SoCal CTO

MAY 21, 2012

So, here goes: Dr. Tony Karrer Over the past 15 years, Tony has been a part-time CTO for more than 30 startups. Most notably, he was the original CTO for eHarmony for its first four years making him partly responsible for more than 4% of the marriages every year. Tony has a Ph.D.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2010

Because more technology people probably read startup blogs I’m guessing this post will come under more scrutiny. The terms “CTO&# and “VP Engineering&# have such stigmas associated with what they are that I’m sure some people will feel uncomfortable with the definitions I’ve put forward. Experience.

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TechEmpower

JULY 24, 2023

Still, if you’re a business leader and your developers haven’t asked you these questions, look for a Fractional CTO to help navigate the critical early stage of development. Who’s helping you with fundraising? Marketing Support What does your application need to do to help with marketing?

Develop 520

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2012

Using my StartupRoar as a radar, I came across a great post by Gabriel Weinberg Do you really need a full-time hire for that? Hiring seems to be the preferred use of seed funds (by investors and founders), whereas I'd prefer a focus on customer acquisition. In other words, they come in asking for help with sourcing and hiring.

CTO Hire 205

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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. Roger Smith ) This helps explain where I normally play. Great question.

Startup 231

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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?

Technical Advisors 332

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2021

This strategy is called “organic growth,” yet it alone may yield only a fraction of the potential you could achieve, unless you add the additional strategies of partnerships and M&A (mergers and acquisitions). Add basic partner contracts or alliances. Add basic partner contracts or alliances. Partial acquisition.

Organization 132

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SoCal CTO

MAY 13, 2014

Here’s the other aspect that both Tony and I preach: get help. You can’t afford and don’t want to hire a full-time CTO or architect. Getting someone who’s fully employed somewhere else to work with you on a limited basis to help close the gap is hugely important for the non-technical founder.

CTO Coach 241

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socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2014

It''s never a great time: you figure out you have a legal problem, and need to find a lawyer. The old way was difficult, time consuming, and often expensive; referrals, calling up lawyers, going through initial consultations. How the website works, is the client goes to the website, and indicates what they need help with.

Help 240

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 9, 2010

In my post, Technology Roles in Startups , I described some of the different ways I engage with startup companies such as CTO Founder , CTO , Part-Time CTO , Acting CTO , Consultant, Advisor and Advisory Board Member. And don’t confuse having a CTO with getting an Technology Advisor.

CTO Coach 150

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SoCal CTO

MAY 15, 2009

Social networking sites and microblogs are used not only to build company brands, but to foster productivity; social media tools help build communities around the question, "What are you working on?" In 2005, Majid coauthored "Data Strategy" a book designed to help streamline information management within organizations.

Social Network 150

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2013

This strategy is called “organic growth,” yet it alone may yield only a fraction of the potential you could achieve, unless you add the additional strategies of partnerships and M&A (mergers and acquisitions). Add basic partner contracts or alliances. Add basic partner contracts or alliances. Partial acquisition.

Acquisition 88

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2012

This strategy is called “organic growth,” yet it alone may yield only a fraction of the potential you could achieve, unless you add the additional strategies of partnerships and M&A (mergers and acquisitions). Add basic partner contracts or alliances. Add basic partner contracts or alliances. Partial acquisition.

CTO Hire 91

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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. Maybe it helps that I love controversy and pushing the boundaries so people felt it was OK for them to do it as well. Should she take a chance and potentially ruffle feathers? he asked.

Entrepreneur 414

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socalTECH

MARCH 26, 2014

We also have a cloud-baesd, billing and practice management solutions, which enables them to manage all of their internal financial processes, and we also have solutions for billing and cloud-based outsourcing of back office tasks. For a couple of years, I was the head of a boutique software consulting firm based in El Segundo.

Startup 160

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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. The Top Five Reasons Entrepreneurs Should Learn About IP Law What Can a Well Drafted Contract Do For Your Company? You need all of these people to bake the cake.

Startup 211

Startup IP Ideas Patents 211

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2017

Andrew Bermudez , co-founder and CEO of Irvine-based Digsy (www.getdigsy.com) wasn't looking to build software to help commercial real estate brokers close more deals. However, he quickly discovered the deal data the company was collecting was not just data--but a guide to the best practices on helping brokers close more deals, quickly.

Sales 145

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

If you do not break it down into small pieces, its hard to make progress with part-time resources, freelancers, etc. Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers Technology Roles in Startups Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering? Third party products are used appropriately.

Technical Review 338

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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. The Top Five Reasons Entrepreneurs Should Learn About IP Law What Can a Well Drafted Contract Do For Your Company? You need all of these people to bake the cake.

Startup 198

Startup IP Ideas Patents 198

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

They often make great team members such as head of products, CTO, head of sales, CFO, etc. He was from South America but living in Switzerland and had launched a startup while holding down a day job at a consulting firm (McKinsey if memory serves). We weren’t ready to hire an associate yet so I offered him a summer internship.

Entrepreneur 293

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socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2010

What our program does, is if you get a question wrong, we help determine where you need help. It might not be problems in geometry, it might be because students can't add fractions in algebra. So, we give basic instruction and then signal teachers on where to better focus their classroom time.

Software Review 178

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

I just need you for a few hours to help me move this weekend.” If your developers have a better machine, screen, internet connection, or chair at home than they do in the office, then there’s a problem. I.e., they need a developer more than they need a CTO. You also should never say something like, “We just need to add X.”

Develop 280

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Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 3, 2012

Kaiser joined forces with Bruce Schwartz (Founder and CTO) to write an entirely new code language they called Interactive Television Markup Language (ITVML). This new technology also gives the producers complete control over the experiences they are creating. Coincident.TV

Screening 109

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 9, 2013

They''ve been in talks with some consulting companies, but don''t quite the know the criteria for evaluating them and things like references(and where to get them). 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. References.

Web Development 204

Web Development Web Develop Development 204

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

This is especially true for companies with expensive and complex products or services that are more consultative in nature, like insurance, financial services, home services, education and travel, etc. At CallWave, Colin was CTO, Jason was CFO and I was in charge of product marketing and customer acquisition.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

SoCal CTO

JUNE 26, 2012

I've done four Free CTO Consulting Sessions in the past month with startup founders who all had run into variations of the same problem. In the fourth case, the founder was getting ready to sign a very large contract, but they didn't feel they had much visibility into what was going to be delivered.

Outsource Development 254

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