SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2012

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. In the mean time, if you need some extra help, get some contractors to test out specific things. Far from it.

CTO Hire 205

CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach Develop 205

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 26, 2010

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.

Fractional CTO 225

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach 225

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 was also responsible to get a top-notch technical architect to build the necessary back-end at very affordable hourly rate to be able to launch the product in a very short time.

CTO 167

CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity 167

SoCal CTO

MAY 21, 2013

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. Delivery of code/product that clearly has not been tested. How strong is product management? Let''s consider a brief description of what a CTO needs to be able to do.

CTO Coach 219

CTO Coach Develop Development Startup 219

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 was also responsible to get a top-notch technical architect to build the necessary back-end at very affordable hourly rate to be able to launch the product in a very short time.

CTO 150

CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). ” So Ethan went to work as a product manager at Google Video. I acted as the occasional mentor, advisor and coach to Ethan.

CTO Coach 359

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

" Typically, this requires quite a bit more information for me to be able to respond and provide real help. Your technical advisor can likely help. They often can help a lot in navigating to expertise and to possible resources. Do you have dollars to pay for development? Ask around for ideas on where they hang out.

CTO Hire 211

CTO Hire CTO Coach Startup Equity 211

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2012

Are users willing to check into local businesses with another, mobile check-in product? We caught up with co-founder Michael Wong , who told us about how the company is looking to change the model for local check-ins, and also help businesses with getting the word out about their services. Why would someone want to use your site?

CTO Coach 223

CTO Coach Startup Mobile Artificial Inteligence 223

SoCal CTO

MAY 27, 2010

You can follow the link above for more details, but the basic idea is that most startup founders have a pretty good understanding of the basics of what they want to do and a vision for the product. And there are all sorts of different kinds of technical people who might help with getting that product to happen.

CTO Hire 170

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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. How did it help you? What are you working on now?

Product 150

Product Entrepreneur Social Media Google 150

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." " One was an enterprise software product. It was a top post on StartupRoar on Tuesday.

Customer 227

Customer Custom CTO Coach Startup 227

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. Rather than push non-compete agreements on your superstars, it’s more productive to create incentive systems and creative ways for them to work more independently, just for you.

Organization 132

Organization CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 132

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2016

We believe that it is incrementally harder to differentiate on simple Internet products or mobile apps and while great companies are built doing this, our goal as a fund is to try and fund things that can be 100x returns if they work. I’ve seen firsthand how food can impact your well-being , in my case with helping me keep my ADD in check.

Company 207

Company Companies CTO Coach Funding 207

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

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.

Startup 308

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2007

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.

Networking 150

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SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 3, 2009

Please join LA Scrum Club and Rally Software for a special evening on Monday, February 9th with local Agile luminaries: Christophe Louvion, CTO of Gorilla Nation, Scott Downey, ScrumMaster at MySpace, and George Schlitz, Principal Coach at Big Visible Solutions.At See [link] (more).

Gorilla Nation 100

Gorilla Nation CTO Coach Downey Coach 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2014

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?

Networking 366

Networking Startup CTO Coach Email 366

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

Many startups now go through accelerators and have mentors passing through each day with advice – usually it’s conflicting. Of course triangulation is a mathematics term that is used in sailing and other activities to help you better navigate when you don’t have your bearings. Improving startup productivity ?

Startup 407

Startup Framework CTO Coach Sales 407

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. I have met dozens of brilliant technologists with fantastic ideas, ideas requiring nurturing, mentoring and support. Vaultive « Are Derivatives the Real Problem?

CTO Coach 28

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Mentor 28

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

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. Obviously, Prism is a great example.

Startup 271

Startup CTO Coach Activity Software Review 271

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

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.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2013

Production costs have fallen more than 90%. Ynon immediately began working with the founding team: Danny Zappin, Lisa Donovan and Ben Donovan and he established a really strong rapport as somebody who had the media chops and executive relationships but was grounded in the economics of low-cost video production & distribution.

Media 320

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2007

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.

MyShape 150

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

So operating at a higher level, helping to set the framework for decision making and then sitting down and watching the game be played, is certainly the way to go.” In practice it can be a fine line between sparring partner / coach and stepping over the line to brute-force persuasion. ” Of course I agree with this.

Startup 150

Startup Sales CTO Coach Course 150

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.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital CTO Coach Startup 150

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 can they do for funding, where can they go for help? He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO.

Incubator 150

Incubator CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

I seem to encounter a lot of people who want to attach a CTO label to me as I'm the only programmer on the founding team of three. While I do fill that role at the moment, I'm a little hesitant to refer to myself as a CTO as we still haven't launched a product, acquired a single user, or turned or a penny in profit.

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 23, 2012

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. " I recently performed a 360-Review on two Co-Founders who were the company's CEO and CTO. " [Tweet this quote].

Startup 268

Startup Tips CTO Coach Technical Review 268

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

Plus, he told us a little bit about how he's helping to build a mini cluster of technology companies in the Silverlake area. That's funding our new product, FanMix, which is a a social media tool. We had to figure out what would help the other 90 percent build better and more interesting sites. We have some great mentors now.

Startup 242

Startup CTO Coach Blogging Social Media 242

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

It also has to be said that bad apples on teams bring down productive even if that person is individually a superstar. 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. Mafias matter a lot to me, as well.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

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. It is really working.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

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.

Blogging 150

Blogging CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

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. 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.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

socalTECH

JUNE 9, 2014

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.

Media 235

Media Content Startup IP 235

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 8, 2013

Entrepreneurs and mentors travel from various parts around the world to take part in the 500 Startups accelerator program. Along with work-space and mentoring from global experts in design, distribution and every aspect of launching a business, MailLift received $50,000 in funding as part of the program.

Startup 86

Startup CTO Coach Mentor Class 86

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. Rather than push non-compete agreements on your superstars, it’s more productive to create incentive systems and creative ways for them to work more independently, just for you.

Acquisition 88

Acquisition CTO Hire Startup Outsource Development 88

socalTECH

AUGUST 9, 2013

The new name helps describe the company better, and doesn''t give the wrong preconceptions. I met my co-founder and CTO, Tom, there, and worked on a bunch of projects together. I met my co-founder and CTO, Tom, there, and worked on a bunch of projects together. Gabe Gottlieb: I''m an Angeleno. What''s your focus right now?

Advertising 153

Advertising Startup CTO Coach Study 153