Connections can always make a difference, but are not everything. Here are a few thoughts on your scenario: >>> The things I think are hurting me are that I'm

Connections can always make a difference, but are not everything. Here are a few thoughts on your scenario: >>> The things I think are hurting me are that I'm not great at whiteboarding I don't know about that. I have a friend who stopped an interview when asked to whiteboard and instead referred the panel to review github together, they ended up hiring him. >>> it's hard to summarize the scope and impact of what I've done as CTO growing a team from 2 to 16 engineers That is more likely to be the issue. Find a way to explain your value, what you did, and what you can do.