SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I have been working full time with two founders for about 10 months on full time basis. During that time one of the founders had mentioned that for the initial agreed time (3 months, equivalent dollars could be translated to 2% of equity but no agreement was reached at that time). Likely this greatly affects cash vs. equity.

CTO 150

CTO CTO Hire Equity Vesting 150

SoCal CTO

MAY 27, 2010

I was just interviewed by Frank Peters - Tony Karrer and the Founder-Developer Gap. I received a follow-up question from an early-stage startup about the Founder Developer Gap that I’ve described before and that was part of the interview with Frank. Many founders are not equipped to evaluate the capabilities of a developer.

CTO Hire 170

CTO Hire Developer Founder Startup 170

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

Knowing a lot of CTO founders, I can tell you that Roger is fairly accurate in his assessment of the desire of CTOs to find the right cofounder to be the business side. Once it’s set up I recommend bringing in a co-founder and giving them 10-30% of the company depending upon when you bring them in. Lack of confidence? Camaraderie?

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Cofounder CTO Hire Founder 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

- Make sure you go through the 32 Questions Developers May Have Forgot to Ask a Startup Founder. Here are a few perspectives on the topic of finding technical cofounders: In Building a sweat equity team , Joel on Software tells us: You simply need to network. Do you have dollars to pay for development? Go to user groups.

Technical Cofounder 211

Technical Cofounder Cofounder CTO Hire Los Angeles 211

SoCal CTO

MAY 13, 2014

Solving the Founder-Tech Gap that came out of some fun conversations that Bob and I have been having. Getting someone who’s fully employed somewhere else to work with you on a limited basis to help close the gap is hugely important for the non-technical founder. Bob Dorf just published a post Where are the Hackers? Connected Advisors?

Advisory Board 241

Advisory Board Fractional CTO CTO Hire Startup 241

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

Why Your Startup Can’t Afford To Hire a CTO Advice for CTO Founders: Don't Let Business Kill the Business The Different CTO Roles Why Your Startup Can’t Afford To NOT Hire a CTO HOW TO: Hire the Perfect CTO You can find more here: Startup CTO. How I Found a Great CTO We have a CTO, and so can you!

CTO Hire 175

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Equity 175

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

Why Your Startup Can’t Afford To Hire a CTO Advice for CTO Founders: Don't Let Business Kill the Business The Different CTO Roles Why Your Startup Can’t Afford To NOT Hire a CTO HOW TO: Hire the Perfect CTO You can find more here: Startup CTO. How I Found a Great CTO We have a CTO, and so can you!

CTO Hire 175

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Equity 175

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Do you have a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? I'm looking for free (equity only) development, should I contact you?

Fractional CTO 264

Fractional CTO CTO Hire NDA Technical Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Do you have a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? I'm looking for free (equity only) development, should I contact you?

Fractional CTO 259

Fractional CTO CTO Hire NDA Technical Review 259

SoCal CTO

MAY 10, 2011

A long-time friend and colleague, Steve Wexler, who is great at visualization took my Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data and produced a really need interactive visualization via Tableau. You can click on the filters such as Founder Status (#3) and Job Title (#4) to filter to that particular data. Most non-founders have less than 2%.

Salary 198

Salary Equity San Francisco Dilution 198

SoCal CTO

MAY 10, 2011

A long-time friend and colleague, Steve Wexler, who is great at visualization took my Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data and produced a really need interactive visualization via Tableau. You can click on the filters such as Founder Status (#3) and Job Title (#4) to filter to that particular data. Most non-founders have less than 2%.

Salary 175

Salary Equity San Francisco Dilution 175

SoCal CTO

APRIL 27, 2011

Several people have recently come to me to help them source and/or hire full-time CTOs for their startup having found me through my post that looks at: Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data. I'd suggest: Startup CTO or Developer , Startup Founder Developer Gap , Part-Time CTO , Technology Advisor , CTO Founder , Acting CTO.

CTO Hire 282

CTO Hire Los Angeles Hiring Technical Review 282

SoCal CTO

MARCH 2, 2015

I’ve written quite a bit about aspects of this topic, especially from the perspective of startup founders looking for talent – you can find these in: Startup CTO. As the organizer of the LA CTO Forum , I get lots of inquiries by job seekers and people looking for CTO / VP Engineering talent.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Los Angeles CTO Hire Part-Time VPE 150

SoCal CTO

APRIL 27, 2011

Several people have recently come to me to help them source and/or hire full-time CTOs for their startup having found me through my post that looks at: Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data. I'd suggest: Startup CTO or Developer , Startup Founder Developer Gap , Part-Time CTO , Technology Advisor , CTO Founder , Acting CTO.

CTO Hire 225

CTO Hire Los Angeles Hiring Technical Review 225

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

The conversation centered around a founder who's key question is "Where Do I Find a Developer for My Startup?" His goal was to find a programmer who would come in as an early partner and work as an Equity-Only Developer. At that point, you can't really just try to find someone to build it on the side, do equity only, etc.

Fractional CTO 349

Fractional CTO Southern California Startup Mobile 349

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

I did a presentation this week at Coloft that looked at how Non-Technical Founders can go about getting their MVP built. And the back-end is something that a non-technical founder can manage. Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers Technology Roles in Startups Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering?

Technical Cofounder 338

Technical Cofounder Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 338

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

The conversation centered around a founder who's key question is "Where Do I Find a Developer for My Startup?" His goal was to find a programmer who would come in as an early partner and work as an Equity-Only Developer. At that point, you can't really just try to find someone to build it on the side, do equity only, etc.

Fractional CTO 296

Fractional CTO Southern California Startup Mobile 296

SoCal CTO

APRIL 25, 2017

Here is the most recent version of an all too common email inquiry from a startup founder. I'm working on a start up idea in the XXX market with my partner and we are currently looking for full stack developer to join us as a technical co-founder. Homework I don't think that this founder has looked at my blog or my background.

Email 150

Email Developer Elevator Pitch Cofounder 150

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. Tell me a bit about the Founder's Institute. That's a great point, but also one that I think a lot of founders overestimate.

Management 150

Management Product Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 150

SoCal CTO

APRIL 8, 2010

- Startup Company Lawyer , March 14, 2010 After the recent announcement of the Series Seed Financing documents by Marc Andreesen, Brad Feld points out that there are now four sets of “open source” equity seed financing documents. It’s not a surprise that the most common questions that we get from other founders are about PR.

Software Review 150

Software Review Startup PR Exit Strategy 150

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.

Technical Cofounder 280

Technical Cofounder Developer Fractional CTO CTO Hire 280

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Before I get into the details for founders, let me talk about options-hungry employees. am sure you have seen them and may be you are one of them. - Seth Levine's VC Adventure , August 30, 2010 Paul Graham, founder of Y-Combinator , sent out a tweet on Friday saying: “Convertible notes have won. equity debate. Dying at 70?

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

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. And I tried to evaluate the idea and figure out: What did the founder really need here? Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? You got it.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

SoCal CTO

MARCH 4, 2010

And a big factor is how big is the Founder Developer Gap. Unfortunately for a lot of founders, it’s hard to know the gap. CTO Founder – Direct responsibility for technical direction and development, sometimes operations, implies greater authority on product and company direction and higher equity position.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review Fractional CTO Technology CTO Hire 170

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

previously explained that it usually requires some equity, but here is some more step by step practical advice. How To Pick A Co-Founder , by Naval Ravikant (Venture Hacks). CompStudy 2008 Report on Equity and Cash Compensation at Technology Startups. But how do you actually get the right people to be your mentors? Let's recap.

Technology 191

Technology Product San Francisco CTO Hire 191

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Both Sides of the Table , July 22, 2010 An updated Digital Trends presentation - Jeff Hilimire , June 2, 2010 I do what I hate - Jessica Mah , January 7, 2010 Startup Equity Allocation - charliecrystle.com , January 11, 2010 When good investment decisions end up backing more women CEOs: Conversation with Cameron Lester at Azure Capital.

Silicon Valley 378

Silicon Valley Startup Term Sheet Venture Capital 378