do so is hiring a CMO or Chief Marketing Officer, an experienced, result-driven executive responsible for all your marketing efforts. But with an average annual salary of over $330,000 many small to mid-sized businesses can’t easily afford a CMO.

Fractional CTO 63

Fractional CTO Small Business Metrics Revenue 63

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

You need to find the skills or experience you don’t have in business, technology, or money. Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. The CTO of many technical startups was the original founder. So the first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth?

Equity 120

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 120

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

They often make great team members such as head of products, CTO, head of sales, CFO, etc. Your financial risks of starting most technology companies these days are so low. It’s lost salary for a period of time. Pay me half salary until the fund is closed. On half salary and my own moving expenses.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur CTO Hire South America Salary 293

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 14, 2012

If a candidate for your technical lead was a CTO at a big company, for example, but he or she says they want to manage and not code, then he or she is not the right fit for an early-stage startup]. Don’t be fooled by titles. Focus on candidates’ real hands-on experience and accomplishments. It’s worth spending time on recruiting.

Technical Review 159

Technical Review CTO Hire Software Review Startup 159

The Next Web

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

So, a CEO or CTO, would get a much higher stake than an office manager or a graphic designer, as an example. Is this person taking a salary or not? People that are not taking a salary, should also get a premium stake. How important is this person’s role? Key executives should get a premium stake over non-key executives.

Cofounder 136

Cofounder Equity Founder Seed Stage 136

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

Now that Dick and Jane have added a CTO to SayAhh’s founding team, they’ve turned their full attention to working on their product. The largest expense a company usually has at this stage is salaries. However, Dick, Jane and Praveena have decided to initially forgo salaries which helps them conserve cash in the near term.

Balance Sheet 125

Balance Sheet Fractional CTO Burn Rate Salary 125

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Soon after he was promoted to Senior Architect, our highest role without being CTO. We told him we’d file all the legal papers, pay for his move and normalize his salary with San Francisco. We decided to give Ryan more than he had even asked for as a show of goodwill. I knew that meant he wouldn’t come back.

San Francisco 322

San Francisco South Africa CTO Hire Fractional CTO 322

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

CEO brought in to replace the founder, 5 - 10% CTO, CFO, VP of Marketing or Sales, 1.5 - 3% Chief Engineer or Architect, 1 - 1.5% Offers near the high end of a range will likely come with a lower cash salary, maybe even 50% of the going rate. Your compensation is the total package of stock plus salary plus benefits.

Equity 237

Equity Stock Options Advisory Board Stock 237

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

There are those amongst us the are willing to abandon the comforts of a job with a salary and perhaps the prestige of being able to tell family members, loved ones and friends that “I work for Google, Goldman Sachs, Apple, FedEx, Verizon or Coca Cola” and instead put out selves out there to potentially look stupid one day.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review South Korea San Francisco Software Review 417

The Next Web

DECEMBER 2, 2013

Saul estimates that he’d want a 20-person team working more than one year to deploy Angry Birds and at an average salary of $110,000 for a total budget of $2.2 So 15 people at an average salary of $110,000 and you’re looking at about $1.65 million plus overhead. Of course, if you’re hiring an agency, you’re probably looking at 1.5

Cost 168

Cost San Francisco New York City Ruby 168

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 2, 2011

Plus, my fear is that there are barriers in those areas that may be difficult to scale—namely salary and lifestyle. If you’ve already got someone that optimized for making the most annual salary, joining a startup might be a difficult sell. Find a small group of technical advisors to oversee syllabus creation, program structure, etc.

Developer 117

Developer New York City Java Ruby 117

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2017

CEO brought in to replace the founder, 5 - 10% CTO, CFO, VP of Marketing or Sales, 1.5 - 3% Chief Engineer or Architect, 1 - 1.5% Offers near the high end of a range will likely come with a lower cash salary, maybe even 50% of the going rate. Your compensation is the total package of stock plus salary plus benefits.

Stock 140

Stock Stock Options Advisory Board Startup 140

SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

they need a developer more than they need a CTO. What happens when you have a really good developer is that a gap exists where you may not ask the right questions to specify the right system, consider appropriate 3rd party technologies, etc. Many are not interested in 3rd party technologies that can streamline development.

Technical Cofounder 280

Technical Cofounder Developer Fractional CTO CTO Hire 280

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2013

CEO brought in to replace the founder, 5 - 10% CTO, CFO, VP of Marketing or Sales, 1.5 - 3% Chief Engineer or Architect, 1 - 1.5% Offers near the high end of a range will come with a lower cash salary, maybe even 50% of the going rate. Your compensation is the total package of stock plus salary plus benefits.

Stock Options 224

Stock Options Stock Advisory Board Startup 224

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 14, 2009

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., reduced salary, partial equity, good experience, etc. I’ll give you equity in the company.”

Software Developers 150

Software Developers Software Development Software Developer 150