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.

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SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

I've posted quite a few things on the topics associated with being a Startup CTO. Here are some resources that come from other sources: Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering? Lessons Learned: What does a startup CTO actually do? Lessons Learned: What does a startup CTO actually do?

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Generally I can provide quite a bit of help in that brief time. And I try my best to point them to resources that can help them longer term. And I try my best to point them to resources that can help them longer term. What Is This?

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Generally I can provide quite a bit of help in that brief time. And I try my best to point them to resources that can help them longer term. And I try my best to point them to resources that can help them longer term. What Is This?

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SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 10, 2012

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. Structure development contracts appropriately or directing the in-house team appropriately. Would you create contracts without an attorney?

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SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2007

I generally am working as an acting CTO for about 3-4 start-ups or other companies at any one time. I also found this interesting graphic of the changing needs around the CTO role in different size/type companies that somewhat echoes my experience. During Stabilization, often the focus is transitioning to a full-time CTO.

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TechEmpower

AUGUST 14, 2023

Would you create contracts without an attorney? Specifically, they should know about, and help with: Asking and answering the 53 Questions Developers Should Ask Innovators Knowing when and how to bring on development talent ( Hiring Developers Before Product/Market Fit? , Strategy can be had on a part-time basis.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

Ways to Make Your MVP More Minimum We spent quite a bit of time talking about a complexity scale and the kinds of resources you can viably use at different levels of complexity. Simple MVPs get built with less the 3 Programmer Months worth of effort (that's 3 months a single programmer working full-time).

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SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

For your first key hires, three, five, maybe as much as ten, you will probably not be able to use any kind of formula. For example, suppose you're just two founders and you want to hire an additional hacker who's so good you feel he'll increase the average outcome of the whole company by 20%. n = (1.2 - 1)/1.2 =.167. and we have 11.1%

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TechEmpower

MARCH 4, 2024

This shift allows business to reallocate human resources to more complex and strategic roles, or eliminate those positions entirely. AI can significantly aid Human Resources (HR) departments in reducing costs through various means. This not only speeds up hiring but also lowers the costs associated with lengthy recruitment cycles.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 2, 2015

As the organizer of the LA CTO Forum , I get lots of inquiries by job seekers and people looking for CTO / VP Engineering talent. I’ve written quite a bit about aspects of this topic, especially from the perspective of startup founders looking for talent – you can find these in: Startup CTO.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

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

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

I've talked about that in lots of other posts, so you can visit some of these to help determine what you specifically need: Startup CTO or Developer Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Before You Develop Anything Key ingredients in the equation are: How complex is the system? Do you have dollars to pay for development?

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 4, 2010

Background This post partly really came about as a result of a great conversation yesterday with David Croslin a former CTO at HP who recently conducted an interesting experiment. This is actually fairly common and I think it’s a bit challenging in that the technology roles (from technology advisor to CTO) in a startup vary widely.

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Technical Review Technical Advisors CTO Coach Startup 170

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Ryan was the most talented technologist we had hired at BuildOnline. We hired Ryan at a really young age and without a tremendous amount of prior experience. We had a strategy of hiring people really young because we couldn’t afford to hire too many senior people. I knew that meant he wouldn’t come back.

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

they need a developer more than they need a CTO. I just had a fellow CTO ask me about a particular technical design problem and several directions they could go and ask for my thoughts on the tradeoffs for those different choices. Many are not interested in 3rd party technologies that can streamline development.

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socalTECH

AUGUST 28, 2020

San Diego-based Chatmeter , a provider of local search marketing and reputation management services, said it has hired three new executives on Thursday. The company said it has hired Dan Cunningham as Chief Technology Officer; Nichole Peterson as Vice President of Finance; and Kathleen Titano as Director of People & Culture.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

The truth is you really don’t know how your teammates or your bosses will perform in good times and bad. You hire people who look good on paper. So one of the surest signs you’ve hired a leader is the willingness of his or her former team to re-assemble. After 6 months – you know. You REALLY know.

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Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

At Silicon Beach Fest Hollywood 2012 Kevin Winston organized a panel called “How to Find and Hire a Developer”. Always have a developer do a test project before hiring them to make sure they deliver quality work. Understand that people are motivated to be a part of a larger vision and to work with someone they believe in.

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socalTECH

MAY 29, 2018

International Space University, and Planetary Resources. Jeffrey was previously Chief Product Officer at TargetClose, and as a for-hire CTO and Chief Product Officer, had such clients as ThisNext/Glossi, Blurb, MAKER Media, SkyZONE, and many other local startups.

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SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Great content again in September that meets at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. 8220; His three things (worth reading his whole post anyway) are set vision/strategy and communicate broadly, recruit/hire/retain top talent, and make sure there’s enough cash in the bank. It’s great advice.

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SoCal CTO

MAY 19, 2010

On Friday, at the LA CTO Forum , I heard from a couple of CTOs having trouble finding good developers. Do you have anyone you could recommend to me, or any resources? Perfect timing. I don’t have specific suggestions for people you can hire. I went back and revise the post. My methods are pretty vanilla.

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Development Develop TechEmpower Southern California 175

socalTECH

JULY 23, 2012

As a hiring manager, and as the former CTO of Buy.com, Navid Nobakht , Co-Founder of Recmnd.Me ([link] had a problem--how to really figure out if someone he was hiring could actually execute. The problem we're trying to solve, is one I found from in my experience as a hiring manager in the IT industry.

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SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2011

This site aggregates and filters content from thought leaders who talk about topics such as Marketing , Sales , Design , Revenue , Hiring , Social Media , Business Models , Metrics , PR , Venture Capital , Angel Investors , Bootstrapping , Incubators , Agile and many others. Click around on the various topics to find some amazing resources.

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Content Startup Social Media IP 175

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2020

Value is embodied in previous success with investors, proven problem solving ability, and having built and executed a business plan with minimal resources. Level of responsibility and time allocated. The CTO of many technical startups was the original founder. Experience and connections in your business area.

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SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

Startups that come to me and ask me to sign an NDA in order to get Free Startup CTO Consulting really are missing it. Some resources on this: Intellectual Property is More Than Patents Does My Startup Have Intellectual Property? But generally I'm going to favor being open. "We are doing something in mobile advertising.

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SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

Startups that come to me and ask me to sign an NDA in order to get Free Startup CTO Consulting really are missing it. Some resources on this: Intellectual Property is More Than Patents Does My Startup Have Intellectual Property? But generally I'm going to favor being open. "We are doing something in mobile advertising.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2014

I spent an hour on the phone working with Sam Rosen, the CEO of MakeSpace on a senior exec he is considering hiring. 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. The scarcest resource these people have is their time.

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socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2010

That has really improved our consistency, our delivery, our service offerings, and online resources for our students. That's a big part of it. It might not be problems in geometry, it might be because students can't add fractions in algebra. This allows those teachers to identify skill gaps.

Software Review 178

Software Review Technical Review Education Startup 178

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2014

The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO. Chief Human Resources Officer (VP Personnel). This is a fancy title for a personnel manager in a large corporation who keeps track of all the hiring and firing, and has a staff to build job descriptions and personnel policy documents. Chief Legal Officer.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO. Chief Human Resources Officer (VP Personnel). This is a fancy title for a personnel manager in a large corporation who keeps track of all the hiring and firing, and has a staff to build job descriptions and personnel policy documents. Chief Legal Officer.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2010

The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO. Chief Human Resources Officer (VP Personnel). This is a fancy title for a personnel manager in a large corporation who keeps track of all the hiring and firing, and has a staff to build job descriptions and personnel policy documents. Chief Legal Officer.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Your highest priority right now is hiring the 1 or 2 people that are going to join your company and make a difference. There’s you and your killer CTO co-founder. Imagine if the ambassadors from Seattle organized a dinner with 8 entrepreneurs, the CTO of Amazon, the head of Xbox and the head of marketing for Starbucks.

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socalTECH

AUGUST 8, 2018

We spoke with Dave Fink , CEO and co-founder of Posite, and Jonathan Neddenriep , co-founder and CTO of the company, to learn more. We had to find other, more diverse ways to allocate our resources and grow businesses. Dave Fink: I was one of the original partners at Sciences, and Jonathan was CTO of the e-commerce staff.

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 9, 2013

I just got an email asking about exactly this: I''m with a new company that needs some software built, but doesn''t need (or have the resources for) a large staff of software developers. You are looking for someone who cares about the look, but you are hiring the development firm for it''s development skills not its graphic design skills.

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Web Development Web Development Develop 204

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2023

Value is embodied in previous success with investors, proven problem-solving ability, and having built and executed a business plan with minimal resources. Level of responsibility and time allocated. The CTO of many technical startups was the original founder. Experience and connections in your business area.

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Equity CTO Hire Patents Startup 99

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2017

If, on the other hand, you did the first meeting on your own you could ping that VC and tell them, “my CTO is going to be around next week and I’d love to get the chance for her to meet you because we’ve just launched this one big new innovation that I think is well worth your seeing — whether you end up investing in us our not.”

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