SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Are you a non-technical startup founder who’s about to go have a conversation with a Chief Technical Officer (CTO) or Technical advisory type person? Maybe you are going for a reality check on your current situation - wondering if you have a Weak Development Team or a Startup Founder Developer Gap.

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2010

Because more technology people probably read startup blogs I’m guessing this post will come under more scrutiny. 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. Experience.

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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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TechEmpower

AUGUST 21, 2023

Other common scenarios that we’ve seen: Scaling and new markets: Your company and product are established, and now you’re scaling or going after new markets. Our goal is to build a decent understanding of your business, your product, and your technology. We then review the answers with the technical and product teams.

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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. The problem is you don't yet have product/market fit, and until you do, you don't really know what to build. When product vision is truly clear, then it makes sense to execute it, and hiring follows.

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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. Third party products are used appropriately.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Based on my posts Startup CTO or Developer and Acting CTO , Chris O’Meara wrote an interesting post Startup CTO: Could It Work? They tend to know where to find good help in terms of employees and consultants. If you think that's person you need, the question becomes "what else do you expect a CTO to contribute?

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Feld Thoughts

JUNE 9, 2021

Matt was the co-founder/CEO of Return Path. The founders of each company talked and, in between efforts to decimate the other, agreed it might be worth merging to survive. There’s a final part on The Future of Fractional Executive Work with a chapter by a different leader for each area above.

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YoungUpstarts

MARCH 24, 2014

by Adam Root, founder and CTO of Hiplogiq. The same rule applies to product and app development. Launching a new product can be costly, but adding features to a successful existing product can be even more costly if the additions take away from your product’s unique focus. A DUI lawyer? Didn’t think so.

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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. Do you transact immediately or on delivery of some product or service? Wireframes?

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SoCal CTO

MAY 13, 2014

Solving the Founder-Tech Gap that came out of some fun conversations that Bob and I have been having. You can’t afford and don’t want to hire a full-time CTO or architect. 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.

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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. Do you transact immediately or on delivery of some product or service? Wireframes?

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Developer Founder Viral Oauth 384

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, September 30, 2008 What does a startup CTO actually do? What does your Chief Technology Officer do all day? So what does CTO mean, besides just "technical founder who really cant manage anyone?" So I initially gravitated to the CTO title, and not VP of Engineering.

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Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 1, 2014

For example: Mitch Kapor was a founder of Lotus. As the emeritus Chief Technology Officer of the United States, he still connects government and Silicon Valley. He’s a founder of Andreessen Horowitz, which has backed Facebook, Skype, Jawbone, and dozens of other companies whose products you use.

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mashable.com

MAY 9, 2011

a New York-based sizzle reel production company specializing in promotional videos for PR and marketing professionals, and the Young Entrepreneur Council. This is especially true when it comes to tech companies hiring the wrong chief technology officer. Nothing can be more damaging than a misleading or careless CTO.

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SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

I was talking with an early-stage founder who has a product vision and wants to get it built. He wanted to get input from me on what he's doing, and he wants to begin to ask developers what it would take to build his product. Founder : Ummm. Founder : Umm. He is not a technical person, but is somewhat web savvy.

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Developer Technical Review Fractional CTO Software Review 354

Business Plan Blog

AUGUST 20, 2013

However, the biggest mistake that a non-tech entrepreneur launching a tech business is to neglect bringing on a tech savvy co-founder on the management team. In order to be a successful tech startup, the team must consist of a Chief Technical Officer (CTO) level member to help with the technology plan. Wireframes.

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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.

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Feld Thoughts

JUNE 9, 2021

Matt was the co-founder/CEO of Return Path. The founders of each company talked and, in between efforts to decimate the other, agreed it might be worth merging to survive. There’s a final part on The Future of Fractional Executive Work with a chapter by a different leader for each area above.

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Fractional CTO Cofounder Startup Lead Investor 70

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

But, increasingly, the Apple hype-fests are a marketing—not a product—showcase. For product launches, long-term success relies on cornerstones of marketing research and execution, like a strong value proposition and full-funnel campaign. Yet while product launches are a risk, they’re not as risky as you think. Image source ).

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SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

He has a really interesting background as a product manager and now an entrepreneur. Like many product managers, my background is fairly eclectic. That's where I learned I enjoyed interacting with customers and working with development teams to build and launch products. Tell me a bit about the Founder's Institute.

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A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

You open Photoshop before you consult your to-do list because there’s something you just need to tweak. As much as you’re a minor deity when it comes to TextMate or Balsamiq, so are almost all the technical founders of all high-tech startups. You love developing an entire app in the browser against a scalable back-end.

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Steve Blank

MAY 27, 2010

But founders need to know how to ask for their advice and when to ignore it. After some heroics from our CTO in extracting data from SAP, the Visio CFO loved our product, thought we could save them a ton of time and money and wanted it installed ASAP. Then Visio gave us their boilerplate contract. We called the Visio CFO.

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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. They tend to know where to find good help in terms of employees and consultants.

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SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

" Today I had two conversations with early stage startups (see Free CTO Consulting ). " One was an enterprise software product. Would it take more work to sell the enterprise product than they could make on it? Would it take more work to sell the enterprise product than they could make on it?

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ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 27, 2010

In the video below, LivingSocial co-founder and CTO Aaron Batalion talks about the company's previous manifestations - consultants, Facebook app developers, and so on - and the principles that helped motivate the company to change direction like this. And so LivingSocial pivoted into the group-buying and daily deals space.

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Austin Startup

AUGUST 19, 2018

Why Corporate Innovation Fails Design Sprints Done Right: Creating Lasting Change User-centered design is critical in making or breaking consumer technologies, but sometimes, on small product teams, day-to-day needs can get in the way of larger, longer term goals and solutions that resonate with your customer can’t manage to get off the launch pad.

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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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Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

This preference isn’t necessarily due to market size, but rather the structure of the market: are there only a few dozen customers that might buy your product or are there thousands, or even tens of thousands of potential customers? CTO, VP of HR) in the customer organization. Sell to many”: the scalable SaaS approach. Final thoughts.

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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. But founders need to know how to ask for their advice and when to ignore it. It says what?!”).

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ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 16, 2020

Being relatively a new service trend in today’s tech-driven world, CTO-as-a-Service (CaaS) is notably gaining its momentum. Though CTO as a traditional full-time position exists for decades, some companies do not feel they need a technology executive. Ideal scenario assumes there’s a CTO in house. Early-stage startups.

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www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Should You Share Equity with Consultants? Science and Technology Technology. Back in 1997, Randy Parker was staring at a blank whiteboard, wondering where hed find the money to hire the employees and consultants he needed to build his new product. "We The 2011 Inc. 500|5000 List. The 2011 Top Lists. The advantage?

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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?

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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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Steve Blank

JUNE 6, 2016

The show follows the journeys of founders who share what it takes to build a startup – from restaurants to rocket scientists, to online gifts to online groceries and more. He is also a Consulting Professor at Stanford in the Electrical Engineering Department and Editor-in-Chief of the AIAA Journal of Aerospace Information Systems.

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