article thumbnail

Lessons Learned: What does a startup CTO actually do?

Startup Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, September 30, 2008 What does a startup CTO actually do? Often times, it seems like people are thinking its synonymous with "that guy who gets paid to sit in the corner and think technical deep thoughts" or "that guy who gets to swoop in a rearrange my project at the last minute on a whim."

CTO 168
article thumbnail

The Case for Optimism and Risk at Startups

Both Sides of the Table

I thought I was pretty sell suited to answer that question because having grown up in Northern California but lived and worked in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain & Japan over 11 years I had seen quite a few societies and work environments. We hired outside experts. I have witnessed it working. I did not lose my hearing.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

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

article thumbnail

One Startup’s Story: The Evolution Of An Outsourcing Strategy

ReadWriteStart

As a one-man founder bootstrapping the business, this allowed me to hire a team for much less money. Then, in the evening – as the team returned from their lunch – I would concentrate on working with them in real time over Skype on building our product. Contract Remote Teams On A Per Project Basis.

article thumbnail

Lessons Learned: The three drivers of growth for your business.

Startup Lessons Learned

In this model, you take some fraction of the lifetime value of each customer and plow that back into paid acquisition through SEM, banner ads, PR, affiliates, etc. Beware the new hire who has "extensive experience" in startups or big companies - using a different growth driver. Take a look and let me know what you think.

article thumbnail

Lessons Learned: About the author

Startup Lessons Learned

Maybe youd like to start with The lean startup , How to listen to customers , or What does a startup CTO actually do? ) Eric, I landed upon your blog when I was searching for the path to CTO a couple of months back and I have been a frequent to the site since then. Your "startup-lessons-learned" are very valuable.

article thumbnail

Lessons Learned: The lean startup

Startup Lessons Learned

Mark Montgomery Founder Kyield Initium VC September 12, 2009 4:21 AM Mark Montgomery said. Eric -- I was very impressed by your two part video series, which rarely occurs these days. Otherwise it's a great idea. You've done an excellent job refining the process and message. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Lean 168
article thumbnail

Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot

Startup Lessons Learned

Andy Mathieson, a founder and managing member at Fairview Capital , was particularly supportive. “Everybody felt the burden of supporting all those transactions every day,&# says Pascal-Louis Perez, kaChing’s CTO. “It took a ton of our time, and just wasn’t contributing to our long term vision.&#