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Hiring Developers Before Product/Market Fit?

SoCal CTO

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. These companies are very early-stage and definitely have not shown product/market fit.

CTO Hire 205
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Document Your MVP for a Developer

SoCal CTO

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. 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? Founder : Ummm. what do you mean? Founder : Ummm.

Develop 354
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Customer Validation - 33 Great Articles

SoCal CTO

Beware of Mentors. His basic point was: If someone, including me, tells you something isn’t a great idea and there’s no market for it there are only two acceptable responses. I’m going to take that thought out into the field and validate it with my customers." Customer Validation 101. " OR… "You’re wrong.

Customer 227
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Finding Good Developers in Los Angeles?

SoCal CTO

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Saturday, February 17, 2007 Finding Good Developers in Los Angeles? Im part of a CTO group that meets once a month to discuss various topics. About 18 months ago, the entire group began to mention that they were having more difficulty finding good developers.

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Announcing a Deal I’ve Wanted to Talk About for a Year

Both Sides of the Table

And we wanted a head of global marketing. I acted as the occasional mentor, advisor and coach to Ethan. Because I knew that Ethan was on to a powerful idea and one in which he had developed huge competence and domain knowledge in. I was preparing to move back to the US from London after 11 years abroad.

CTO Coach 359
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8 Ways the Internet has Changed Software Marketing

SoCal CTO

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, March 13, 2007 8 Ways the Internet has Changed Software Marketing Great post - 8 Ways The Internet Changed Software Marketing - is an interesting take on how different it is these days to market software. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. Good stuff.

CTO Coach 150
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10 Attributes Of The Perfect Partner For Your Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

As a long-time business advisor and angel investor, I’m a believer that “two heads are better than one” in building a new business. The reason is that good attributes apply equally well to “external” partners, as they do to internal partners, like a co-founder or CTO. Conflicting visions won’t work. Believe in similar values and goals.