SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Of course, I provide part-time CTO services.

Fractional CTO 259

Fractional CTO CTO Hire NDA Technical Review 259

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.

Fractional CTO 231

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review Early Stage 231

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.

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.

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Technical Cofounder CTO Hire Equity Sweat Equity 241

SoCal CTO

APRIL 27, 2011

Several people have recently come to me to help them source and/or hire full-time CTOs for their startup having found me through my post that looks at: Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data. The first thing I do is suggest they explore if they really need to hire a full-time CTO for their startup and if so, what kind of CTO they need.

CTO Hire 225

CTO Hire Los Angeles Hiring Technical Review 225

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Meredith came to see me along with the CTO Marc Berte. The practical uses for uBeam technology is limitless. Did anybody hold patents that would prevent us from using this technology? I seldom hire patent attorneys during due diligence but this was too important. We hired IP specialists to review prior art.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review Due Diligence CTO Hire 418

Steve Blank

JANUARY 5, 2023

We just wrapped up the second year of our Technology, Innovation, and Great Power Competition class – now part of our Stanford Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. government agencies, our federal research labs, and government contractors no longer have exclusive access to these advanced technologies.

Technical Review 376

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Technology China 376

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

I've posted quite a few things on the topics associated with being a Startup CTO. Here are some resources that come from other sources: Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering? Lessons Learned: What does a startup CTO actually do? Lessons Learned: What does a startup CTO actually do?

CTO Hire 175

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Equity 175

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

I've posted quite a few things on the topics associated with being a Startup CTO. Here are some resources that come from other sources: Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering? Lessons Learned: What does a startup CTO actually do? Lessons Learned: What does a startup CTO actually do?

CTO Hire 175

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Equity 175

SoCal CTO

MARCH 9, 2010

In my post, Technology Roles in Startups , I described some of the different ways I engage with startup companies such as CTO Founder , CTO , Part-Time CTO , Acting CTO , Consultant, Advisor and Advisory Board Member. Now, most often technical advisors are part of a broader advisory board.

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Technical Review Advisory Board Technology Fractional CTO 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

The press around the raise & company was fantastic and the promise of their technology – wireless charging that works as easily as WiFi – would positively affect many of our lives. uBeam’s tech does work and I have safely seen it demo’d in the real life many times. Working on it. And being ambitious.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review South Korea San Francisco Software Review 417

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

He hired his co-founder and CTO Adam LeVasseur who set out to build systems to allow you to see all of your storage items in a beautiful app but also to build tech for logistics, driver management, customer service, billing and so forth. Tech Market Analysis Upfront Ventures makespace' Full on burger flipping mode.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Software Review Cofounder CTO Hire 380

SoCal CTO

MARCH 4, 2010

I’ve worked with 30+ early-stage companies in all sorts of capacities (and spoken to many, many more), so I thought it might be worthwhile trying to classify the various ways that I’ve engaged in different technology roles in startups. It depends on the business, people, technologies, etc. Each situation is just a bit different.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review Fractional CTO Technology CTO Hire 170

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on. Similarly I liked to keep myself apprised of the technical decisions we were making. If my CTO would have given me his update much detail would have been lost in translation.

CTO Hire 308

CTO Hire Management Technical Review Part-Time VPE 308

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Most of them are completely mundane such as choosing which: bank, office space, 1-year lease vs. 2-year lease, logo, URL, pricing structure or which VC. The technology team disagrees on direction and wants resolutions. There’s a guy in Los Angeles that I met at several tech networking events. I said that was my point.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Fractional CTO Technical Review CTO Hire 414

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

He is not a technical person, but is somewhat web savvy. I asked some of the same questions I ask in my Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions and then I get to a very common conversation: Me : Do you have specs? Conversations with a technical advisors or possible developers should be iterative. Go find a new technical resource.

Developer 354

Developer Technical Review Fractional CTO Software Review 354

VC Cafe

MARCH 16, 2025

Mention that you do “Consumer tech” as a startup founder and you’d be limiting your funding options to one third of the venture capital funds (in Israel that figure is probably closer to 10%). Until now, consumer tech was perceived as a risky binary investment.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review B2C Generative AI IPO 78

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. The United States is now a debtor nation to China and that the bill is about to come due. These are probably the two sites where I've posted the most reviews. It may be that all the doomsayers are right.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

TechEmpower

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

The team’s technical skills are solid, but they’re undermined by poor communication, especially around requirements and expectations. This is where a technical review can be useful!) In this post, we’ll show you how to identify common signs that a dev team isn't performing as expected, even if you’re not that technical.

Development Team Review 260

Development Team Review Developer Software Review Technical Review 260

TechEmpower

JULY 24, 2023

At TechEmpower, we frequently talk to startup founders, CEOs, product leaders, and other innovators about their next big tech initiative. After all, that’s what tech innovation is all about. Do you have a custom algorithm or other technology? Accounting Beyond reviewing transactions, what accounting support do you need?

Developer 520

Developer Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 520

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

Eventually you need a VP of Product to handle your product roadmap, a CTO for engineering leadership and VPs of sales, marketing & biz dev. The “span of control” for a growing tech startup is probably 6-9 people. You help them prioritize their objectives and review the results. You set direction.

CTO Hire 385

CTO Hire Entrepreneur Technical Review Leadership 385

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Seattle should be the envy of any non Silicon Valley tech community in the country. It really wouldn’t take much to turn a great technology ecosystem into a truly electric one. There’s you and your killer CTO co-founder. You need to have passionate tech entrepreneurs who want to build businesses locally.

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Seattle Silicon Valley Technical Review Los Angeles 317

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

A version of this article is in the Harvard Business Review. Technology cycles have become a treadmill, and for startups to survive they need to be on a continuous innovation cycle. 20th Century Tech Liquidity = Initial Public Offering. If the founder was lucky, he got to stay as chairman or CTO.

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Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 281

TechEmpower

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Are specific technologies or platforms involved in your project? Do they have experience with the technologies involved in your project? What are the review periods and your responsibility in the process? cto , product , saas Or is your project a clean slate? Do you anticipate scale issues presently or in the future?

Software Development 297

Software Development Software Developers Software Review Software 297

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 14, 2012

So many tech startups begin the same way: One founder, one dream and a plan to make it happen. Rachel Blankstein has launched two tech startups, including her current business Comparz , a website where independent users review web-based software. She sold her first tech startup econfidant.com to a larger technology company.

Technical Review 159

Technical Review CTO Hire Software Review Startup 159

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 8, 2019

When International Technological University’s CTO Kranthi Lammatha was a boy in the Indian farming village of Kasipuram, he would walk nine miles to get to school every day and another nine miles to get back home in the evening. Looking to Solve Problems. The days of waiting weeks for transcripts are over. Kranthi Lammatha.

Technical Review 137

Technical Review CTO Hire Silicon Valley Software Engineering 137

mashable.com

MAY 9, 2011

This is especially true when it comes to tech companies hiring the wrong chief technology officer. Today, CTOs are multi-taskers that aren’t just coders locked in some basement — they play a vital role in a tech company’s strategic plan and growth. Have an account?

CTO Hire 73

CTO Hire Fractional CTO CTO Technical Review 73

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

Growth will slow, partly due to internal limits and partly because the company is starting to bump up against the limits of the markets it serves.” It might be for technical reasons or it might be for customer adoption reasons. That leverage technology or drive change. Ryan Lissack is the CTO of Maker Studios.

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 390

TechEmpower

MARCH 4, 2024

Focusing on generative AI applications in a select few corporate functions can contribute to a significant portion of the technology's overall impact. This technological integration into software engineering not only enhances the productivity of development teams but also ensures that IT infrastructures are robust and reliable.

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Generative AI CTO Hire Fractional CTO Software Review 297

www.reincubate.com

FEBRUARY 1, 2010

Email us or call +44 (0) 844 3579899 home about services blog labs Chief Technology Officer job description (for web, start-up or corporate) « Upgraded your iPhone to OS 3 but files are missing? Some companies look for a more strategic or a more hands-on CTO. Firstly, theres no one-size-fits-all description.

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Fractional CTO CTO Technical Review CTO Hire 40

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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Fractional CTO CTO Hire CTO Technical Review 54

View from Seed

JULY 31, 2014

And since we will continue to look proactively at new seed-stage tech startups over the next few years, the question becomes: What, then, will these companies look like? Step-Function Ad Tech. Two weeks ago, my partners and I here at NextView Ventures announced our second fund.

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Seed Stage B2C Technical Review Disintermediation 272

OnlyOnce

NOVEMBER 28, 2012

The Value of Paying Down Technical Debt. Our Engineering team has a great term called Technical Debt, which is the accumulation of coding shortcuts and operational inefficiencies over the years in the name of getting product out the door faster that weighs on the company’s code base like debt weighs on a balance sheet.

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Technical Review Software Review Balance Sheet Engineer 94

dontbesoanalytical.blogspot.com

MAY 13, 2012

From time to time, Ill address information technology, and how it impacts business and daily life. Daddy, What Does a Chief Technology Officer Do? I’ve seen openings for a “CTO” whose responsibilities include maintaining servers and managing the help desk. The CTO should not manage developers.

CTO 40

CTO Technical Review Technology Software Review 40

Occam's Razor

DECEMBER 3, 2008

3) I am simply assuming you are good at tools and some technical stuff and some business stuff. The first and perhaps most important thing to realize that you have to make two very important very critical very life impacting choices: Choice 1: Business or Technical. Tech Demo God (usually at a Vendor). Motivating them.

Technical Review 115

Technical Review Analytics Salary Fractional CTO 115

Hunter Walker

JUNE 7, 2014

However with so many companies being funded these days, just getting a mention in a tech blog doesn’t really impact job seekers. Github, behance and other places where technical talent can showcase their work means that you’re able to identify the people you want to go after.

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Technical Review CTO Hire Finance Stealth 133

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2011

These trusted sources are a new breed of professionals who may soon carry the new title of “information curator,” evolved from the “museum curator” role, where a domain expert filters and communicates the important elements of a past civilization or technology. and books for entrepreneurs like “Think and Grow Rich.”

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Curation Technical Review Entrepreneur Cofounder 230