SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2012

Using my StartupRoar as a radar, I came across a great post by Gabriel Weinberg Do you really need a full-time hire for that? Hiring seems to be the preferred use of seed funds (by investors and founders), whereas I'd prefer a focus on customer acquisition. The startup founder is definitely not ready to hire a CTO.

CTO Hire 205

CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach Develop 205

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? Did they really need a Startup CTO or Developer or both? Did they have a Weak Development Team ? Did they have a Weak Development Team ? Was it a case of needing Homework?

CTO Hire 241

CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity Develop 241

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Generally I can provide quite a bit of help in that brief time. Of course, I provide part-time CTO services. So, I wanted to use this post to make it official - we are offering free startup CTO consulting sessions.

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Generally I can provide quite a bit of help in that brief time. Of course, I provide part-time CTO services. So, I wanted to use this post to make it official - we are offering free startup CTO consulting sessions.

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I received an inquiry from a reader of my blog and thought I would provide some thoughts, but would definitely welcome input: I am an unpaid CTO of a small startup. I have been working full time with two founders for about 10 months on full time basis. Please let this be a lesson to everyone – founders and CTOs.

CTO 167

CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity 167

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I received an inquiry from a reader of my blog and thought I would provide some thoughts, but would definitely welcome input: I am an unpaid CTO of a small startup. I have been working full time with two founders for about 10 months on full time basis. Please let this be a lesson to everyone – founders and CTOs.

CTO 150

CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

This is not only sad but incredibly frustrating, because it is so easy to see how a great technology can be developed and commercialized if only - if only the CTO hadn't been impulsive and insecure and brought on a business partner too early in the game. … And it’s not just inexperienced CTOs.

CTO Hire 150

CTO Hire Startup Equity Sales 150

socalTECH

JUNE 7, 2010

Los Angeles-based MySpace Music announced this morning that it has hired Dmitry Shapiro , who founded Veoh, as its new Chief Technology Officer. Shapiro had raised over $70M in funding for Veoh, until legal battles and the economy sunk the online video sharing site. Shapiro also served as founder of Akonix Systems.

Veoh 145

Veoh CTO Hire Beverly Hills Chief Technology Officer 145

socalTECH

OCTOBER 3, 2019

Pasadena-based e-discovery software developer X1 has raised $5.1M more in a Series B funding round, the company said Wednesday, in a round led by Palisades Growth Capital. According to X1, the new funding will go to hire aggressively in development and sales. X1 is led by CEO Craig Carpenter and CTO Brent Botta.

CTO Hire 124

CTO Hire Idealab Pasadena Software Development 124

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

There's an old adage in software development that I refer to all the time: The first 90% of development takes 90% of the time. The remaining 10%, takes the other 90% of the time. I used a company in India to develop the site, and it's mostly done. The funds have been used up on the existing development.

Software Development 175

Software Development CTO Hire Develop Development 175

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

"I'm looking for a partner / cofounder who can not only head the technical aspects and build a working model of the site, but someone with the connections to put a great development team together when we need it. Make sure you go through the 32 Questions Developers May Have Forgot to Ask a Startup Founder. Find out who is good.

CTO Hire 211

CTO Hire CTO Coach Startup Equity 211

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2021

This strategy is called “organic growth,” yet it alone may yield only a fraction of the potential you could achieve, unless you add the additional strategies of partnerships and M&A (mergers and acquisitions). Add basic partner contracts or alliances. Use external sourcing to fill in the non-critical gaps. Look for new horizons.

Organization 132

Organization CTO Hire Startup Outsource Development 132

SoCal CTO

JUNE 26, 2012

I've done four Free CTO Consulting Sessions in the past month with startup founders who all had run into variations of the same problem. They didn't feel they had visibility into timelines and costs for development of their software. The teams involved didn't seem to be exhibiting many of the Symptoms of a Weak Development Team.

Outsource Development 254

Outsource Development Software Development Develop Development 254

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

For your first key hires, three, five, maybe as much as ten, you will probably not be able to use any kind of formula. For example, suppose you're just two founders and you want to hire an additional hacker who's so good you feel he'll increase the average outcome of the whole company by 20%. n = (1.2 - 1)/1.2 =.167. and we have 11.1%

Equity 391

Equity CTO Hire Startup Examples 391

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. And a big factor is how big is the Founder Developer Gap.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review Technical Advisors CTO Coach Startup 170

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 ).

CTO Hire 309

CTO Hire Organization Google Course 309

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Saturday, February 17, 2007 A Different Kind of Incubator - The Hive I recently met with The Hive a new incubator in Orange County. What I really liked in my conversations with The Hive is that they are willing to work with and fund ventures that would never get VC dollars.

Incubator 150

Incubator CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, February 20, 2007 Innovation and Geography I ran across a post in Read/Write Web - Does Location Matter in Web Innovation? that talked about a recent NY Times article When It Comes to Innovation, Geography Is Destiny. eHarmongy) as an acting CTO.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

socalTECH

AUGUST 8, 2018

We spoke with Dave Fink , CEO and co-founder of Posite, and Jonathan Neddenriep , co-founder and CTO of the company, to learn more. Dave Fink: Postie is a building a technology platform with a mission of making direct mail marketing behave as easily and dynamically as your favorite, programmatic channels. What is Postie?

CTO Hire 100

CTO Hire Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Marketing 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2013

This strategy is called “organic growth,” yet it alone may yield only a fraction of the potential you could achieve, unless you add the additional strategies of partnerships and M&A (mergers and acquisitions). Add basic partner contracts or alliances. Use external sourcing to fill in the non-critical gaps. Look for new horizons.

Acquisition 88

Acquisition CTO Hire Startup Outsource Development 88

SoCal Delicious

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Main February 23, 2010 Advice for CTO Founders: Dont Let Business Kill the Business Founding a technology company is an amazing thing. Too often, however, I have found CTO / Founders paired with business people who not only don't add value, but frequently detract from the value of the business.

CTO Coach 28

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Mentor 28

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2014

The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO. A few other credible ones would include Chairman of the Board (COB), Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Chief Sales Officer (VP Sales). Chief Human Resources Officer (VP Personnel).

CTO Hire 100

CTO Hire Funding Cloud Computing CIO 100

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. So one of the surest signs you’ve hired a leader is the willingness of his or her former team to re-assemble. After 6 months – you know. You REALLY know.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2012

This strategy is called “organic growth,” yet it alone may yield only a fraction of the potential you could achieve, unless you add the additional strategies of partnerships and M&A (mergers and acquisitions). Add basic partner contracts or alliances. Use external sourcing to fill in the non-critical gaps. Look for new horizons.

CTO Hire 91

CTO Hire Startup Outsource Development Resource 91

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. I think this is a combination of being realists as venture capitalists that outsized returns in our funds must come from taking on bigger, more impactful projects that can move markets.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

socalTECH

APRIL 24, 2019

Anyone who hires anyone, or has ever looked for a jobs knows how important a resume is. However, in the technical arena--as a programmer, developer, or software engineer--it's hard to tell from a resume how good you really are. So what's the status of the company, and what kind of funding have you received?

Sites 240

Sites Startup Tool CTO Hire 240

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2011

You want somebody who can raise $15 million to build out your R&D, business development and sales organizations. So yes, I want to hire somebody with really high IQ and EQ but not somebody who is more knowledgeable at your specific skill set than you are. or; “I don’t have enough money to hire my team yet.

CTO Hire 363

CTO Hire Technical Review Startup Demand 363

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

He gossips with the office manager who tells 3 software developers. Those cultural normals are established through human connections: the night we all stayed late to get that release out the door, the day we celebrated our funding round or the day we landed our first big account. If they’re not I won’t fund.

Technical Advisors 335

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Offshore Startup 335

socalTECH

JULY 23, 2012

As a hiring manager, and as the former CTO of Buy.com, Navid Nobakht , Co-Founder of Recmnd.Me ([link] had a problem--how to really figure out if someone he was hiring could actually execute. The problem we're trying to solve, is one I found from in my experience as a hiring manager in the IT industry.

CTO Hire 147

CTO Hire Startup Sites Technical Review 147

socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2014

You fill out the short questionnaire, lawyers submit their price quotes, and they get hired. One day, I was talking with a friend who was trying to develop and app for a school event, and had created his own app creation company. That''s how we ended up developing this technology, to take that initial step out of the process.

Help 240

Help Startup CTO Hire Pricing 240

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

Because I am true to the hiring practices I preach, I wanted a strong exec who would “ punch above their weightclass ” by taking a job they hadn’t yet done but would hugely aspire to and thus work harder to out perform. So I asked Ethan to build his product first and then we would fund. He was seeking $500k.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 1, 2015

Sure, there are roles like CTO or CIO, but the input and decision making process has remained fairly static. With the trend to higher technology needs and the youth who are involved in the development of new technology, it is no longer unusual to walk into a board meeting and see a CTO in his early 40s.

Technology 40

Technology CTO Hire Conference Education 40

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

The Internet doesn't work right, and is broken, and without a CDN, you can't do what you need to do if you're the CTO of a large website. The development community and web developers, who tend to be our customers, like that flexibility, and the quick time to market. That might be debt, or public and private markets.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

socalTECH

MARCH 26, 2014

I founded that with the former CTO of my first company, Kevin Smilak, who now works at Google. We were hired by a company that did outsourced medical billing and consulting for physicial medicine and rehab doctors. Dan Rodrigues: Yes, we''ve raised around $70M in venture funding to date. Back to Kareo--what''s next for you?

Startup 160

Startup El Segundo CTO Hire Outsource Development 160

socalTECH

MARCH 14, 2011

For this morning's interview, we spoke with Scot Richardson , CEO of Los Angeles-based LaughStub (www.laughstub.com), which develops software which helps comedy clubs and others manage ticket sales, online marketing, and customer relationship management. Scot Richardson: Yes, they've hired us, and we hope it's a good sign.

Ticketmaster 140

Ticketmaster CTO Hire Tech Coast Angels Social Media 140

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

You’re sales person is getting blocked by the CTO who says she shouldn’t go above him but the CTO isn’t approving the deal. But “he didn’t have the budget to hire a developer until he had raised money!&#. He went out and found a developer and built a product. He looked stunned.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. They are: Fred Wilson: Lead Investors, Dipshit Companies, and Funding Every Entrepreneur. I've funded some myself.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191