SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 10, 2012

I did a presentation recently for a graduate class from The Founder Institute around getting online/mobile products out the door. I LOVED it because, the presenting part was over quickly and we got into specific issues that the founders had in terms of getting things built. Would you create contracts without an attorney?

Technical Review 332

Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO Software Review 332

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

AUGUST 4, 2011

Almost every day I'm talking to early stage startup founders (see Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions ) about what they plan to do. Many of these founders have talked with several developers or development firms about their plans. I tend to ask a lot of questions, challenge aspects, make suggestions.

Developer 396

Developer Founder Viral Oauth 396

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

Almost every day I'm talking to early stage startup founders (see Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions ) about what they plan to do. Many of these founders have talked with several developers or development firms about their plans. I tend to ask a lot of questions, challenge aspects, make suggestions.

Developer 384

Developer Founder Viral Oauth 384

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Are you a non-technical startup founder who’s about to go have a conversation with a Chief Technical Officer (CTO) or Technical advisory type person? Maybe you are going for a reality check on your current situation - wondering if you have a Weak Development Team or a Startup Founder Developer Gap.

Fractional CTO 211

Fractional CTO Conversion NDA Early Stage 211

TechEmpower

AUGUST 14, 2023

Startup founders make decisions on a daily basis – significant decisions that will have lasting impact on their business. Would you create contracts without an attorney? CTO Founder – Do they really still need a technical advisor? We’ve talked about this before in Startup CTO or Developer.

Technical Review 260

Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO Software Review 260

SoCal CTO

MAY 21, 2013

I''m spending more of my time recently working with non-technical startup founders who are having challenges with their software/web/mobile development teams. These are often the same things that cause a founder to reach out to me about helping their CTO, VP Engineering, tech team, off-shore development, etc. Technical Leader.

Fractional CTO 219

Fractional CTO Developer Founder Architecture 219

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. He is a frequent speaker at trade and industry events.

Fractional CTO 175

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Startup Social Network 175

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, September 30, 2008 What does a startup CTO actually do? What does your Chief Technology Officer do all day? So what does CTO mean, besides just "technical founder who really cant manage anyone?" So I initially gravitated to the CTO title, and not VP of Engineering.

CTO 168

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

In fact, I would broaden the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” The reason is that good attributes apply equally well to “external” partners, as they do to internal partners, like a co-founder or CTO. The challenge is to recognize and recruit that ideal partner match early with minimal cost and risk.

Partner 385

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Cofounder 385

SoCal CTO

JUNE 13, 2011

We had an interesting presentation at the LA CTO Forum by the CTO of a startup who chose Groovy / Grails as the framework for their startup. t prompted a good discussion around how CTOs go about choosing the programming language and framework for their startup. Get get help (see Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions ).

Framework 330

Framework Programming Ruby Fractional CTO 330

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Based on my posts Startup CTO or Developer and Acting CTO , Chris O’Meara wrote an interesting post Startup CTO: Could It Work? They tend to know where to find good help in terms of employees and consultants. If you think that's person you need, the question becomes "what else do you expect a CTO to contribute?"

CTO Hire 150

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Architecture 150

SoCal CTO

JUNE 26, 2012

I've done four Free CTO Consulting Sessions in the past month with startup founders who all had run into variations of the same problem. Investors and early customers were becoming worried about the ability of the founder to deliver. As one founder put it: We keep iterating over relatively the same features and functions.

Software Developers 254

Software Developers Software Development Agile Fractional CTO 254

Steve Blank

MAY 27, 2010

But founders need to know how to ask for their advice and when to ignore it. After some heroics from our CTO in extracting data from SAP, the Visio CFO loved our product, thought we could save them a ton of time and money and wanted it installed ASAP. Then Visio gave us their boilerplate contract. Then we got on the phone.

Fractional CTO 303

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Software Review Startup 303

SoCal CTO

APRIL 23, 2010

How to Work With a Contract Web Developer How To Bootstrap Your Startup

CTO Hire 219

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles Developer 219

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

I was talking with an early-stage founder who has a product vision and wants to get it built. 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? Founder : Ummm. Founder : Umm. what do you mean?

Developer 354

Developer Technical Review Fractional CTO Software Review 354

SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

I guess it should not be a surprise that Founders have lots of challenges working with developers. Challenges I started by asking the founders in the room to tell me some of the challenges they have working with developers. Developers (and Founders) are challenged to know how much is okay in terms of bugs.

Technical Cofounder 280

Technical Cofounder Developer Fractional CTO CTO Hire 280

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2019

In fact, I would broaden the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” The reason is that good attributes apply equally well to “external” partners, as they do to internal partners, like a co-founder or CTO. The challenge is to recognize and recruit that ideal partner match early with minimal cost and risk.

Cofounder 221

Cofounder Software Review CTO Hire Founder 221

SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2012

Hiring seems to be the preferred use of seed funds (by investors and founders), whereas I'd prefer a focus on customer acquisition. And that should be the focus of the founders -- to find the special fit that will make your company take off. The startup founder is definitely not ready to hire a CTO. Far from it.

CTO Hire 205

CTO Hire Technical Cofounder Fractional CTO Los Angeles 205

SoCal CTO

MAY 13, 2014

Solving the Founder-Tech Gap that came out of some fun conversations that Bob and I have been having. You can’t afford and don’t want to hire a full-time CTO or architect. Getting someone who’s fully employed somewhere else to work with you on a limited basis to help close the gap is hugely important for the non-technical founder.

Advisory Board 241

Advisory Board Fractional CTO CTO Hire Startup 241

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.” In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.”

Partner 258

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Equity 258

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 ”. In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.”

Partner 269

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 269

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

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. And a big factor is how big is the Founder Developer Gap. However, I’m always doing this part-time.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review Fractional CTO Technology CTO Hire 170

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

You open Photoshop before you consult your to-do list because there’s something you just need to tweak. As much as you’re a minor deity when it comes to TextMate or Balsamiq, so are almost all the technical founders of all high-tech startups. You love developing an entire app in the browser against a scalable back-end.

Fractional CTO 310

Fractional CTO Coder CTO Hire Design 310

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 ”. In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” In this context, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.”

Partner 240

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 240

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 ”. In this article, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” In this article, I’m broadening the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” Marty Zwilling.

Partner 230

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 230

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 1, 2014

For example: Mitch Kapor was a founder of Lotus. As the emeritus Chief Technology Officer of the United States, he still connects government and Silicon Valley. He’s a founder of Andreessen Horowitz, which has backed Facebook, Skype, Jawbone, and dozens of other companies whose products you use.

Lean 165

Lean Fractional CTO Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE 165

TechEmpower

JULY 24, 2023

At TechEmpower, we frequently talk to startup founders, CEOs, product leaders, and other innovators about their next big tech initiative. Still, if you’re a business leader and your developers haven’t asked you these questions, look for a Fractional CTO to help navigate the critical early stage of development.

Developer 520

Developer Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 520

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Before I started my first company in 1999 I worked for Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). Soon after he was promoted to Senior Architect, our highest role without being CTO. When we started our next company, Koral, Ryan was a co-founder. This is part of my Startup Advice series. I knew that meant he wouldn’t come back.

San Francisco 322

San Francisco South Africa CTO Hire Fractional CTO 322

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

" Today I had two conversations with early stage startups (see Free CTO Consulting ). In both cases, the founder and I brainstormed on ways to shift the product in order to get closer to what I perceived as something that would be great. " One was an enterprise software product. Customer Validation 101.

Customer 227

Customer Fractional CTO Viral Lean 227

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Continuing my series of posts that I’ve been collecting that live at the intersection of Startups and being a Startup CTO : Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March here are the top posts from May 2010. But founders need to know how to ask for their advice and when to ignore it. It says what?!”).

Fractional CTO 248

Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 24, 2014

by Adam Root, founder and CTO of Hiplogiq. Once you have data that confirms the market is ready for your product, ask prospective customers to pay you on a consulting basis to execute the same strategy your product will do programmatically. A DUI lawyer? A jack-of-all-trades, I’ll-make-your-copies-too lawyer? Didn’t think so.

Fractional CTO 228

Fractional CTO Product CTO Hire Merger 228

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

But the thing I am most proud of about Rob is that he has taken a company with a uniquely talented founder & CTO – Nick Halstead – and managed to build a very tight working relationship with Nick where we drive world-class product development without having the usual founder / CEO conflicts.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

YoungUpstarts

MAY 18, 2011

The founder and CEO of Swiftsharing is 15 year-old high school freshman Alaxic Smith, who personally wrote all the front-end code for Swiftsharing. Swiftsharing ‘s co-founder and chief technology officer is 16 year-old Paul Henry, who also happens to be Smith’s close friend and neighbor.

Fractional CTO 239

Fractional CTO Social Network PHP Cofounder 239

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. And don’t confuse having a CTO with getting an Technology Advisor.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Advisory Board Technology Fractional CTO 150