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It was like having a bunch of mini- Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions all in one room. Structure development contracts appropriately or directing the in-house team appropriately. This is exactly the kind of thing I'm doing as a Part-Time CTO or Technical Advisor for startups. Strategic Technical Advisor.
A large part of this conversation is what kinds of advisors startups should be looking for. A little while ago, I suggested that Every Web/Mobile Startup Should Have a Technical Advisor. The conversation with Bob was about what the composition of advisors should look like. I wanted to capture some of the broader conversation.
I’ve been having discussions with several people recently about the role of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in very early stage companies. In December 2007, I described how I commonly take on an Acting CTO Role in a Start-up. I used an image from Roger Smith that describes the varying roles of a CTO as the company matures.
Several people have recently come to me to help them source and/or hire full-time CTOs for their startup having found me through my post that looks at: Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data. I'd suggest: Startup CTO or Developer , Startup Founder Developer Gap , Part-Time CTO , Technology Advisor , CTO Founder , Acting CTO.
Why do this without the right technical advisor? Just like attorneys, technical advisors can help navigate waters that many find murky. Actually, many startups need two kinds of technical advisors. This is especially important with outsourced development teams. Would you create contracts without an attorney?
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. Small talk is not a motivator.
There was a lot of passion in the room last week when I presented Working with Developers at the Stubbs Precellerator. I guess it should not be a surprise that Founders have lots of challenges working with developers. But my developers want to go into way too much detail. In fact, they often don’t really understand the business.
Several people have recently come to me to help them source and/or hire full-time CTOs for their startup having found me through my post that looks at: Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data. I'd suggest: Startup CTO or Developer , Startup Founder Developer Gap , Part-Time CTO , Technology Advisor , CTO Founder , Acting CTO.
In the mean time, if you need some extra help, get some contractors to test out specific things. 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. Far from it.
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. Common Signals I''ve written previously about Symptoms of a Weak Development Team. Rogue developers with their own agenda. One of your better developers leaves.
I was just interviewed by Frank Peters - Tony Karrer and the Founder-Developer Gap. I received a follow-up question from an early-stage startup about the Founder Developer Gap that I’ve described before and that was part of the interview with Frank. This is somewhat the heart of what a CTO does. It was a lot of fun for me.
If you are on the lower complexity end, the key is defining small chunks of work that can be done quickly by a developer. Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers Technology Roles in Startups Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering? The "Questions" post is probably the most important.
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. Of course, that doesn’t help here. Actually, I should start by saying – I’m not a lawyer and you might want to get someone who can help you understand your position here.
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. And I use it all the time now when I get the kind of message that I received: I'm looking for a web developer to continue work on my website. The funds have been used up on the existing development.
He had an idea for a startup that would help consumers better book service jobs and would take on Service Magic, which he believed had a business model that could be disrupted. I acted as the occasional mentor, advisor and coach to Ethan. When Ethan was considering leaving Google we talked about it. So there you have it.
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. Of course, that doesn’t help here. Actually, I should start by saying – I’m not a lawyer and you might want to get someone who can help you understand your position here.
Some really great stuff in 2010 that aims to help startups around product, technology, business models, etc. 500 Hats , February 1, 2010 When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication? 500 Hats , February 1, 2010 When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication?
"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. " Typically, this requires quite a bit more information for me to be able to respond and provide real help.
You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on. But I knew that to be a good decision maker I needed first hand knowledge rather than just a summary from my CTO. But as a CEO you can’t rely solely on this information.
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 Either: "That’s interesting.
Marina Del Rey-based startup Guardian Circle , the developer of a social-based system and app that helps people summon help from their friends, said last week that it has added futurist Peter Diamandis as an advisor as part of a "token sale" the company is running. International Space University, and Planetary Resources.
skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Thursday, March 1, 2007 Entreprenuer Network Great post by Ben Kuo - The Importance of the “Network&# to Entrepreneurs - the informal connections between people in the technology industry here who have a vested interest in helping entrepreneurs take their companies to the next level.
Not only do our business clients turn to us for lawsuits, but they also ask us to create efficient processes and develop their brands. We have a number of startups (or pre-startups) that we are helping get launched. We are not “finders” and usually serve the role of advisor and attorney. What are you working on now?
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. Yes, I know it’s my job as the CEO to be the coach for people and that’s fine. but there are some people you just take an (extra) liking to and want to help. he asked.
I will soon announce a few fundings (not yet closed, sorry) and I’m beginning to help them think about how to ramp up their engineering teams. And I spoke with the CTO of another great company I used to be on the board of and enlisted his support in potentially being an advisor to one company. How did I get here?
skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, March 20, 2007 Kevin Federline Search Engine Just saw a post - Sleep with a pop star, get your own branded search engine. Disclosure: we helped build the system that is behind these.) He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO.
skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Monday, March 12, 2007 MyShape Article - Analyst Misses the Point The NY Times did a piece today on MyShape, a start-up in Pasadena - Log in Your Measurements, and the Clothes May Fit. Having help narrowing choices is what its going to be about going forward.
Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based LifeCrowd (www.lifecrowd.com) unveiled its service to help connect people with real life activities. It's a pretty credible team and we're starting to staff up on the product and development side. Tony Adam is an advisor, he was formerly at MySpace.
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 can they do for funding, where can they go for help? He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO.
1) Get A Mentor. "I Given Facebook's numerous corporate governance mistakes during its early days, Mark would have been well served to have cultivated a mentorship with one or more savvy Advisors. Develop a solution for a problem, market and/or user group about which you are passionate. " [Tweet this quote].
skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Thursday, March 22, 2007 Discussion Creation Among Bloggers - LinkedIn, Blogging and Discussion Groups Ive been participating in a Yahoo Group that are users of LinkedIn and who are Bloggers: [link] Its an interesting group of folks from diverse backgrounds. Maybe this meme will help.
He joined when Maker was a small, chaotic organization and helped bridge our talented creative team with the outside world of investor, brands, partners & press. Another major hire was Ryan Lissack who joined as CTO. Ynon started as shareholder, board member & advisor and switches to full-time executive.
Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. In addition to helping manage the board Chris also helps represent the interests of the angel investors / common stock holders.
There's a large number of on-demand services which have been appearing recently, to help people deal with almost every aspect of their life. One of the latest is Los Angeles-based Helpr (www.helpr-app.com), which recently launched to help parents find babysitters for their children.
Meredith came to see me along with the CTO Marc Berte. The more we dug the more confident we became (and so did every advisor we used). Marc Berte started helping her to perfect the materials and approach and the two together had a huge break-through that led Marc to decide to join Meredith in her journey. Were they ambitious?
Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup. Stuart Lander has joined Upfront Ventures to help us run operations. We brought Ryan Lissack down from San Francisco to become Maker’s CTO and the rest is history. Mafias matter a lot to me, as well. In a way my firm at Upfront is mafia.
Plus, he told us a little bit about how he's helping to build a mini cluster of technology companies in the Silverlake area. We had to figure out what would help the other 90 percent build better and more interesting sites. We have some great mentors now. We heard form Alex to learn how SocialEngine was bootstrapped to $1.4M
Great content again in September that meets at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. The Right Way to Lay People Off - Ben's Blog , September 21, 2010 “I’m tryin’ to right my wrongs, But it’s funny them same wrongs helped me write this song”. development is the proliferation of web Apps (e.g.
Today I lead a small consultancy that helps advertising supported develop and scale the revenue producing sides of their businesses. I need help on this as well. :) Vince: It’s hard sometimes to not sound like a guy trying to sell nine watches up and down his arm. I help internet companies make money.
We then help push those videos through social media channels, and help them go viral. We''re developing programming around our brands, such as Failarmy, and we also have a deal with Dick Clark Products to take Failarmy to the international market. Those two pieces helped feed each other.
That's where I learned I enjoyed interacting with customers and working with development teams to build and launch products. How did it help you? For me, FI was great for networking with Adeo and the other mentors, who are all world class successful entrepreneurs themselves, as well as the other founders in the program.
Main February 23, 2010 Advice for CTO Founders: Dont Let Business Kill the Business Founding a technology company is an amazing thing. I have met dozens of brilliant technologists with fantastic ideas, ideas requiring nurturing, mentoring and support. Vaultive « Are Derivatives the Real Problem?
He is also an advisor to multiple startups and regular speaker at conferences like SMX, SXSW Interactive, and PubCon. Matthew’s passion is partnering with brands to help build community, optimize operations, and develop a strong digital strategy. Garth Holsinger, VP of Global Sales and Business Development, Klout.
We caught up with the firm's CEO, Gregg Champion--who formerly was Vice President of Programming and Development at Mania TV--to learn more about the company, its business, as well as its fundraising plans. Gregg Champion: I had been a vice president of development at ManiaTV, a Gen-Y content site. What is Onecubicle?
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