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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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Startup CTO Speaking

SoCal CTO

I was recently asked by an organization, "Tony, what topics can you cover?" So, here goes: Dr. Tony Karrer Over the past 15 years, Tony has been a part-time CTO for more than 30 startups. Over the past several years, I've done lots of presentations around a wide variety of topics. Tony has a Ph.D.

CTO Hire 175
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Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering?

Both Sides of the Table

A few people have asked me to try and define the perfect startup organization chart. This time I thought I’d try and address engineering talent. I hope many will read this and have an answer for the question, “what’s the different between a CTO and a VP of Engineering?&#. Let’s start with the basics.

CTO Hire 400
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Why Entrepreneurs Should Be Respected More Than Loved

Both Sides of the Table

Eventually you need a VP of Product to handle your product roadmap, a CTO for engineering leadership and VPs of sales, marketing & biz dev. The “doers” in your organization. You hire great people. You motivate, cajole, reassign tasks, hire, fire and push the organization forward. You set direction.

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People Management: Startup Teams Should Dip but not Skip

Both Sides of the Table

We all like to think of startups as “non hierarchic&# organizations and to some extent that should be true. I never built a Google-sized business but I did build an organization from scratch that grew to 120 employees in 5 countries before we sold it. I’m not a big believer in too much hierarchy.

Startup 308
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Lead Developer to CTO at a Startup

SoCal CTO

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. Accounting?

CTO Coach 231
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Interview Eric Sikola, ExpenseBay

socalTECH

technology to make submitting expense reports extremely easy. There was nothing out there in the market which would be the personal assistant, or the personal finance tool to do expense reports. My thought was, why couldn't you do that with expense reports? Again--another place where expense reports are being turned in.

Web 2.0 100