article thumbnail

Startup CTO or Developer

TechEmpower

But be careful, and mind the gap – the Founder-Developer Gap, that is! Hiring a hands-on lead developer might seem like the right move for an early stage startup. But hiring a lead developer, or even a VP of Engineering, can create a gap between the founders and the developers. And how can you tell?

CTO Hire 260
article thumbnail

Equity for Early Employees in Early Stage Startups

SoCal CTO

I was asked by a reader how much equity he should give out to early employees and to service providers in a very early stage startup. Founders vs. Early Employees To help with this discussion, let me start with a definition of "early employee." I'll get to service providers in a later post.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Early-stage Regional Venture Funds–part 2 of 3 of Bigger in Bend

Steve Blank

Dino Vendetti a VC at Bay Partners, moved up to Bend, Oregon on a mission to engineer Bend into a regional technology cluster. Part 2: Early-stage Regional Venture Funds. Part 3: Engineering a Regional Tech Cluster. What’s Missing Is Early Stage Capital. Part 1: Bend, Oregon Ecosystem and Entrepreneurs.

article thumbnail

Technical Advisors: Every Startup Needs One

TechEmpower

Startup founders make decisions on a daily basis – significant decisions that will have lasting impact on their business. CTO Founder – Do they really still need a technical advisor? No good innovator turns down advice! Why do this without the right technical advisor? Would you create contracts without an attorney?

article thumbnail

Google Engineer: How We Interview, How I’d Beat Us for Talent, & How Non-Technical Founders Should Approach Devs

View from Seed

Saurya Velagapudi is a senior software engineer at Google, based in their Cambridge, Mass., I recently chatted with Saurya about how he approaches hiring engineers at Google and what founders can learn. I recently chatted with Saurya about how he approaches hiring engineers at Google and what founders can learn.

article thumbnail

Seed Stage Founders Undervalue Angels With Marketing & Comms Expertise

Hunter Walker

In addition to our dollars, we are eager to help founders with the construction of their cap table, not just generically with the highest profile folks available, but more specifically where they might get some help along the way. What expertise do the founders personally have? Founders Often Don’t Come From These Backgrounds….

article thumbnail

Technical Advisors: Every Web/Mobile Startup Must Have One

SoCal CTO

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?