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?

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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.

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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.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 2, 2015

As the organizer of the LA CTO Forum , I get lots of inquiries by job seekers and people looking for CTO / VP Engineering talent. I’ve written quite a bit about aspects of this topic, especially from the perspective of startup founders looking for talent – you can find these in: Startup CTO.

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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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socalTECH

MAY 25, 2018

One of Southern California's promising startup entrepreneurs, Jason G. Crilly had most recently been the CTO of RYSE UP, a startup in Los Angeles which calls itself the "American Idol for Mobile", which e co-founded with Nathan Chandra. Crilly passed away last weekend. READ MORE>>.

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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.

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SoCal Tech Calendar

NOVEMBER 28, 2016

Thursday, December 1, 2016 -- TechFire: Kleiner Perkins' Eric Feng (former CTO of Hulu and Flipboard).TechFire A partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB), one of the most prominent venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, Eric also has deep ties with the Los Angeles tech community, having served as the founding CTO of Hulu.

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SoCal CTO

JANUARY 26, 2010

I’ve been having discussions with several people recently about the role of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in very early stage companies. In December 2007, I described how I commonly take on an Acting CTO Role in a Start-up. I used an image from Roger Smith that describes the varying roles of a CTO as the company matures.

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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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SoCal Delicious

NOVEMBER 16, 2012

Southern California is often criticized for having too many startups which only revolve around brand, celebrity, ecommerce, and. We've identified ten of the more technically interesting companies working on software in Southern California, using our unscientific, unproven, and undoubtedly biased informal polling.

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 23, 2010

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

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SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I received an inquiry from a reader of my blog and thought I would provide some thoughts, but would definitely welcome input: I am an unpaid CTO of a small startup. Find a lawyer and someone who does CTO searches for VC backed companies in your area. They both would have lots of thoughts and ideas. What type of shares?

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SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I received an inquiry from a reader of my blog and thought I would provide some thoughts, but would definitely welcome input: I am an unpaid CTO of a small startup. Find a lawyer and someone who does CTO searches for VC backed companies in your area. They both would have lots of thoughts and ideas. What type of shares?

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

I've talked about that in lots of other posts, so you can visit some of these to help determine what you specifically need: Startup CTO or Developer Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Before You Develop Anything Key ingredients in the equation are: How complex is the system? Your technical advisor can likely help.

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SoCal CTO

MAY 21, 2013

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. CTO Knowledge and Skill I personally believe that the best CTOs will have a technical/developer background. So what do you do? Everything takes a long time to build.

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SoCal CTO

MAY 19, 2008

Andrew Warner from Mixergy posted - Before Looking for Funding, Get an Advisor. Of course, it's sometimes hard to find advisors. Like Christian Gammil (who I recommend as an advisor) working with entrepreneurs is something I really enjoy. eHarmony for start-up / advisor relationships? That's great advice.

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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. Later he posted about his experience in Challenges of Startups.

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2012

When I talk with early-stage companies, often the discussion starts with them asking me about Hiring a CTO for Your Startup , or Finding a Technical Cofounder for Your Startup or How to Find Programmers for Your Startup. In many cases, during my Free Startup CTO Consulting Session with them, we discuss where they are in in the process.

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SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

500 Hats , February 1, 2010 When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication? 500 Hats , February 1, 2010 When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication? First Principles. Berkonomics , November 29, 2010 Rice Alliance IT/Web 2.0

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

they need a developer more than they need a CTO. Ideally, you would have had a technical advisor, had better up-front definition, had more iteration, then you would not be in this situation. Other Topics Covered I also covered topics that are covered more thoroughly in the following posts: Document Your MVP for a Developer.

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SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

We are not “finders” and usually serve the role of advisor and attorney. Sometimes we draft business plans and coach the entrepreneurs on their pitch, and sometimes we even help develop a business model. What networking events in Los Angeles or Southern California do you go to? Los Angeles is a great place for startups.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I acted as the occasional mentor, advisor and coach to Ethan. Ethan recruited a great team of people to help build this proposition including Lisa Robinson running marketing and Rahul Thathoo as CTO who have been working tirelessly for the past year. The company was called Red Beacon.

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socalTECH

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

In what has been an unprecedented surge in interest in helping entrepreneurs, there have been more than a half dozen accelerators--most patterned after the successful YCombinator and TechStars programs elsewhere in the country--established in Southern California in the last month or so. Howard Marks: Yes.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers Technology Roles in Startups Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering? In this talk, we spent most of our time on Technical Advisors: Every Web/Mobile Startup Must Have One and how they should be helping you: Specify the right things to be built.

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Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 16, 2014

We recently sat down with Luc Berlin, co-founder of Miigle, a SoCal startup that has an aggressive global mission to bring entrepreneurs together from around the world. You can be an entrepreneur and at the same time you can be a mentor or an investor to someone else’s project. Back then, it was just him following his dream.

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Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 11, 2012

Ken Chung, Viddy , CTO. Darren Rush, Pose , CTO. Silicon Beach Fest will bring together the best in tech in southern california. The first ever Silicon Beach Hackathon will commence at 6pm at Cross Campus featuring CTO coaches from some of the top companies in LA. Jason Nazar, DocStoc , CEO / Co-Founder.

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SoCal CTO

MAY 27, 2010

There are a bunch of questions in Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Before You Develop Anything and in Startup CTO or Developer. This is somewhat the heart of what a CTO does. I would highly recommend considering getting a really good technical advisor early in your process. Do not hire a CTO at this point.

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2013

Do you have a Technical Advisors: Every Web/Mobile Startup Must Have One ? Have you conducted Problem, Solution and Feature Interviews with customers? Have you Documented Your MVP for Your Developer s? Have you looked through Things You May Have Forgot in Your MVP and provided answers to these?

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SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

Beware of Mentors. " Today I had two conversations with early stage startups (see Free CTO Consulting ). In both cases, I was the mentor telling the person that the idea, as I understood it was "not great." I saw a great post from Tristan Kromer Pivoting on Investor Feedback a.k.a Either: "That’s interesting.

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SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

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? This should be an iterative process with advisors and customers providing feedback on the product. Conversations with a technical advisors or possible developers should be iterative.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

But I thought I at least needed to do a post that made a few suggestions on how to avoid this situation: Keep your Eyes Open for the Symptoms of a Weak Development Team Hire a Part-Time CTO , Technology Advisor , or Acting CTO to help you keep an eye on what's going and increase your chances.

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SoCal Delicious

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Main February 23, 2010 Advice for CTO Founders: Dont Let Business Kill the Business Founding a technology company is an amazing thing. I have met dozens of brilliant technologists with fantastic ideas, ideas requiring nurturing, mentoring and support. So my advice to CTO / Founders?

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

It's a tough problem to solve, that experience of trying to find and discover new activities, especially in a market like Los Angeles and Southern California where there is so much to do outdoors, and there are so many types of facilities. Tony Adam is an advisor, he was formerly at MySpace.

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SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 3, 2009

Please join LA Scrum Club and Rally Software for a special evening on Monday, February 9th with local Agile luminaries: Christophe Louvion, CTO of Gorilla Nation, Scott Downey, ScrumMaster at MySpace, and George Schlitz, Principal Coach at Big Visible Solutions.At

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SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 19, 2010

Featuring presentations and panel discussion by experts on Linked-in, Facebook, and other internal and external social media tools.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

I find myself sending it to startup founders all the time – maybe just slightly less than Free Startup CTO Consulting. And really I’m only going to scratch the surface here as complexity is something that a startup founder and a Technical Advisor would need to explore together. One notable gap in the 32 Questions post is Performance.

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