SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 10, 2012

It was like having a bunch of mini- Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions all in one room. This is exactly the kind of thing I'm doing as a Part-Time CTO or Technical Advisor for startups. There are two kinds of advisors that are commonly needed. Strategic Technical Advisor.

Technical Advisors 332

Technical Advisors CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 332

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 2, 2013

I've had several Startup CTO Consulting sessions recently where it became apparent that the Founder needed help with the business and product as much or more than the technology. Then we discussed how they could go about finding this startup business advisor. They may open doors to the next role.

CTO Coach 259

CTO Coach Mentor Startup Technical Advisors 259

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?

CTO Coach 219

CTO Coach Develop Development Startup 219

SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2012

You may end up hiring these people eventually and you'll know more about them when you do. When I talk with early-stage companies, often the discussion starts with them asking me about Hiring a CTO for Your Startup , or Finding a Technical Cofounder for Your Startup or How to Find Programmers for Your Startup.

CTO Hire 205

CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach Develop 205

SoCal CTO

MARCH 9, 2010

In my post, Technology Roles in Startups , I described some of the different ways I engage with startup companies such as CTO Founder , CTO , Part-Time CTO , Acting CTO , Consultant, Advisor and Advisory Board Member. In Why assemble an advisory board?

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Technical Review Technology CTO Hire 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2021

Every entrepreneur tries to maximize his startup growth by building and selling more product and services for the widest geographic area that he can support. In every startup, as well as in mature companies, there is no substitute for constantly maintaining a pipeline of alternatives. External scanning for resources.

Organization 132

Organization CTO Hire Startup Outsource Development 132

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

Beware of Mentors. " Today I had two conversations with early stage startups (see Free CTO Consulting ). In both cases, I was the mentor telling the person that the idea, as I understood it was "not great." I saw a great post from Tristan Kromer Pivoting on Investor Feedback a.k.a

Customer 227

Customer Custom CTO Coach Startup 227

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

I asked some of the same questions I ask in my Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions and then I get to a very common conversation: Me : Do you have specs? This should be an iterative process with advisors and customers providing feedback on the product. Founder : Ummm. what do you mean? Don't stress over format.

Develop 354

Develop Development Technical Review CTO Coach 354

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? .

Southern California 150

Southern California CTO Coach CTO Hire Social Media 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2013

Every entrepreneur tries to maximize his startup growth by building and selling more product and services for the widest geographic area that he can support. In every startup, as well as in mature companies, there is no substitute for constantly maintaining a pipeline of alternatives. External scanning for resources. Marty Zwilling.

Acquisition 88

Acquisition CTO Hire Startup Outsource Development 88

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. I had a picture in the office of my first company with the logo above and the capital letters JFDI. (In So I was surprised at the sheer volumes of decisions that had to be made when I became a startup CEO. The technology team disagrees on direction and wants resolutions.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

After a decade on the job I’ve started to speak more openly when newer industry colleagues now ask me what I’ve learned. We then help surround founders with other talent who want to join important causes but don’t have the startup idea themselves. I was mostly doing my job and trying to figure out how to be better every day.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital CTO Coach Startup 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2012

Every entrepreneur tries to maximize his startup growth by building and selling more product and services for the widest geographic area that he can support. In every startup, as well as in mature companies, there is no substitute for constantly maintaining a pipeline of alternatives. External scanning for resources.

CTO Hire 91

CTO Hire Startup Outsource Development Resource 91

SoCal CTO

MARCH 18, 2010

Vince: I’m an author, speaker and management consultant with a special expertise in online media sales. I started out as screenwriter, went into local television, ran ad sales in the west for AOL and joined Facebook in the companies very early days. With that as a start it rarely feels burdensome. What keeps you up at night?

Startup 225

Startup Los Angeles Social Network Twiistup 225

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 15, 2011

Tony is currently Founder/CEO for Eventify, an LA-based startup creating a venue marketplace, and Visible Factors, an SEO consulting company. He is also an advisor to multiple startups and regular speaker at conferences like SMX, SXSW Interactive, and PubCon. Matthew Arevalo, Founder, Master Works.

SEO 85

SEO CTO Coach Conference Social Media 85

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’s keeping you up at night? What are you working on now?

Product 150

Product Entrepreneur Social Media Google 150

SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

So I promised that I would provide a follow-up after the session. This is that follow-up and hopefully it’s useful to people outside of the session as well. Challenges I started by asking the founders in the room to tell me some of the challenges they have working with developers. Have they considered everything?

Develop 280

Develop Development CTO Coach CTO Hire 280

SoCal CTO

MARCH 4, 2010

I’ve worked with 30+ early-stage companies in all sorts of capacities (and spoken to many, many more), so I thought it might be worthwhile trying to classify the various ways that I’ve engaged in different technology roles in startups. Later he posted about his experience in Challenges of Startups.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review Technical Advisors CTO Coach Startup 170

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

I promised to do this post as a follow-up to the session to provide additional links and information. The real reason to build an MVP is to do early tests of key Startup Metrics for the business. We end up using WordPress a lot as the marketing front-end of our web sites. It had a passionate group of 50 people attending.

Technical Review 338

Technical Review CTO Hire CTO Coach Software Review 338

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 22, 2014

SoCal startup Moving Analytics is tackling this global problem. Tell us about your startup Moving Analytics and your app Movn. HV: Our current focus is helping people get up and move more, and that’s why we created Movn. So should we be standing up right now? We also set up a competition between the two centers.

USC 104

USC Southern California Activity Study 104

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

By far the most popular post on this blog is 32 Questions Developers May Have Forgot to Ask a Startup Founder. While I’ve updated it a few times, it continues to get at important questions that startup founders need to be asking. It was originally written in 2011 and has had amazing staying power. What do they do? Is SEO important?

Startup 150

Startup SEO CTO Coach Web 150

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 20, 2014

TechZulu recently sat down with east coast transplant Olenka Polak to talk about startup life in Los Angeles. Explain to our readers why you started your company, and why you created your app myLINGO. I mean, we’re new to this town and new to this industry – so just a lot of things came up during the launch that we’re now looking into.

Startup 91

Startup Entertainment CTO Coach Screening 91

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

Right now they’re setting up 500 free corporations for first time entrepreneurs. He was Director of Online Marketing for Mota Motors, a BusinessWeek Top 50 Most Promising Startup of 2009 and TechCrunch50 finalist. He is a founder of Strengths Doctors, a consulting firm which helps leaders design energizing work environments.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78