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. Would you create contracts without an attorney?

Technical Review 332

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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.

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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. These companies are very early-stage and definitely have not shown product/market fit.

CTO Hire 205

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rapidrollout.wordpress.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

Web Startup Lessons Advice from a CTO and Entrepreneur Home About Startup Advice: When to Use a Consulting CTO There are not many to be found. Most likely, this is a person who is a serial entrepreneur and was the chief technology officer for two or more web startups. .&#

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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

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?

Developer 354

Developer Technical Review Fractional CTO Software Review 354

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 2, 2013

I've had several Startup CTO Consulting sessions recently where it became apparent that the Founder needed help with the business and product as much or more than the technology. Then I got an email that asked: I'm leading the marketing efforts for an early-stage startup. For me, I'd use LinkedIn.

Startup 259

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www.bothsidesofthetable.com

MAY 13, 2012

Want to Know Difference Between a CTO and a VP of Engineering? Because more technology people probably read startup blogs I’m guessing this post will come under more scrutiny. Still, I believe I’m offering an accurate representation of the ideal configuration of the main technology leaders. Raising Venture Capital.

Fractional VPE 89

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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

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

We then help surround founders with other talent who want to join important causes but don’t have the startup idea themselves. We help founders through difficult moments, we help coach, we act as sparring partners, we help them resolve conflicts when they’re fighting with co-founders and we help them deal with adversity as well as successes.

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Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

This is true for early stage funding as well as venture capital funding. 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. Don’t make everyone a founder. Early Stage.

Part-Time VPE 79

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

CEO, VP Products and CTO must all be in the physical location. Also, founders who pitch me when they themselves live in separate locations don’t get very far with me. I don’t like distributed development teams in early stage businesses. I prefer that early stage companies not offshore development.

Distribution 335

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Mike Michalowicz

SEPTEMBER 8, 2015

Scott Spiro is founder and President of Computer Solutions Group, Inc (CSG), and author of the book “Hassle Free Computer Support”. CSG offers its clients both an outsourced Chief Technology Officer and an entire I.T. department for a fraction of the price of hiring these resources in-house.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

But the thing I am most proud of about Rob is that he has taken a company with a uniquely talented founder & CTO – Nick Halstead – and managed to build a very tight working relationship with Nick where we drive world-class product development without having the usual founder / CEO conflicts.

Advisory Board 365

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 5, 2007

Common revenue streams are consulting, training, support, customization, upgraded versions for corporate applications, etc. 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?

Open Source 150

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SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

My first job out of school was at one of the early bioinformatics companies in Silicon Valley, working as the head of technical services. This is a novel user interaction that embeds casual entertainment directly into the operating system experience, based on some fairly interesting underlying technology. Details coming soon!)

Management 150

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Early Growth Financial Services

DECEMBER 11, 2012

by Tony Karrer Originally published on SoCal CTO 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.

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Austin Startup

MARCH 7, 2018

Brunner (@heatherjbrunner) | Twitter Preston James Co-founder & CEO DivInc Preston is at the center of everything Diversity & Inclusion in Austin. Eugene Sepulveda (@EugeneAustin) | Twitter Ingrid Vandervelt CEO & Founder EBW2020 Ingrid Vanderveldt is the Chairman and CEO of Empowering a Billion Women by 2020 (EBW2020).

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Technical Cofounder Cofounder Fractional CTO CTO 48

www.entrepreneur.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

When you're getting started, sweat equity is often a critical component of your negotiating leverage with co-founders, early stage employees and others who aren't paid market wages to help you grow your business. Sweat equity is just one component of early-stage valuation.

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The Next Web

JANUARY 24, 2014

Think of Werner Vogels (CTO of Amazon), Guido van Rossem (founder of Python programming language and senior engineer at Dropbox) or the more senior Gerard Kleisterlee (chairman of Vodafone). We have great intellectual property protection, and have efficient ways to enforce contracts. The Netherlands remains open for business.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2012

Or riding a crazy party bus and sitting next to Aaron Batalion the co-founder & CTO of Living Social. Office Space. I always love visiting companies because you can tell so much about the character of the company by spending time in their offices. Nom nom nom. It’s an obvious temptation. The Haimish factor.

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David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

I’ve talked with a number of software development shops who are eager to get into the business of cofounding companies, i.e., getting product revenue and equity instead of just consulting revenue. What are the terms of their relationship with the founder? They’re typically pursuing a foundry/studio model. What are the timelines?

Software Developers 60

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

I guess it should not be a surprise that Founders have lots of challenges working with developers. Challenges I started by asking the founders in the room to tell me some of the challenges they have working with developers. Developers (and Founders) are challenged to know how much is okay in terms of bugs.

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Technical Cofounder Developer Fractional CTO CTO Hire 280

www.metamorphblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Home About Contact Home About Contact The Metamorphosis Becoming an Entrepreneur, by Matt Mireles Startup Lessons for the Proto-Founder I started SpeakerText in October 2008 during the financial apocalypse. You need a Co-Founder, not an Engineering Bitch. Treat everyone you hire like a co-founder. Tiny, contracting market.

Founder 51

Founder Startup Cofounder Vesting 51

SoCal CTO

JUNE 26, 2012

I've done four Free CTO Consulting Sessions in the past month with startup founders who all had run into variations of the same problem. Investors and early customers were becoming worried about the ability of the founder to deliver. My belief is that you shouldn't sign that contract. Making small changes.

Software Developers 254

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Mucker Lab

APRIL 6, 2023

Obviously if you target enterprise customers, you usually have a very large ACV (Annual Contract Value) and the product usually is complex. What should an early-stage startup founder focus on if they want to implement PLG? What should the founder avoid if they want to implement PLG? Think about Adobe.

Product 78

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www.quora.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Type to Add and Search Questions; Search Topics and People Startups Startup Compensation Entrepreneurship Compensation Stock Options Major Internet Companies Silicon Valley Why is there such a large founder to early employee equity drop-off? The real question here is: why is it fair for founders to get so much more?

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Equity Employee Founder Cofounder 40

www.geekwire.com

JULY 10, 2012

According to the Dow Jones research, 43 early-stage funds raised $3.1 Madrona’s new $300 million fund — while the largest in the firm’s history — certainly qualifies in the early-stage group. IT staffing, consulting and software development services. Snow Creek Technology Law PS. ServerLogic.

Venture Capital 42

Venture Capital Seattle Cofounder Software Engineering 42

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. A few days later Gordon became a founder. Wasn’t he a CTO or something? (He

North Carolina 125

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 4, 2010

I’ve worked with 30+ early-stage companies in all sorts of capacities (and spoken to many, many more), so I thought it might be worthwhile trying to classify the various ways that I’ve engaged in different technology roles in startups. And a big factor is how big is the Founder Developer Gap.

Technical Review 170

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mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

For the first-time entrepreneur or founder looking for seed stage funding, this circle can be especially difficult to penetrate. Mashable Mashable reached out to angels, seed stage investors and VC firm partners and asked them to share their wisdom with the rest of us.

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Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

One of the things I do as a founder of a later stage startup is to meet with early stage entrepreneurs to help them get their companies going. Why was it ok for you to have no talent but a great idea and label yourself a co-founder of a company but advise against it for anyone else? and Google. This happens a lot.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Non-Technical Co-Founders Co-Founders Technical Co-founders Finding Co-Founders Startups & "How Important Are Ideas?" " Web Development Startups Solo Founders I am a creative guy with a startup idea. Rockstar v.

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