Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, September 30, 2008 What does a startup CTO actually do? Often times, it seems like people are thinking its synonymous with "that guy who gets paid to sit in the corner and think technical deep thoughts" or "that guy who gets to swoop in a rearrange my project at the last minute on a whim."

CTO 168

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2014

The reason is that good attributes apply equally well to “external” partners, as they do to internal partners, like a co-founder or CTO. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Complementary skills. Passion for what they do.

Partner 269

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 269

TechEmpower

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Is user interface and graphic design a necessity? You'll discover firms that are prolific in design/interface and light on development, and vice versa. This article will primarily focus on locating and evaluating development companies, rather than design firms. cto , product , saas Or is your project a clean slate?

Software Developers 297

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Software 297

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

The reason is that good attributes apply equally well to “external” partners, as they do to internal partners, like a co-founder or CTO. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Complementary skills. Passion for what they do.

Partner 258

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Equity 258

mashable.com

MAY 9, 2011

Hiring the wrong person for key company positions can cost a business thousands — or tens of thousands — of dollars and man hours. This is especially true when it comes to tech companies hiring the wrong chief technology officer. Leadership Abilities Are A Must It’s natural to want a tech savvy and competent CTO.

CTO Hire 73

CTO Hire Fractional CTO CTO Technical Review 73

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

” Bill Gross, who is one of the Godfathers of the Internet, once told me, “ If you don’t design a product that is 10x better than the competition then you’ll never build anything truly big or amazing.” ” That’s what we’ve set out to build at MakeSpace. 10x the experience.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Software Review Cofounder CTO Hire 380

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

You’re a builder, a creator — whether a back-end programmer, a Linux hacker, a Javascript ninja, a UX magician, a designer. Most startups fail, despite excellent coding and/or design skills. You’ll also do coding and design and that’s fine of course. You make stuff.

Fractional CTO 310

Fractional CTO Coder CTO Hire Design 310

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2011

The reason is that good attributes apply equally well to “external” partners, as they do to internal partners, like a co-founder or CTO. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Complementary skills. Passion for what they do.

Partner 240

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 240

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 10, 2010

If you read Marco from Instapaper, you see that what makes Instapaper great isn’t the technology and his ability to write code, but his thoughtfulness around design. He has spent a lot of time thinking about what users really want to do to solve information overload problems. This is where product and design leads come into play.

Cofounder 127

Cofounder CTO Hire Design Founder 127

SoCal CTO

MAY 13, 2014

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. Here’s the other aspect that both Tony and I preach: get help. That’s great advice.

Advisory Board 241

Advisory Board Fractional CTO CTO Hire Startup 241

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2010

The reason is that good attributes apply equally well to “external” partners, as they do to internal partners, like a co-founder or CTO. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Complementary skills. Passion for what they do.

Partner 230

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 230

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2014

The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO. The more conventional VP of Marketing role should cover branding, as well as other marketing advertising, design, public relations and customer service requirements. More executives, or other more creative titles are seen as a big red flag. Chief Risk Officer.

CTO Hire 252

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Angel Investor Public Relations 252

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2019

The reason is that good attributes apply equally well to “external” partners, as they do to internal partners, like a co-founder or CTO. A good overall example is the synergy between Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, as well as long-time Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt. Brings complementary skills and experience.

Cofounder 221

Cofounder Software Review CTO Hire Founder 221

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO. The more conventional VP of Marketing role should cover branding, as well as other marketing advertising, design, public relations and customer service requirements. More executives, or other more creative titles are seen as a big red flag. Chief Risk Officer.

CTO Hire 244

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Angel Investor 244

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2010

The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO. The more conventional VP of Marketing role should cover branding, as well as other marketing advertising, design, public relations and customer service requirements. More executives, or other more creative titles are seen as a big red flag. Chief Risk Officer.

CTO Hire 227

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Angel Investor 227

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

Because I am true to the hiring practices I preach, I wanted a strong exec who would “ punch above their weightclass ” by taking a job they hadn’t yet done but would hugely aspire to and thus work harder to out perform. I think it’s a beautifully designed site and product. So there you have it.

Southern California 359

Southern California San Francisco CTO Hire SEM 359

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

A week or so ago, we launched the Key Hire Wire at First Round. You will initially spend majority of time personally working with individual accounts and coaching sales team. CTO, Modcloth – San Francisco, CA (corrected from e-mail version) Remember that girl from back home? How do you like them apples?

Part-Time VPE 92

Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Engineer Sales 92

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 16, 2020

Being relatively a new service trend in today’s tech-driven world, CTO-as-a-Service (CaaS) is notably gaining its momentum. Though CTO as a traditional full-time position exists for decades, some companies do not feel they need a technology executive. Ideal scenario assumes there’s a CTO in house. By referring to ?TO-as-a-Service

Fractional CTO 85

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Part-Time VPE 85

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 24, 2014

by Adam Root, founder and CTO of Hiplogiq. Most of us would want to hire the most experienced, cutthroat lawyer specializing in multimillion-dollar mergers. Adam Root has worked in development and design for Fortune 500 companies, midsize agencies, and startups. A DUI lawyer? Didn’t think so.

Fractional CTO 228

Fractional CTO Product CTO Hire Merger 228

Gust

APRIL 13, 2014

The reason is that good attributes apply equally well to “external” partners, as they do to internal partners, like a co-founder or CTO. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Complementary skills. Passion for what they do.

Partner 179

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 179

blog.alinelerner.com

JUNE 21, 2013

Lessons from a year’s worth of hiring data. Because I used to be an engineer, one part of my job was conducting first-round technical interviews, and between January 2012 and January 2013, I interviewed roughly 300 people for our back-end/full-stack engineer position. Aline Lerner's Blog. Jun 21, 2013.

CTO Hire 98

CTO Hire Hiring Software Review Technical Review 98

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 15, 2014

My daily life consists of (a) setting the strategy and rationale of the Engineering & Innovation department, based on a mixture of vision, data, and the needs of the rest of the company, (b) participate in doing the same for the whole company, (c) hire, (d) manage the managers whose teams execute the real work.

CTO Hire 266

CTO Hire RSS Cofounder Algorithm 266

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Projecting from the seed stage, there are two types of team-building topics you want to address – key senior hires and org-level team building. As the company progresses through product market fit (PMF), you will want to highlight other key senior hires required to scale and round out the functional expertise of the exec team.

Part-Time VPE 195

Part-Time VPE Seed Stage CTO Hire Forecast 195

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017

As a CTO, I can definitely say without a doubt that few people understand what a CTO does. When I tell someone I’m a CTO, I’m often met with a blank stare. Even when someone is aware of what a CTO does, they often have limited context due to the wide variety of CTO roles.

Fractional CTO 54

Fractional CTO CTO Hire CTO Technical Review 54

Gust

APRIL 20, 2014

The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO. The more conventional VP of Marketing role should cover branding, as well as other marketing advertising, design, public relations and customer service requirements. More executives, or other more creative titles are seen as a big red flag. Chief Risk Officer.

CTO Hire 171

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Angel Investor Public Relations 171

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 2, 2020

Now, anyone can create apps and websites, design chatbots, automate processes, open ecommerce stores, and lots more — all without typing out a single line of code. They hire a team, spend months planning, their engineers build it, and… the final product isn’t quite right. A user can build a chatbot in an afternoon.

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire eCommerce Engineer Cofounder 264

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.

Technology 191

Technology Product San Francisco CTO Hire 191

SoCal CTO

MAY 19, 2010

On Friday, at the LA CTO Forum , I heard from a couple of CTOs having trouble finding good developers. I don’t have specific suggestions for people you can hire. I’m seeing and hearing that it’s becoming tough finding good developers again, at least here in Los Angeles. My methods are pretty vanilla.

Southern California 175

Southern California Los Angeles Developer Offshore 175

www.bothsidesofthetable.com

MAY 13, 2012

Want to Know Difference Between a CTO and a VP of Engineering? 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. This post is designed mostly for non-technical founders.

Fractional VPE 89

Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE Fractional CTO CTO Hire 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2017

The reason is that good attributes apply equally well to “external” partners, as they do to internal partners, like a co-founder or CTO. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Brings complementary skills and experience.

Partner 140

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Cofounder 140

SoCal CTO

MAY 15, 2009

Companies also use social networking sites in the hiring process, and increasingly, to do innovative advertising (such as the recent Jack in the Box campaign). In 2005, Majid coauthored "Data Strategy" a book designed to help streamline information management within organizations. He has 20 years’ experience as CTO.

Social Network 150

Social Network Networking Los Angeles Fractional CTO 150

The Next Web

DECEMBER 2, 2013

We interviewed the heads of the top Web and mobile development companies, incubators, agencies and labs to understand what it takes to design and develop the most successful apps of our generation. Here are their breakdowns of the costs and time investments to create 10 of the world’s hottest startups. 1) Twitter.

Cost 168

Cost San Francisco New York City Ruby 168

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 1, 2014

Here are just a few things you might look for: Reducing risk in young companies Bringing innovation to the enterprise Designing and running experiments Customer development strategies All conference passes are on sale right now, and you can compare them here.

Lean 165

Lean Fractional CTO Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE 165

konamoxt.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

January 21, 2009 Why Your Startup Can’t Afford To NOT Hire a CTO As I mentioned in my last post, one of the many things I do as an entrepreneur is to advise other start up companies. One of the common requests I get as an adviser is the help interview and vet potential CTO candidates. This is critical! this story.

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire CTO Hiring Engineer 40

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2017

The result is a combination of design thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile Scrum, and Ignacio’s innovation team includes 25 coaches who train employees in PACE best practices. LESSON #3: Avoid these three hiring mistakes. When it comes time to grow your team, Jeff Jordan and Eric pointed out three hiring mistakes to avoid.

Lean 245

Lean Startup CTO Hire Cofounder 245

SoCal CTO

APRIL 9, 2013

Different firms will have very different skill sets: Do you need user interface design? Graphic design? You will find firms that are design/interface heavy and light on development. Most of the rest of the post is going to focus more on finding development rather than design firms. Or are you starting from scratch?

Web Development 204

Web Development Web Developer Los Angeles 204

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 13, 2022

For example, if you’re a sales oriented founder that gets backed pre-launch, then an investor isn’t going to assume that founder has any product design skills. I mean trusting what each one brings to the table—and being honest about the process of earning that trust and what it means to having a productive relationship.

Founder 164

Founder Fiji CTO Hire Term Sheet 164