View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Now it’s time to discuss the “where”. As a seed-stage company, it is understandable to have a nascent (or non-existent) product and a barebone team relative to the great ambition of the company. Once you get to this part of the pitch, investors are trying to get a few things out of this slide: The “people roadmap”.

Part-Time VPE 195

Part-Time VPE Seed Stage CTO Hire Forecast 195

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 28, 2014

We particularly like this post, Hiring Executives: If You’ve Never Done the Job, How Do You Hire Somebody Good? , In order to ensure completeness, I find it useful to include criteria from the following sub-divisions when hiring executives: Will the executive be world class at running the function? Melissa Bell, Vox.com.

Part-Time VPE 160

Part-Time VPE Sales Lean Cofounder 160

Steve Blank

JANUARY 25, 2011

The benefits of customer and agile development and minimum features set are continuous customer feedback, rapid iteration and little wasted code. But over time if developers aren’t careful, code written to find early customers can become unwieldy, difficult to maintain and incapable of scaling. It Seems Logical.

Part-Time VPE 323

Part-Time VPE Agile Engineer Startup 323

Cracking the Code

MAY 2, 2019

Recruiting and retaining top talent is even more challenging for software engineers. To get an insight into how successful start-ups approach team building, we spoke to Sylvain Utard, employee number 1 and VP of Engineering at Algolia, an Accel portfolio company. The second is to demonstrate the reach of the product.

Part-Time VPE 48

Part-Time VPE Engineer Retention API 48

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017

A chief technology officer (CTO) is a C-suite executive who is focused on scientific and technological issues including web applications, mobile applications, electronic and digital media development. A CTO will guide your product strategy, market validation, architectural decisions, process optimization, recruiting, and hiring.

Fractional CTO 54

Fractional CTO CTO Hire CTO Technical Review 54

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 1, 2014

Another way to learn more about who’s speaking is to sort the conference program by category and find people addressing specific topics. He’s a founder of Andreessen Horowitz, which has backed Facebook, Skype, Jawbone, and dozens of other companies whose products you use. And the whole site was developed in just 9 weeks.

Lean 165

Lean Fractional CTO Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE 165

Version One Ventures

AUGUST 26, 2016

There’s a lot of debate surrounding the right time to bring executive level hires into your start-up. With that said, here are some general guidelines I have developed over the years for building a management team. First, your hiring/team building strategy should follow two key rules. 2 nd hire: VP of Finance.

Part-Time VPE 60

Part-Time VPE Management Finance Vertical 60

Ben's Blog

OCTOBER 14, 2010

The biggest difference between being a great functional manager and being a great general manager—and particularly a great CEO—is that as a general manager, you must hire and manage people who are far more competent at their jobs than you would be at their jobs. So, with no experience, how do you hire someone good? Probably none.

Part-Time VPE 78

Part-Time VPE Hiring Wisconsin Matching 78

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. I set up an advisory board as a vehicle to get these industry experts engaged with the company and product.

Engineer 221

Engineer Silicon Valley Part-Time VPE Advisory Board 221

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. In addition to attending board meetings I spent time with the CTO trying to understand the technical challenges he was trying to solve.

CTO Hire 308

CTO Hire Management Technical Review Part-Time VPE 308

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

In the early days of Rocket Science I realized that we needed high-level advice on multiple fronts; technology, game development, video game distribution, etc. One of the first potential advisors I reached out to was someone who 10 years earlier tried to hire me as the VP of Marketing of his new division at Sun Microsystems.

Advisory Board 264

Advisory Board Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Stock 264

Seeing Both Sides

JANUARY 14, 2013

Today's post is brought to you by my friend, Paul Blumenfeld , a recruiter who is one of the most thoughtful people I know when it comes to hiring processes. Many hiring managers write a job spec that is heavy on wishes and low on real needs. I see two reasons for this discrepancy: Static Specs. that would get the interview.

Part-Time VPE 54

Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Matching Hiring 54

Austin Startup

AUGUST 19, 2018

You can still get on a panel by finding an existing panel that was submitted and adding yourself to it. It’s not too hard to find the panel organizer on social media and reach out to them. You just raised $10MM from Sequoia, you’re 3 co-founders, and you want to go hire the VP of Engineering from Uber. Don’t worry.

CTO Hire 48

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Fractional VPE Austin 48

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

A Phone Call After I left MIPS Computers I was in New York tagging along with a friend (a computer architect whose products at Apple a decade later would change the shape of personal computing) who was consulting for a voice recognition startup. I’ve convinced the team you’d be perfect, come join us as the VP of Marketing.”

North Carolina 131

North Carolina Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 131

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

Twenty eight years ago I was the bright, young, eager product marketing manager called out to the field to support sales by explaining the technical details of Convergent Technologies products to potential customers. They couldn’t keep up with the fast product development times that were enabled by using standard microprocessors.

Technology 143

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 143

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

When Ive asked mentors of mine who have worked in big companies about the role of the CTO, they usually talk about the importance of being the external face of the companys technology platform; an evangelist to developers, customers, and employees. Thats an important job, for sure, and Ive been called upon to do it from time to time.

CTO 168

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 25, 2010

The path to our involvement with the company dates back to last December, actually, when I attended a Gilt Groupe “Expert Talk” run by Josh Knowles, formally their VP of Engineering. I wouldn’t negotiate weekend plans via Twitter, or debate a feature with a product team.

Part-Time VPE 109

Part-Time VPE New York City SMS Syndicate 109

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

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.&# If you find him, he’s gold, and not only because of his knowledge and experience.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Fractional VPE 40

ConversionXL

AUGUST 18, 2021

A product demo is a critical tool in the sales process. What makes a compelling product demo? A good product demonstration should do three things: 1. Introduce your product. If you can demonstrate how your product makes a user’s life easier, everything else will fall into place. Done right, it’s a deal maker.

Product 122

Product Analytics Part-Time VPE Video 122

devver.wordpress.com

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

The Devver Blog A Boulder startup improving the way developers work. Boulder CTO December Lunch with Tim Wolters with 5 comments The Boulder CTO Lunch meets once a month with a guest speaker and covers topics and questions that startup CTOs should find interesting. The Role As a CTO, you paint a landscape of the product and market.

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Part-Time VPE Architecture Ruby 40

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 21, 2013

They may run a function, such as product or engineering, or they may have a broader operational role and carry a COO title. For example, at one of my portfolio companies, the other founder looked after administration, finance, operations, product and engineering. But then the company hired a VP of operations.

Cofounder 45

Cofounder Founder Part-Time VPE Portfolio 45

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 16, 2020

The same person can be a developer and a technical manager, while a non-technical founder is more likely to be accountable for marketing. 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.

Fractional CTO 85

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Part-Time VPE 85

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?” You see there is a creative tension along the spectrum of time and scope. If you pull too hard at the scope end of the chain your time drifts. Not funny, “ha, ha” but pretty apropos.

Software 344

Software Part-Time VPE Engineer Leadership 344

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 11, 2023

No Knowledge of Computers Silicon Valley emerged from work in World War II led by Stanford professor Fred Terman developing microwave and electronics for Electronic Warfare systems. Norris became the VP of Engineering, Engstrom the VP of Research, and Meader VP of Manufacturing. Why Minneapolis/St.

Minnesota 309

Minnesota Engineer Minneapolis Silicon Valley 309

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

Don’t hire people with skills and qualifications similar to yours. If you have a technical background and you are focused on product development, consider a co-founder with a sales and marketing background that can focus on selling your world class product. Hiring the right people at the right time is key.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

In a few cases, they are clearly smart people in a bad situation, and Ive written about their pain in The product managers lament and The engineering managers lament. Its common to find a hacker at the heart of almost any successful technology company. The "just fix it" mentality is counter-productive here.

Software Review 94

Software Review Technical Review Part-Time VPE San Francisco 94

firstround.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Product and Engineering. How to Go From Google Engineer to First-Time CTO. Product and Engineering. How to Go From Google Engineer to First-Time CTO. Ian Langworth started his career as an O’Reilly author and software engineer at Google. First Round Capital. The Review.

CTO Hire 52

CTO Hire Engineer Software Review Part-Time VPE 52

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 16, 2012

Last week, I wrote about Akamai , a company with strong network effects that successfully transitioned from a single product to build a platform that garners over a billion dollars in revenue and is now a core part of the Internet’s fabric. Scaling Lesson 1: Focus On Finding A Great Business Model.

Part-Time VPE 54

Part-Time VPE Software Review Costa Rica Technical Review 54

www.women2.org

MARCH 8, 2012

Published on: July 13, 2011 Posted By Angie Tags: Elizabeth Knopf , Finding A Co-Founder , FounderDating , Sorced , Technical Co-Founder , Tips & Tricks. After quitting my job and starting Sorced , I spent a few months validating my business concept by creating the product mockups and doing customer development.

Cofounder 47

Cofounder Technical Review San Francisco Founder 47

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

We met back in 2005 through our respective blogs—he was writing at Businesspundit at the time. Always working on something entrepreneurial, he had a team of developers at the ready to execute on new projects. Rob's had a number of conversations with key market players around business development and is open to more.

Cloud 117

Cloud Part-Time VPE API Louisville 117

www.paulgraham.com

AUGUST 1, 2008

We could hire employees, but we want to be forced to figure out how to scale investing. In essense, let the market design the product. We think of the techniques were developing for dealing with large numbers of startups as like software. Promising new startups are often discovered by developers.

Web 54

Web Startup Silicon Valley Technical Review 54

blog.expensify.com

APRIL 24, 2012

Update: The end is near, Expensify is hiring a.NET programmer! Or, rather, more offensively to Facebook and Google employees, less offensive to.NET developers, though the underlying message is the same.). As you might know, we’re hiring the best programmers in the world. Expensify Blog. Some additional comments at the end.

Java 107

Java PHP Software Review Coder 107