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Technical Advisors: Every Startup Needs One

TechEmpower

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. Would you create contracts without an attorney? And Maybe You Need Two!

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Technical Advisors: Every Web/Mobile Startup Must Have One

SoCal CTO

I did a presentation recently for a graduate class from The Founder Institute around getting online/mobile products out the door. It was like having a bunch of mini- Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions all in one room. Third party products are used appropriately. Review the code being built. Strategic Technical Advisor.

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Startup CTO or Developer

SoCal CTO

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.

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Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers

SoCal CTO

I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Did they really need a Startup CTO or Developer or both? And do I fit as a Part-Time CTO , Technology Advisor , CTO Founder , Acting CTO ? He had a partially built product. Go to user groups.

CTO Hire 241
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Document Your MVP for a Developer

SoCal CTO

I was talking with an early-stage founder who has a product vision and wants to get it built. He is not a technical person, but is somewhat web savvy. 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. Go find a new technical resource.

Develop 354
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People Management: Startup Teams Should Dip but not Skip

Both Sides of the Table

You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on. Similarly I liked to keep myself apprised of the technical decisions we were making. If my CTO would have given me his update much detail would have been lost in translation.

Startup 308
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Building Your MVP as a Non-Technical Founder

SoCal CTO

I did a presentation this week at Coloft that looked at how Non-Technical Founders can go about getting their MVP built. Investors my tell you that, but what they can look at your product on paper and tell what it does and they will understand if it can be built. And the back-end is something that a non-technical founder can manage.