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

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

I seem to encounter a lot of people who want to attach a CTO label to me as I'm the only programmer on the founding team of three. While I do fill that role at the moment, I'm a little hesitant to refer to myself as a CTO as we still haven't launched a product, acquired a single user, or turned or a penny in profit. Who will do that?

CTO Hire 231

CTO Hire Technical Review Developer Software Review 231

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 needed some kind of CTO and as well Developers.

Technical Cofounder 241

Technical Cofounder CTO Hire Equity Sweat Equity 241

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

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 10, 2023

Most of her lessons were applicable to any government employee venturing out to the private sector. Below is the first of her three-part series. —- At least a few times a month, people looking to jump ask about my transition, which has led to me consolidating my answers below. It wasn’t a big jump.

Government 193

Government CTO Hire Technical Review Salary 193

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

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

But as the start-up scales and you hire employees, your day-to-day is taken over by more managerial tasks, like hiring and managing people, running company meetings, etc. It’s unusual to hire a non-founder CEO early in a start-up’s life because it will most likely fail. There’s typically little choice for a founder CEO.

Part-Time VPE 255

Part-Time VPE Management CTO Hire San Francisco 255

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 120

CTO Hire Hiring Bandwidth Metrics 120

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

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 278

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 278

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

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

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

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

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

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 16, 2024

Sierra AI , founded by Bret Taylor (former co-CEO of Salesforce, CTO of Facebook and current chairman of OpenAI) is currently raising hundreds of millions of dollars at $4 billion valuation, just a year or so from launch after unlocking AI voice agents for companies. Virtual employees for hire. Google paid $2.6

Vertical 169

Vertical Generative AI B2C CTO Hire 169

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

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

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

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

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

www.inc.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

500|5000 Conference Honorees Resources Press Apply 2011 ); Topics > Leadership and Managing > Human Resources > Job Descriptions > How to Hire a CTO When its time to add a technologist to your slate of executives, what are the best practices to follow? Some companies have a CTO focused on operations under the CIO.

Fractional CTO 42

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Hiring 42

Austin Startup

AUGUST 19, 2018

Lightspeed Prototyping: A Collaborative Workflow Cultivating Conditions for Inclusion Many organizations view diversity challenges as a numbers game… just a matter of hiring and retaining enough talent to balance the equation. Cultivating Conditions For Inclusion What is a Fractional Executive (CTO, CMO, CFO)?

CTO Hire 48

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Fractional VPE Austin 48

View from Seed

MARCH 29, 2016

This desperate need for employees often leads to an equally desperate, ad-hoc approach to recruiting without any relevant recruiting metrics being tracked. Founders furiously work their networks, post open positions on every reasonable-looking job board, and hope to quickly start hiring. Candidate-company fit: Interview-to-hire.

Metrics 120

Metrics Founder CTO Hire Technical Review 120

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 19, 2010

Early stage startups have that task many times over after they receive their first funding. Sure, we may only be talking about less then twenty or even less than ten employees in total, but it still remains no small feat. Secondly, and this was the bigger issue, is that most startup hiring is completely opportunistic.

CTO Hire 99

CTO Hire Hiring Portfolio Early Stage 99

ConversionXL

MARCH 10, 2021

Reduce the Time Spent Onboarding New Employees. Active Directory (AD) integration with SaaS applications provides a means of minimizing onboarding time. Onboarding goes beyond hiring new employees. It’s also about improving employees’ experiences and putting them in position to do their best work.

CTO Hire 138

CTO Hire Cloud Software Review Employee 138

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 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

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

View from Seed

DECEMBER 3, 2015

Hiring and onboarding new engineers are time consuming and expensive. The culture they have built, the thoughtfulness that goes into the hiring process, and an emphasis on peer mentoring has helped keep engineers at thredUP. A team that can mitigate turnover is a more productive and efficient team. In the past 3.5

CTO Hire 120

CTO Hire Retention Marketing Engineer 120

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

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

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

blog.chrisomeara.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Chris OMeara Main | Probing Code Quality » 01/31/2010 Startup CTO: Could It Work? A CEO friend of mine recently asked my opinion about Tony Karrers Startup CTO or Developer article. I think the part time CTO could work. They tend to know where to find good help in terms of employees and consultants.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Startup Cofounder 40

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 23, 2016

Along with Ben Rogmans – Saleduck’s CTO and co-founder, the two have spearheaded the movement towards expanding Saleduck in five countries within Southeast Asia and are now looking towards furthering the platform’s presence in more countries within the region. Looking for talent in the wrong places. Being too direct during meetings.

Asia 100

Asia Thailand Malaysia CTO Hire 100

www.lanceglasser.com

MAY 13, 2012

What does a CTO do? What does a CTO do? What does a CTO (Chief Technology Officer) do in a high-tech company? So what is the CTO job? The best description of this was given to me by my friend Greg Papadopolous who was on the faculty at MIT with me many years ago and is now CTO of Sun Microsystems. What goes around.

CTO 40

CTO CTO Hire Technical Review Architecture 40