SoCal CTO

JANUARY 26, 2010

I’ve been having discussions with several people recently about the role of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in very early stage companies. In December 2007, I described how I commonly take on an Acting CTO Role in a Start-up. I used an image from Roger Smith that describes the varying roles of a CTO as the company matures.

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SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 10, 2012

It was like having a bunch of mini- Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions all in one room. Structure development contracts appropriately or directing the in-house team appropriately. This is exactly the kind of thing I'm doing as a Part-Time CTO or Technical Advisor for startups.

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SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

I received a great question via LinkedIn: I'm the founding engineer and working hard to launch my startup. 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. I've previously addressed the role of a CTO in early-stages in my post Startup CTO or Developer.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 23, 2010

I’ve come to realize that I have lots of posts around startup software development scattered around in different posts. How to Work With a Contract Web Developer How To Bootstrap Your Startup Thought it would be good to capture them in one spot and also include links to related posts from other sources.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

The real reason to build an MVP is to do early tests of key Startup Metrics for the business. If you do not break it down into small pieces, its hard to make progress with part-time resources, freelancers, etc. Structure development contracts appropriately or directing the in-house team appropriately.

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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.

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SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 14, 2009

There’s quite a bit of truth to what Mark is saying about startup software developers, but my guess is that there’s another reason that it seems harder to find developers in this context. So, likely quite a few of the people who were seeking startup developers were looking to find people for very low dollars.

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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. Do they recognize any Startup Founder Developer Gap ?

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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. Do they recognize any Startup Founder Developer Gap ?

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

I've recently received several emails from people looking for a technical cofounder for their startup. "I'm looking for a partner / cofounder who can not only head the technical aspects and build a working model of the site, but someone with the connections to put a great development team together when we need it.

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

they need a developer more than they need a CTO. What happens when you have a really good developer is that a gap exists where you may not ask the right questions to specify the right system, consider appropriate 3rd party technologies, etc. But my developers want to go into way too much detail.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2014

A while back I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ For a Startup, Two Heads are Always Better Than One ”. The feedback was good, but some readers asked me to be a bit more specific on attributes that might indicate an ideal startup partner. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales.

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SoCal CTO

MAY 27, 2010

And I always recommend it to people involved in early stage startups. I received a follow-up question from an early-stage startup about the Founder Developer Gap that I’ve described before and that was part of the interview with Frank. This is somewhat the heart of what a CTO does. Do not hire a CTO at this point.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2011

A while back I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ Ten Steps in Choosing the Right Startup Partner ”. The feedback was good, but some readers asked me to be a bit more specific on attributes that might indicate an ideal startup partner. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales.

Partner 240

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

A while back I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ For a Startup, Two Heads are Always Better Than One.” The feedback was good, but some readers asked me to be a bit more specific on attributes that might indicate an ideal startup partner. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales.

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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.

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Austin Startup

OCTOBER 29, 2020

Eynon will serve as a Technology Officer overseeing software development of Strap, a state-of-the-art wearable device that enables blind people to detect any type of obstacle and notify them of possible collisions. Strap Technologies is on a mission to become the world’s first substitute for the white cane.

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rapidrollout.wordpress.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

Web Startup Lessons Advice from a CTO and Entrepreneur Home About Startup Advice: When to Use a Consulting CTO There are not many to be found. Most likely, this is a person who is a serial entrepreneur and was the chief technology officer for two or more web startups. .&#

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Gust

APRIL 13, 2014

A while back I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ For a Startup, Two Heads are Always Better Than One ”. The feedback was good, but some readers asked me to be a bit more specific on attributes that might indicate an ideal startup partner. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales.

Partner 179

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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. Many of us have done freelance work in the past, often for startups.

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SoCal CTO

JANUARY 7, 2010

This is purely anecdotal, but it seems like a lot of companies are hiring technology talent here in Southern California. I’ve recently seen several tweets from software development companies looking for talent. And I’ve heard from several people looking for Startup Software Developers.

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David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Should you co-found your company with a software development shop? I’ve talked with a number of software development shops who are eager to get into the business of cofounding companies, i.e., getting product revenue and equity instead of just consulting revenue. mentor VCs, e.g., most VCs. What are the timelines?

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2010

A week ago I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ How to Select an Ideal Startup Co-Founder ”. The reason is that good attributes apply equally well to “external” partners, as they do to internal partners, like a co-founder or CTO. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales.

Partner 230

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 28, 2013

The other day, I took part in a forum about technology education in Brooklyn. So much of the focus was on how to produce usable software developers inside the four walls of a classroom. Not a single one of his developers came out of school as usable commercial software developers. Answer: All self-taught.

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The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

Amsterdam-based Rockstart Accelerator , one of the many, many startup accelerators in Europe, is taking the first class of startups who’ve graduated from its six-month program stateside this month. Wercker : a continuous deployment solution for software developers, hosted in the cloud.

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VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Since AI and ML startups cut across verticals (analytics, fintech, health, adtech, security, etc), it’s easier to group them under the “machine intelligence” umbrella, coined by Shivon Zillis , a partner at Bloomberg Beta. In 2016 alone, 300+ “machine intelligence” (AI + ML) startups in Europe raised over €1.4

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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.

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crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Secrets of The World’s Best Brands (with lessons for startups and small businesses) – [link]. Small business and startups: 5 great self-service HR resources – [link].

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 8, 2008 The lean startup Ive been thinking for some time about a term that could encapsulate trends that are changing the startup landscape. After some trial and error, Ive settled on the Lean Startup. Of course, many startups are capital efficient and generally frugal.

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 9, 2013

I just got an email asking about exactly this: I''m with a new company that needs some software built, but doesn''t need (or have the resources for) a large staff of software developers. But it''s quite different working for large firms than it is with startups. So here are some thoughts on selecting the right firm.

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Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

Those who have the endurance are the ones that tend to lead teams and join startups, because you just cant be successful in a startup situation without empathy. When a startup encounters difficult technical problems, this is the guy you want solving them. I would characterize them as intolerant but not arrogant. Just change it.

Software Review 94

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Duct Tape Marketing

DECEMBER 14, 2017

He’s been a developer/hacker for over 15 years, and he sold his first startup, VinSolutions for $150 million. He started Stackify to solve the biggest challenge he had as the CTO of VinSolutions, so Matt, thanks for joining me. I was that hired gun in some senses. Software developers don’t have telephones.

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Seeing Both Sides

JANUARY 14, 2013

Today's post is brought to you by my friend, Paul Blumenfeld , a recruiter who is one of the most thoughtful people I know when it comes to hiring processes. Many hiring managers write a job spec that is heavy on wishes and low on real needs. I also ask hiring managers to be open-minded about their must-haves. Like Pornography?

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

(Maybe youd like to start with The lean startup , How to listen to customers , or What does a startup CTO actually do? ) He serves on the advisory board of a number of technology startups, and has worked as a consultant to a number of startups, companies, and venture capital firms.

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