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I find the breakdown into 3 types of CTOs (tech, people and external oriented) very interesting. A very early stage startup (no product yet, just some basic dem
by rolisz 3y ago
I find the breakdown into 3 types of CTOs (tech, people and external oriented) very interesting. A very early stage startup (no product yet, just some basic demos, doing pre seed funding) is courting me for a CTO role. What should I expect is most needed for this role? A tech CTO? A people CTO? I expect that it should mostly be a tech role for the beginning, because we would have to develop the product. But I wonder how soon would the transition be toward a people CTO? Does anyone have any insight/experience with this?
- svilen_dobrev 3y agothe question might be the other way around. #1 What You want to be? (now, but do reevaluate later ~1year into it) The tech guy? The people guy? The <other aspect123> guy? Be mostly that one, keep other stuff more-or-less afloat, and when/if that work gets too much/critical, hire other people for other 2++ aspects. But there is another question which is harder to answer: #2 What do they/others CXO want you to be? Because this can be/become obstacle to #1. And, in some cases, it's CTO without the C. Just some tech guy who is told what needs be done, runs bragging-shows and is never told the "why's" about business. Here few links i've bookmarked on the topic "WTF is a CTO".. http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2008/09/what-does-startup-cto-actually-do.html http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2008/09/what-does-start... https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2007/07/the_different_cto_roles.html https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2007/07/the_different_c... and also the book Manager's Path by Camille Fournier. have fun
- rolisz 3y agoThank you for your answer! The founder wants me to both build the product and eventually grow the technical team.