Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017

As a CTO, I can definitely say without a doubt that few people understand what a CTO does. When I tell someone I’m a CTO, I’m often met with a blank stare. Even when someone is aware of what a CTO does, they often have limited context due to the wide variety of CTO roles.

Fractional CTO 54

Fractional CTO CTO Hire CTO Technical Review 54

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2010

I recently did a post for startups on understanding sales people. This time I thought I’d try and address engineering talent. The terms “CTO&# and “VP Engineering&# have such stigmas associated with what they are that I’m sure some people will feel uncomfortable with the definitions I’ve put forward.

Fractional CTO 400

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 400

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Much has been written about when it is time to hire a “professional CEO” to run a startup company and of course that has long been a norm in Silicon Valley when founders find that their inexperience may be a limiting factor in company growth ( know as the Peter Principle ).

Founder 309

Founder CTO Hire Silicon Valley Leadership 309

View from Seed

MARCH 29, 2016

Ask a founder of a growing startup what they need most, and you’ll often get an answer along the lines of, “We need great people, and we need them fast.”. Founders need to make sure the quality of the startup’s offerings remains high and provide adequate sales and service support for prospective customers and new users.

Metrics 120

Metrics Founder CTO Hire Technical Review 120

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

I've talked about that in lots of other posts, so you can visit some of these to help determine what you specifically need: Startup CTO or Developer Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Before You Develop Anything Key ingredients in the equation are: How complex is the system? Do you have dollars to pay for development?

Technical Cofounder 211

Technical Cofounder Cofounder CTO Hire Los Angeles 211

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

Eventually you need a VP of Product to handle your product roadmap, a CTO for engineering leadership and VPs of sales, marketing & biz dev. You hire great people. You motivate, cajole, reassign tasks, hire, fire and push the organization forward. Most companies that are scaling have CFOs, heads of HR or talent.

CTO Hire 385

CTO Hire Entrepreneur Technical Review Leadership 385

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2014

A while back I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ For a Startup, Two Heads are Always Better Than One ”. In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.”

Partner 269

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 269

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2017

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. In fact, I would broaden the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales.

Partner 140

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Cofounder 140

SoCal CTO

MAY 13, 2014

Solving the Founder-Tech Gap that came out of some fun conversations that Bob and I have been having. A large part of this conversation is what kinds of advisors startups should be looking for. You can’t afford and don’t want to hire a full-time CTO or architect. Investors discount this. Connected Advisors?

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Advisory Board Fractional CTO CTO Hire Startup 241

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 2, 2020

As a result, entrepreneurs, founders, CEOs, marketers, and anyone in between can take advantage. They hire a team, spend months planning, their engineers build it, and… the final product isn’t quite right. To go back to the drawing board would require time and money most small businesses can’t afford.

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire eCommerce Engineer Software 264

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

A while back I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ For a Startup, Two Heads are Always Better Than One.” In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.”

Partner 258

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Equity 258

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 16, 2018

It is all about how you hire the best and the amazing impact doing so will have on your culture. You must test those that you want to hire. I didn’t know better at the time and they were much older and “experienced” than I was, so I let them run with that plan. But they were wrong 50% of the time, six months later.

Part-Time VPE 48

Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Hiring Austin 48

Version One Ventures

JUNE 13, 2013

It’s the age-old debate among start-up circles: which is more important to the success of a start-up: the strength of the sales/distribution strategy or the quality of the product? To be successful, a stand-alone company needs a top-notch product and a clever distribution/sales strategy. Today, it’s a different story.

Sales 145

Sales Product CTO Hire Sales Cycle 145

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Projecting from the seed stage, there are two types of team-building topics you want to address – key senior hires and org-level team building. As the company progresses through product market fit (PMF), you will want to highlight other key senior hires required to scale and round out the functional expertise of the exec team.

Part-Time VPE 195

Part-Time VPE Seed Stage CTO Hire Forecast 195

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

The truth is you really don’t know how your teammates or your bosses will perform in good times and bad. You hire people who look good on paper. ” Who cut you in on their bonus because even though you’re “just an sales engineer” they know you really deserved more credit for this deal.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Cofounder San Francisco Silicon Valley 320

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2014

The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO. Chief Sales Officer (VP Sales). What you really need is a VP of Marketing and Customer Development, who can help with lead generation and honing the message, rather than an executive to manage a sales team and existing customers. Chief Brand Officer.

CTO Hire 252

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Angel Investor Public Relations 252

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO. Chief Sales Officer (VP Sales). What you really need is a VP of Marketing and Customer Development, who can help with lead generation and honing the message, rather than an executive to manage a sales team and existing customers. Chief Brand Officer.

CTO Hire 244

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Angel Investor 244

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. This applies to both founders and to VC’s that work with them. An obvious example would be in sales.

CTO Hire 308

CTO Hire Management Technical Review Part-Time VPE 308

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2011

A while back I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ Ten Steps in Choosing the Right Startup Partner ”. In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.”

Partner 240

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 240

Gust

APRIL 13, 2014

A while back I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ For a Startup, Two Heads are Always Better Than One ”. In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales. Passion for what they do.

Partner 179

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 179

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 26, 2020

He also said, “The most important hire I made in my time at the JAIC was the chief technology officer, Nand Mulchandani.” In this class session Nand Mulchandani, JAIC CTO who just completed an extended stint as Acting Director, continued the discussion of AI and the role of the JAIC. Selling JAIC Like Enterprise Sales.

Artificial Inteligence 388

Artificial Inteligence Fractional CTO Technology CTO 388

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2011

Collectively (the founders & investors) agreed that it would be sensible to recruit a CEO to lead the next phase of the company so that the main founder could stay focused on the product where he excels and is passionate. I’m looking for somebody who can sell, but not better than our head of sales. Dig deeper.

Leadership 363

Leadership CTO Hire Technical Review Cofounder 363

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

The conversations bleed into the sales messages the next time, they wend their way into software designs and form the plan of attach against competition. 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.

Distribution 335

Distribution Offshore CTO Hire Bulgaria 335

www.bothsidesofthetable.com

MAY 13, 2012

Sales & Marketing. Want to Know Difference Between a CTO and a VP of Engineering? I recently did a post for startups on understanding sales people. This post is designed mostly for non-technical founders. I’ve heard both arguments from CTO’s. The best CTO’s / Chief Architects are purists.

Fractional VPE 89

Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE Fractional CTO CTO Hire 89

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2010

The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO. Chief Sales Officer (VP Sales). What you really need is a VP of Marketing and Customer Development, who can help with lead generation and honing the message, rather than an executive to manage a sales team and existing customers. Chief Brand Officer.

CTO Hire 227

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Angel Investor 227

Gust

APRIL 20, 2014

The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO. Chief Sales Officer (VP Sales). What you really need is a VP of Marketing and Customer Development, who can help with lead generation and honing the message, rather than an executive to manage a sales team and existing customers. Chief Brand Officer.

CTO Hire 171

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Angel Investor Public Relations 171

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2010

A week ago I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ How to Select an Ideal Startup Co-Founder ”. In this article, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” In this article, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” Marty Zwilling.

Partner 230

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 230

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Other founders, “as a privately held company we don’t disclose our valuation.&# Me, “dude, I’m not a journalist. Investors own 25%, the founders own 75%. You’ll need to hire and retain talen to grow your company. And for some strange reason entrepreneurs didn’t share this information.

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Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

blog.chrisomeara.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Chris OMeara Main | Probing Code Quality » 01/31/2010 Startup CTO: Could It Work? A CEO friend of mine recently asked my opinion about Tony Karrers Startup CTO or Developer article. I think the part time CTO could work. A few had the title CTO but they all fit the technical rock star and hacker profile.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Startup Cofounder 40

firstround.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

How to Go From Google Engineer to First-Time CTO. How to Go From Google Engineer to First-Time CTO. Today, he’s the co-founder and CTO of Artillery , bringing console-quality gaming to the web browser. A few months into Artillery, the other founders and I were already on each other’s nerves.

CTO Hire 52

CTO Hire Engineer Software Review Part-Time VPE 52

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 15, 2014

My daily life consists of (a) setting the strategy and rationale of the Engineering & Innovation department, based on a mixture of vision, data, and the needs of the rest of the company, (b) participate in doing the same for the whole company, (c) hire, (d) manage the managers whose teams execute the real work.

CTO Hire 266

CTO Hire RSS Cofounder Algorithm 266

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 6, 2015

by Tal Segalov, CTO & co-founder of Mintigo. Hire the right marketing team. This is crucial for businesses to succeed in finding the right customers are the right time. A good marketing team will also help you create trends of your own that will boost sales and keep you relevant.

CTO Hire 100

CTO Hire Cofounder Social Media Mobile 100

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 14, 2012

So many tech startups begin the same way: One founder, one dream and a plan to make it happen. To learn more about how your startup can find, hire and keep the top talent and quality workers it needs to succeed, download this free ReadWriteWeb Report: The Talent Wars: Today’s Toughest Startup Challenge. Don’t be fooled by titles.

Technical Review 159

Technical Review CTO Hire Software Review Startup 159

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

One great solution I see is to hire an outstanding CFO who runs both. “We’re all equal co-founders and we don’t care about titles.&# Still, I’ll bet that functionally you divide areas of competence like sales & marketing, product, engineering, biz dev, etc. But they aren’t the COO.

Operations 292

Operations CTO Hire Startup Early Stage 292

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. Hire based on functionality and avoid having too many C’s.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

Hunter Walker

JUNE 7, 2014

Hiring Has Changed: Before the press was a way of generating interest for hiring. Founders are building small, focused teams based on people they worked with previously and referrals from their networks. Word of mouth spreads faster and sales cycles are shorter. What’s changed?

Technical Review 118

Technical Review CTO Hire Finance Stealth 118

www.huffingtonpost.com

MAY 10, 2011

Ive occasionally worked with executive recruiters, for example in hiring a CTO for my first company, Eve.com. This time, I decided to handle the process myself. Minted.com is both a global design community and stationery retailer. The first thing I did was to find an advisor who I could trust.

CTO 43

CTO CTO Hire PHP Cofounder 43