If you have/apply for a CTO title, and you’re writing code without equity. You’re not a CTO. You’re a software architect with a fancy title. That’s not saying a

If you have/apply for a CTO title, and you’re writing code without equity. You’re not a CTO. You’re a software architect with a fancy title. That’s not saying anything negative about you. But the business will not see you as a CTO. They will see you as a fancy IC or Architect. If you have/apply for a CTO Title and an organization will not give you equity at a great valuation, for the purposes of growth. They don’t value your input, respect your leadership, and won’t give you the tools needed to succeed. A CTOs job is not to produce code. It is to lead, it is to be accountable to the board and the CEO. It is to be the person who sets the tone and pace for technical decisions and is the ultimate decision maker for technical things. Part of a CTOs job is to be able to shrink delivery times, increase security posture, increase efficiency within development, and overall improve the entire department through measurable goals and metrics. A CTO should be able to explain the exact dollar amount their department has increased and saved the organization. They should be able to showcase improved velocity and delivery metrics to the board that have outward visible justification. In many cases a CTO might also be over support. In which case customer retention and happiness is also a factor and must be measured and considered. This is all in addition to the people management aspect of holding a budget, being responsible for report’s growth and improvements, and ensuring the department is healthy from a personnel standpoint. Any company that thinks a CTO can do all of that effectively and push effective source code is both delusional and going to fail.