Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

This week they set out to create their cap table and hire a CTO. The vesting schedule protects each of the co-founders in case one gets hit by a bus or decides to drop the project after a short period of time. As first time entrepreneurs they did not create an employee options pool; we’ll fix that in a little while.

Cap Table 133

Cap Table CTO Hire Technical Cofounder Cofounder 133

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

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

I never built a Google-sized business but I did build an organization from scratch that grew to 120 employees in 5 countries before we sold it. As your organization grows and you hire senior staff where you are no longer managing every employee directly the issue of how to manage people that are not your “direct&# reports arises.

CTO Hire 308

CTO Hire Management Technical Review Part-Time VPE 308

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. How the leaders of your company handle adherence to the spirit as well as the letter of the law will be seen by all employees, customers, and investors. No historical baggage. Marty Zwilling.

Partner 269

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 269

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. How the leaders of your company handle adherence to the spirit as well as the letter of the law will be seen by all employees, customers, and investors. No historical baggage. Marty Zwilling.

Partner 258

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Equity 258

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. You should also focus heavily on his or her former employees.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Cofounder San Francisco Silicon Valley 320

TechEmpower

DECEMBER 11, 2023

While the appearance matters, remember you are hiring the development firm primarily for its development skills, not its graphic design skills. Employee and Contractor Details: How many full-time W2 employees and contractors do they employ, and where are they located? What are the employees and contractors' skills?

Software Developers 297

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Software 297

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.

Technical Cofounder 280

Technical Cofounder Developer Fractional CTO CTO Hire 280

Up and Running

OCTOBER 13, 2022

As you find your footing and begin to scale, you might feel ready to hire a formal executive team. What’s right for one company may not make sense for another, but the goal is always the same — to hire talent that will ultimately help the business thrive. When is the right time to hire an executive team?

CTO Hire 163

CTO Hire Fractional CTO CTO Hiring 163

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. How the leaders of your company handle adherence to the spirit as well as the letter of the law will be seen by all employees, customers, and investors. No historical baggage. Marty Zwilling.

Partner 240

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 240

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

So the efforts by Andersen Consulting amounted to “rolling out the red carpet when the employee was on the way out the door.&# Many employees feel that they aren’t listened too, aren’t challenged or aren’t recognized for their hard work. Ryan was the most talented technologist we had hired at BuildOnline.

San Francisco 322

San Francisco South Africa CTO Hire Fractional CTO 322

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. How the leaders of your company handle adherence to the spirit as well as the letter of the law will be seen by all employees, customers, and investors. No historical baggage. Marty Zwilling.

Partner 230

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 230

SoCal CTO

MAY 4, 2010

Some great posts from April 2010 that talk to me in terms of being a CTO at a Startup. Redeye VC , April 13, 2010 Startup Development - SoCal CTO , April 23, 2010 Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering? Ben Casnocha: The Blog , April 15, 2010 Everyone I spoke with loved the idea.

CTO Hire 150

CTO Hire Vesting Venture Capital Startup 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2014

The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO. This person may be an extraordinary communicator, who rallies employees, customers, and colleagues around the vivid future he sees. If your business is managing contracts and patents, it makes sense, but the CLO for most startups is LegalZoom on the Internet.

CTO Hire 252

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Angel Investor Public Relations 252

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

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. Carry minimal historical baggage. Marty Zwilling.

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. This person may be an extraordinary communicator, who rallies employees, customers, and colleagues around the vivid future he sees. If your business is managing contracts and patents, it makes sense, but the CLO for most startups is LegalZoom on the Internet.

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. This person may be an extraordinary communicator, who rallies employees, customers, and colleagues around the vivid future he sees. If your business is managing contracts and patents, it makes sense, but the CLO for most startups is LegalZoom on the Internet.

CTO Hire 227

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Angel Investor 227

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

He has grown our US operations from 1 employee (him) to a global organization of 75 employees that will finish the year with 8-digit revenues (90+% recurring) and more than 350% year-over-year growth. In his spare time he raised nearly $30 million. Rob is one of the most driven and successful CEOs I work with.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board Fractional CTO CTO Hire Los Angeles 365

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Hire a CEO to Go Public. The VCs would hire a CEO with a track record who looked and acted like the type of CEO Wall Street bankers expected to see in large companies. The role of the independent member was typically to tell the founding CEO that the VCs were hiring a new CEO.). People had to actually pay you for your product.

Founder 281

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 281

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

One of the first potential advisors I reached out to was someone who 10 years earlier tried to hire me as the VP of Marketing of his new division at Sun Microsystems. For lots of reasons that never worked out, but I liked him so much that the following year I tried to hire him as the VP of Engineering of Ardent. (He But I was crushed.

Advisory Board 266

Advisory Board Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Stock 266

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

Ryan Lissack is the CTO of Maker Studios. ” And many more examples of employees launching careers including several employees at Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce.com and elsewhere. .” Stuart Lander , who was the President & COO is now helping run Internships.com. Used by millions of users.

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 390

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

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. How the leaders of your company handle adherence to the spirit as well as the letter of the law will be seen by all employees, customers, and investors. No historical baggage.

Partner 179

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 179

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Much has been written about when it is time to hire a “professional CEO” to run a startup company and of course that has long been a norm in Silicon Valley when founders find that their inexperience may be a limiting factor in company growth ( know as the Peter Principle ). Onward & upward DataSift. Startup Lessons'

Founder 309

Founder CTO Hire Silicon Valley Leadership 309

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. You can be part of the creative destruction. But who else is going to get out there and close your big biz dev deals with you? Seattle has its patrons.

Seattle 317

Seattle Silicon Valley Technical Review Los Angeles 317

Gust

APRIL 20, 2014

The most common ones I see and salute are CEO, CFO, and CTO. This person may be an extraordinary communicator, who rallies employees, customers, and colleagues around the vivid future he sees. If your business is managing contracts and patents, it makes sense, but the CLO for most startups is LegalZoom on the Internet.

CTO Hire 171

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Angel Investor Public Relations 171

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 31, 2011

At a board meeting yesterday, a management team was talking about their hiring needs and some of the challenges they're having hiring great people. Here's a simple tip: track hiring analytics and assign them to someone. If you're not interviewing enough people, you're not going to be able to hire someone--simple as that.

CTO Hire 115

CTO Hire Hiring Bandwidth Metrics 115

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. How the leaders of your company handle adherence to the spirit as well as the letter of the law will be seen by all employees, customers, and investors. Carry minimal historical baggage.

Partner 140

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Cofounder 140

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 14, 2012

Most businesses stay that way - there are many more solo entrepreneurs than business owners with employees. To learn more about how your startup can find, hire and keep the top talent and quality workers it needs to succeed, download this free ReadWriteWeb Report: The Talent Wars: Today’s Toughest Startup Challenge.

Technical Review 159

Technical Review CTO Hire Software Review Startup 159

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

In response, venture capital firms like Sequoia and Andreessen/Horowitz are hiring new partners just to work with their portfolio companies and match them to corporations. It helps if the acquirer has incentives for its existing employees that tie the new acquisition’s success to those that help them.)

Acquisition 334

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 334

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 2, 2020

They hire a team, spend months planning, their engineers build it, and… the final product isn’t quite right. To go back to the drawing board would require time and money most small businesses can’t afford. Imagine an SMB or entrepreneur trying to build something new in the days before no-code software.

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire eCommerce Engineer Software 264

Business Plan Blog

AUGUST 20, 2013

In order to be a successful tech startup, the team must consist of a Chief Technical Officer (CTO) level member to help with the technology plan. This is generally achieved in one of the following ways: CTO Level Co-Founder (Equity). CTO Level Board Member or dedicated Adviser (Free or Equity). CTO Employee (Salary).

CTO Hire 55

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Architecture Cofounder 55

blog.aparttimecto.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

A Part-Time CTO Technology. Depending on the level of complexity and difficulty, it might not be the most efficient use of your time. Communication - Hiring a technical employee early on can sometimes result in a founder developer gap. In Plain English. Archive Jun 20th Sun In-House or Outsource?

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Equity Vesting 40

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. Before I get into the details for founders, let me talk about options-hungry employees. m the f%*kin’ boss.”. Dying at 70? The Dry Run.

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191

Hunter Walker

JUNE 7, 2014

Hiring Has Changed: Before the press was a way of generating interest for hiring. You Don’t Need to Show Off for the Fortune 500 CTO: Funding announcements used to be the credibility you’d need to get a meeting with the CTO or other management with purchasing power and a RFP. What’s changed?

Technical Review 133

Technical Review CTO Hire Finance Stealth 133

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