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A FractionalCTO bridges the gap between founders and developers to help keep your tech strategy aligned with your business goals. This helps your startup stay agile and competitive in a fast-paced marketplace.
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. Of course, I provide part-time CTO services. I need a life-sciences CTO, can you help?
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. Of course, I provide part-time CTO services. I need a life-sciences CTO, can you help?
What does it mean to be a CTO for a startup? Should a startup CTO spend their time programming? Exploring new technologies? The role of a CTO varies as the company matures. A CTO can help you find the right answers. Instead, they should consider a FractionalCTO who can help close the gap.
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.
I’ve been having discussions with several people recently about the role of the CTO (ChiefTechnologyOfficer) in very early stage companies. In December 2007, I described how I commonly take on an Acting CTO Role in a Start-up. That’s why Roger Smith puts the focus of the CTO on programming for the earliest stage.
For our Insights and Opinions section today, we share an article by John Shiple , who provides technologyconsulting to CEOs, helps outline some of the key things startup (and other) CEOs ought to know in dealing with their CTO. Start at the top with the CEO and CTO. Learn how you can best support your CTO.
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.
Based on my posts Startup CTO or Developer and Acting CTO , Chris O’Meara wrote an interesting post Startup CTO: Could It Work? They tend to know where to find good help in terms of employees and consultants. " My colleagues and I interact with startups a fair amount because we're consultants.
Are you a non-technical startup founder who’s about to go have a conversation with a Chief Technical Officer (CTO) or Technical advisory type person? Maybe you are trying to determine what technologies might apply that you should be evaluating. Helping you with your challenges is fun.
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. He ends by looking at how this might help startups in the room.
It was like having a bunch of mini- Free Startup CTOConsulting Sessions all in one room. This is exactly the kind of thing I'm doing as a Part-Time CTO or Technical Advisor for startups. CTO Founder - Do they really still need a technical advisor? I've talked about this before in Startup CTO or Developer.
Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers Technology Roles in Startups Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering? In this talk, we spent most of our time on Technical Advisors: Every Web/Mobile Startup Must Have One and how they should be helping you: Specify the right things to be built.
We had an interesting presentation at the LA CTO Forum by the CTO of a startup who chose Groovy / Grails as the framework for their startup. t prompted a good discussion around how CTOs go about choosing the programming language and framework for their startup. Get get help (see Free Startup CTOConsulting Sessions ).
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. CTO Knowledge and Skill I personally believe that the best CTOs will have a technical/developer background. Some of the top symptoms are: Frequently missed deadlines.
In the mean time, if you need some extra help, get some contractors to test out specific things. When I talk with early-stage companies, often the discussion starts with them asking me about Hiring a CTO for Your Startup , or Finding a Technical Cofounder for Your Startup or How to Find Programmers for Your Startup. Far from it.
Just like attorneys, technical advisors can help navigate waters that many find murky. The Strategic Technical Advisor looks at the business and determines what makes sense from a technology perspective in the short-term and longer-terms. CTO Founder – Do they really still need a technical advisor? And Maybe You Need Two!
For this year's first article, we share the advice of Tony Karrer , Founder and CTO of TechEmpower , Founder and CTO of Aggregage and organizer of the LA CTO Forum and Startup Specialist Network , two local groups focused on startups. I suggested that they should look for someone like me, but on the business end.
The old way was difficult, time consuming, and often expensive; referrals, calling up lawyers, going through initial consultations. Michael Chasin: LawKick.com is essentially a marketplace that makes it easier than ever to find legal help. How the website works, is the client goes to the website, and indicates what they need help with.
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.”
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.
You put your price into our gauge, which has the colors red, yellow, and green to help guide consumers in making the most appropriate offers. That gauge helps make sure the offers that consumers place are realistic, for example, not offering $200 for a $2000 Canon camera. Todd introduced me to Andrew, and Andrew is now our CTO.
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.
The situation is pretty common it got us to riff a bit around how to get programmers to help him build out a proof-of-concept version for his startup. Ask a few CTO type people. Or ask me Free Startup CTOConsulting Sessions. Ask for help. Along the way, this gradually turned into hunting programmers in the wild.
Almost every day I'm talking to early stage startup founders (see Free Startup CTOConsulting Sessions ) about what they plan to do. Still, if you've not heard these questions from a developer, they are not helping you as much as they should. Do we want to use something like SendGrid in order to help with delivery?
Almost every day I'm talking to early stage startup founders (see Free Startup CTOConsulting Sessions ) about what they plan to do. Still, if you've not heard these questions from a developer, they are not helping you as much as they should. Do we want to use something like SendGrid in order to help with delivery?
" Today I had two conversations with early stage startups (see Free CTOConsulting ). I’ve spoken to dozens of customers, I have a validated customer persona, built an MVP to test key behavioral hypotheses, and the data doesn’t back what you’re saying." " One was an enterprise software product. Customer Validation 101.
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.
The situation is pretty common it got us to riff a bit around how to get programmers to help him build out a proof-of-concept version for his startup. Ask a few CTO type people. Or ask me Free Startup CTOConsulting Sessions. Ask for help. Along the way, this gradually turned into hunting programmers in the wild.
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.
Still, if you’re a business leader and your developers haven’t asked you these questions, look for a FractionalCTO 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?
I've done four Free CTOConsulting Sessions in the past month with startup founders who all had run into variations of the same problem. As a developer, certainly as a CTO, you need to account for setting those expectations appropriately. They couldn't plan their business.
I've had several Startup CTOConsulting sessions recently where it became apparent that the Founder needed help with the business and product as much or more than the technology. They want someone who understands their current role and can help them be successful there. They may open doors to the next role.
A technical review can help your development team adopt new processes and strategies to maximize their speed and efficiency. A technical review can help you decide what team will work best both with you and for you. To help you, we need to understand your specific concerns. A technical review can answer that crucial question.
I’m currently working with several startups, helping them launch new web businesses. My clients are typically entrepreneurs who have other jobs and are looking for help to get their side projects going but don’t have the time or skill set to launch it themselves. If I were to pick a niche what would it be? Wow, great questions.
Vince: I’m an author, speaker and management consultant with a special expertise in online media sales. Today I lead a small consultancy that helps advertising supported develop and scale the revenue producing sides of their businesses. I help internet companies make money. Example here: [link]. People understand that.
Unlike those, however, one of the latest projects, ActiveReplay (www.activereplay.com) has some serious, experienced executives behind it, who have the experience in designing hardware devices--in the form of CEO Dr. Anatole Lokshin, who helped create the consumer GPS market as the CTO of Magellan Navigation. How did that happen?
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). I’ll help you raise the fund. He wanted to raise angel money.
This is a novel user interaction that embeds casual entertainment directly into the operating system experience, based on some fairly interesting underlying technology. In addition, I do a few consulting projects on the side, in the areas of product strategy, search engine optimization, and intellectual property. How did it help you?
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.
In 1986 I started an advertising and public relations firm to serve software and hardware companies, which became a marketing consulting business ( www.Allen.com ) when I moved to L.A. Along the way, I co-authored three books on one-to-one marketing ( [link] ) to help marketers learn how to built and nature relationships with their customers.
Startups that come to me and ask me to sign an NDA in order to get Free Startup CTOConsulting really are missing it. You need all of these people to bake the cake. Since I fall into the expert category, my belief is that you should be pretty open with me. "We are doing something in mobile advertising.
I'm hoping you can help me figure out who I should be connecting with on this. How can I get more help setting up my blog? And while I always tell people to just dive in and do it (and mention that if they get stuck, just ask a 25 year old to help you), there are definitely a lot of people in the audience that need more hand holding.
Startups that come to me and ask me to sign an NDA in order to get Free Startup CTOConsulting really are missing it. You need all of these people to bake the cake. Since I fall into the expert category, my belief is that you should be pretty open with me. "We are doing something in mobile advertising.
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