SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Of course, I provide part-time CTO services. But the reality is that I engage with about 5 new startups each year which means that I end up working with less than 5% of the startups where I provide these free consulting sessions.

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CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

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. I’m frustrated just thinking about it. It’s not warming us up.

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CTO Coach Startup Web Guide 211

SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2012

The problem is you don't yet have product/market fit, and until you do, you don't really know what to build. When product vision is truly clear, then it makes sense to execute it, and hiring follows. You may end up hiring these people eventually and you'll know more about them when you do. Far from it. They are very early.

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CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach Develop 205

TechEmpower

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

If having an LLM write the whole blurb seems like too much, we could also fill our empty textbox with a writing prompt: I know writing about yourself can be tough. State Your Career Goals: You're passionate about guiding young minds in mathematics. Think about text boxes that have stymied you in the past.

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Generative AI Artificial Inteligence TechEmpower Tips 295

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2010

Often I’m asked by startup CEO’s about how to best build an engineering team. Because more technology people probably read startup blogs I’m guessing this post will come under more scrutiny. Some CTO’s swear that it is a huge improvement in development timeframes and doesn’t cause performance issues.

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CTO Hire Fractional VPE Startup Outsource Development 400

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I received an inquiry from a reader of my blog and thought I would provide some thoughts, but would definitely welcome input: I am an unpaid CTO of a small startup. I have been working full time with two founders for about 10 months on full time basis. They both would have lots of thoughts and ideas. What type of shares?

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CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity 167

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. He is a frequent speaker at trade and industry events.

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CTO Hire Startup Metrics eHarmony 175

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I received an inquiry from a reader of my blog and thought I would provide some thoughts, but would definitely welcome input: I am an unpaid CTO of a small startup. I have been working full time with two founders for about 10 months on full time basis. They both would have lots of thoughts and ideas. What type of shares?

CTO 150

CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity 150

TechEmpower

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Enhancing Front-End Product Search We also developed a front-end search tool that revolutionized the way users search for products. Even if certain categories aren't predefined in the database, users still receive relevant product suggestions. cto , infotech , innovation , product , project , saas

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Generative AI Artificial Inteligence Tool Knowledge Base 346

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

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 the operations side of a software business well enough to be the one overseeing deploys, crafting the infrastructure plans, and monitoring the health of the product.

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CTO Hire Startup Guide Examples 150

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

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. Was it a case of needing Homework?

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CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity Develop 241

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Gregg Johnson, CEO of Invoca For the first 5 years or so after I became a VC I didn’t talk much about what I thought a VC should be excellent at since frankly I wasn’t sure. It’s easy to think the role of a VC is to have strong opinions about markets, trends, tech dynamics and so forth. I don’t think this is the job.

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Venture Capital Capital CTO Coach Startup 150

TechEmpower

AUGUST 21, 2023

Other common scenarios that we’ve seen: Scaling and new markets: Your company and product are established, and now you’re scaling or going after new markets. Our goal is to build a decent understanding of your business, your product, and your technology. We then review the answers with the technical and product teams.

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Technical Review Development Team Review Software Review TechEmpower 260

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). ” So Ethan went to work as a product manager at Google Video. When Ethan was considering leaving Google we talked about it.

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CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

recently wrote a post talking about how some VCs meddle in operating company decisions or some executive teams are too reliant on VCs to jump in and make hard calls for them. Here is where I see this really play out: Product Management. Most CEOs fancy their own product skills and like to weigh in on priorities. I did this.

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Startup Sales CTO Coach Course 150

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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Startup CTO Hire Technical Advisors Technical Review 231

socalTECH

MAY 28, 2013

In real life, you can just about bargain a price for anything you want to buy--a car, a house, even that new stereo from your local electronics store. Joe Marrapodi: GreenToe is a name your own price marketplace for products. However, rather than travel services, it''s for products. But, online, that''s not the case.

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Pricing Product Help Sales 273

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Saturday, February 17, 2007 About this Blog Ive been thinking about doing a blog with my thoughts on technology and whats happening in the Los Angeles area technology scene for a while, but it was Ben Kuos recent start of a blog that inspired me to actually go ahead and do it.

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Blogging CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire 150

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 5, 2018

Scott McCorkle has spent most of his professional career thinking about business to business software and how to improve it for a company’s customers. If customers are doing the things i want them to be doing through my product. What is it that they want to achieve and why did they buy my product. Midwest rising.

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Chief Technology Officer SaaS Metrics Customer 145

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 10, 2012

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. CTO Founder - Do they really still need a technical advisor?

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Technical Advisors CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 332

SoCal CTO

MAY 21, 2013

I thought it would be worth capturing some basic notes about what signals founders commonly are seeing that cause them to call me, what those signals might be indicating, and what might make sense to do as a founder if you are seeing some of these signals. Common Signals I''ve written previously about Symptoms of a Weak Development Team.

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CTO Coach Develop Development Startup 219

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 11, 2012

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 -- Managing Your Product/Service Lifecycle. Your product is just about to go out the door. But how do you ensure that your product or service is what the customer really wants, needs and will pay for? Youre reviewing your launch plan and task assignments.

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Product Services TechEmpower Competition 100

TechCrunch LA

MAY 21, 2019

LG U+ will host AmazeVR content on its service use the company’s proprietary content generation tools to make VR production easier as it looks to roll out 1500 new pieces of virtual reality “experiences” AmazeVR sells its content as a $7 per-month subscription, with 3 month bundles for $18 and 6 month bundles for $24.

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Chief Technology Officer Content Hollywood Netflix 211

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2010

I recently wrote a post about avoiding the “ Deferred Life Plan &# and some related thoughts about personal productivity that came from Tim Ferriss’s book, The Four Hour Workweek. I would love to say that I’m the productivity guru. Admittedly I also fall into this trap.

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Product Startup Email Technical Review 280

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 9, 2022

The funding, a Series C, will be used to continue expanding Boulevard’s product and engineering teams and to build out more tools targeting an ever-wider set of users in the bigger wellness and beauty sector (those product additions are typically big — it most recently added a whole new payments feature).

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Help Startup UCLA Tool 195

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 15, 2017

Los Angeles-based electric car developer Faraday Future , even after dramatically scaling back its ambitious plans, appears to be circling the drain--losing three executives, including its CFO, CTO, and head of its manufacturing line. In addition, Faraday Future said it had "terminated immediately" the employment of CTO Ulrich Kranz.

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CTO Hire Press Los Angeles Report 113

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

He has a really interesting background as a product manager and now an entrepreneur. Tell me a bit about your background. Like many product managers, my background is fairly eclectic. That's where I learned I enjoyed interacting with customers and working with development teams to build and launch products.

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Product Entrepreneur Social Media Google 150

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? Ask them about your concept.

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CTO Hire CTO Coach Startup Equity 211

SoCal CTO

MAY 13, 2014

The conversation with Bob was about what the composition of advisors should look like. You can’t afford and don’t want to hire a full-time CTO or architect. For me, if I can help you within a couple hours Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions , I’m happy to do that and I don’t expect compensation or equity for that.

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CTO Coach Startup CTO Hire Template 241

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

Think about how much more value was created for all these constituencies (and society) by Snap staying independent vs. Instagram selling to Facebook.  —  @jasonlk How the Long Game Has Benefitted Upfront I was thinking about it this morning in particular and thinking about my own personal investment history.

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Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 363

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 15, 2009

Steve Gilison worked as a market researcher and product manager at a startup where my company, TechEmpower , did the software / web development. Remind me about your background Steve? I have about 11 years in the technology sector including roles doing market research, sales and product development.

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Los Angeles Product Angel Startup 179

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

Remarkably, Canoo has completed the design and engineering of its first model in just 19 months and is preparing its vehicles for production through a contract manufacturer. When you subscribe, you think differently about a car – now the value is defined by the user benefit.

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Chief Technology Officer Los Angeles Design Outsource Development 237

socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2013

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. Then we discussed how they could go about finding this startup business advisor.

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CTO Coach Mentor Startup TechEmpower 180

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 1, 2019

The new financing will give Relativity the cash to fully build its “Stargate” factory, a semi-autonomous, full-scale production facility that will house the company’s massive 3-D printers and produce its first rocket, the Terran 1.

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Chief Technology Officer SpaceX Los Angeles Venture Capital 168

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

We are extremely lucky to have a handful of thought leaders in the data warehousing space present about their platforms and also talk about the dramatic growth in the data storage space.

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Startup Platform Product 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

Your product demo crushed. You race back to the office to tell everybody how well it went and you wait for the follow-up call to have a partners’ meeting or talk about term sheets or at least dip into due diligence. You left the meeting dreaming about money and finally having resources to do all of the things you wanted to do.

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Software Review Startup Email Conference 381

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

Santa Monica-based Heard , a startup developing social sharing and networking software for iOS, Android, and the desktop said this week that it has launched a brand new "social exchange" software product aimed at letting people share and exchange content online.

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Networking Netflix Santa Monica Content 147