Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 1, 2014

Guest post by Lisa Regan, writer for The Lean Startup Conference The Lean Startup Conference is next week--and now that we can step back and see all the speakers and mentors, we have to say: Wow. Another way to learn more about who’s speaking is to sort the conference program by category and find people addressing specific topics.

Lean 165

Lean Fractional CTO Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE 165

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I would discover that there was a more effective alternative in building a marketing department than hiring traditional marketers with MBA’s. Some of these advisors from the academic community would work with our of VP of Engineering and help us solve specific technical problems.

Engineer 205

Engineer Silicon Valley Part-Time VPE Advisory Board 205

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

I’ve convinced the team you’d be perfect, come join us as the VP of Marketing.” My ex-boss was going to be the VP of Engineering and I would report to the CEO whose marketing acumen and sales instincts seemed at the time to be telepathic and sense of theater was legend. Only then did I realize we both forgot to ask.

North Carolina 126

North Carolina Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 126

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

So I initially gravitated to the CTO title, and not VP of Engineering. It became harder and harder to separate how the software is built from how the software is structured. If youre trying to design an architecture to maximize agility, how can that work if some people are working in TDD and others not?

CTO 168

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

Business customers were starting to ask for “office automation solutions” – word processing, spreadsheets, graphing software on a desktop. Their engineering teams didn’t have the expertise using off-the-shelf microprocessors (back then “real” computer companies designed their own instruction sets and operating systems.)

Technology 139

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 139

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2014

There’s an old joke in software development, “How much time does it take to design software?” ” Answer: As long as you have scheduled for the design phase. If you’ve been involved with a number of software projects you already have an intuitive sense for this.

Software 344

Software Part-Time VPE Engineer Leadership 344

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 16, 2020

The expertise of administrators and senior-level developers suffices to handle routine technical tasks under the guidance of such company members as VP of Engineering, Team Lead, and Project Manager. The “right” time to bring in a CTO varies from company to company. Where to find a skilled CTO? OK, I need a CaaS.

Fractional CTO 85

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Part-Time VPE 85