SoCal CTO

MAY 21, 2013

I''m spending more of my time recently working with non-technical startup founders who are having challenges with their software/web/mobile development teams. These are often the same things that cause a founder to reach out to me about helping their CTO, VP Engineering, tech team, off-shore development, etc. Is there a lot of rework?

Fractional CTO 219

Fractional CTO Developer Founder Architecture 219

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. But the reality is that I engage with about 5 new startups each year which means that I end up working with less than 5% of the startups where I provide these free consulting sessions. Do you have a Startup Founder Developer Gap ?

Fractional CTO 264

Fractional CTO CTO Hire NDA Technical Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. But the reality is that I engage with about 5 new startups each year which means that I end up working with less than 5% of the startups where I provide these free consulting sessions. Do you have a Startup Founder Developer Gap ?

Fractional CTO 259

Fractional CTO CTO Hire NDA Technical Review 259

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Continuing my series of posts that I’ve been collecting that live at the intersection of Startups and being a Startup CTO : Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March here are the top posts from May 2010. It is to out friend. Enjoyed this post? Disruptive. We get it! I Be specific. Stay Tuned.

Fractional CTO 248

Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2010

If you’re a Web-based startup, for example, show me how many unique visitors you think you can get in the beginning, and what you’re using for an estimated conversion rate (buyers to browsers). Show me how much each unique visitor is going to cost you in search engine optimization and pay-per-click search engine expense.

Metrics 159

Metrics Startup Retention Software Developers 159

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 26, 2010

However, I’ve now begun questioning how and what an early-stage / startup CTO should be. Most often at the earliest point in the life of a startup, the dominant need is certainly to produce product to get something in the market, get funding, etc. Here are a bunch of other kinds of questions that get addressed by Startup CTOs.

CTO 225

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 225

SoCal CTO

APRIL 18, 2012

Todd Gitlin of Safire Partners - a go to resource here in LA for recruiting C-level positions at startups - was nice enough to compile some data again this year (see last year's Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data ). What I had not realized is that this had translated into escalating salaries for CTOs and VP Engineering.

CTO Hire 294

CTO Hire Salary Equity Los Angeles 294

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? Did they really need a Startup CTO or Developer or both? who start with small equity percentages don’t end up making very much from startups. Was it a case of needing Homework?

Technical Cofounder 241

Technical Cofounder CTO Hire Equity Sweat Equity 241

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2013

Yesterday, I was talking to a startup founder about their MVP and they said something that finally got me to write this post: "I have a few investors interested but they want to see a product." Often you can't tell if something like a search engine or matching algorithm is really going to have better results until you use it.

Algorithm 264

Algorithm Metrics Viral Venture Capital 264

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2012

Aggregage , the platform that powers StartupRoar has added a powerful personalization engine. That means that the site now allows users to sign-up and have their content personalized based on their interests. It always has great, fresh content from a wide variety of industry professionals.

CTO Hire 175

CTO Hire Seed Stage Curation Matching 175

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 9, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 13, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles Internet 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Networking Southern California Los Angeles 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 5, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Open Source 150

Open Source Business Model Technical Cofounder Southern California 150

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

I received a great question via LinkedIn: I'm the founding engineer and working hard to launch my startup. I've previously addressed the role of a CTO in early-stages in my post Startup CTO or Developer. What metrics are going to be the key startup metrics and how do we get those metrics without too much cost?

CTO Hire 231

CTO Hire Technical Review Developer Software Review 231

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

I recently had a conversation with an pre-launch startup where they discussed how SEO was going to be really important for them. And to me, there seems to be a lot of confusion by founders of startups around search engine optimization (SEO) and how it works for a startup. I won't say that I'm truly an expert on SEO.

SEO 150

SEO Startup Search Matching 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 28, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Mobile Los Angeles 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Los Angeles Southern California CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Technical Cofounder Southern California CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 27, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Incubator 150

Incubator Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 17, 2007

Will's post talks about lack of interest in working for startups here in Southern California, saying: we probably’d don’t have the: a) same support infrastructure (meet-ups, networking events, etc.); Ben actually didn't address the issue raised by Will that there is definitely a shortage of really good developers, engineers, etc.

Southern California 150

Southern California Los Angeles California Startup 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 23, 2007

Why does this hurt, well I was just reading a few blog posts yesterday on finding startup co-founders: Where do you Find Cofounders? Startup Co-Founders: If You Cant Recruit Em, Should You Join Em? Finding Startup Co-Founders You would hope that networking events would be a good way to find suitable folks. in Computer Science.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Technical Cofounder Southern California Networking 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 16, 2010

No questions being asked ( Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Before You Develop Anything ) Rest of team says - “I’m not sure where we stand.” “I’m And the #1 reason I get calls relates to an old software engineering adage: The first 90% of a project takes half the time. One of your better developers leaves.

Developer 179

Developer Los Angeles Software Developers Software Development 179

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

From there, I became the first non-founder employee at an e-commerce startup called BITSource, which was the first electronic software distributor delivering electronic volume software licenses to corporations. Earlier this year I founded a new startup called KlickFu. What are you working on now? For me, it's a matter of degree.

Management 150

Management Product Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

Examples might be a recommendation engine, search engine, matching engine or something with a complex interface. The real reason to build an MVP is to do early tests of key Startup Metrics for the business. I'm always happy to try to help startups figure out how to go after creating their MVP.

Technical Cofounder 338

Technical Cofounder Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 338

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? call to arms.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 29, 2013

The SBAs are a key part of the [link] event which is co-sponsored by USC’s Marshall School of Business, School of Cinematic Arts, and Viterbi School of Engineering. Startups that consist of at least one USC student or alum (less than 10 years from graduation) are encouraged to enter – and have a chance of winning up to $25,000!

Cofounder 159

Cofounder Asia Incubator Hosting 159

SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

I’m a long way into development and I’m 90% done and we are having issues getting it completed Developers like to over engineer. Developers like to over engineer. But my developers want to go into way too much detail. They often don’t take into account the actual business need. In fact, they often don’t really understand the business.

Technical Cofounder 280

Technical Cofounder Developer Fractional CTO CTO Hire 280