SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

I've posted quite a few things on the topics associated with being a Startup CTO. I've tried to collect them together here as a starting point for this topic. Here are some resources that come from other sources: Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering?

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SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

I've posted quite a few things on the topics associated with being a Startup CTO. I've tried to collect them together here as a starting point for this topic. Here are some resources that come from other sources: Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering?

CTO Hire 175

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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. However, I’ve now begun questioning how and what an early-stage / startup CTO should be.

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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. On the flip side, as a person who regularly advises early stage start-ups, I often have a hard time finding interesting start-ups. eHarmony for start-up / advisor relationships?

Startup 150

Startup Mixergy eHarmony Course 150

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

I received a great question via LinkedIn: I'm the founding engineer and working hard to launch my startup. 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. What can I do to best equip myself to step up when the need to officially fill this role arises?

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 23, 2010

I’ve come to realize that I have lots of posts around startup software development scattered around in different posts. How to Work With a Contract Web Developer How To Bootstrap Your Startup Thought it would be good to capture them in one spot and also include links to related posts from other sources.

Outsource Development 219

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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. I'd suggest: Startup CTO or Developer , Startup Founder Developer Gap , Part-Time CTO , Technology Advisor , CTO Founder , Acting CTO.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

Todd Gitlin of Safire Partners was nice enough to compile some data on CTO Equity and Compensation at Venture Backed Companies for the LA CTO Forum and present last year. Todd is a go to resource for people looking for talent in startups. It is interesting to see the salaries of CTOs of pre-Revenue even pre-Launch companies.

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SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Some really great stuff in 2010 that aims to help startups around product, technology, business models, etc. 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?

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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. It’s not warming us up.

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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. Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? 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 ?

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InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 30, 2013

Mentor relationships are not immune to the laws of human interactions. Without active management on the part of the protégé, the meetings with their mentor will become less frequent and less impactful, ultimately accelerating the end of the relationship. Stages Of A Typical Mentor Relationship. Access part I HERE.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

Many startups now go through accelerators and have mentors passing through each day with advice – usually it’s conflicting. There are bootcamps, startup classes, video interviews – the sources are now endless. Because I’ve asked more than 100 VCs similar questions I start to notice patterns in thinking.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

We all like to think of startups as “non hierarchic&# organizations and to some extent that should be true. I see two common mistakes in companies (not just in startups, in fact). You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on.

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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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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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socalTECH

AUGUST 2, 2013

Are you a startup founder wishing you could find someone more experience to help meet other entrepeneurs, get some advice, and help you figure out the issues you face? According to Diep, the group is now holding one event a month to connect mentors and mentees. mentornight mentor startup angeles help advice incubator accelerator'

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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. Is there a lot of rework?

CTO Coach 219

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

I've recently received several emails from people looking for a technical cofounder for their startup. Make sure you go through the 32 Questions Developers May Have Forgot to Ask a Startup Founder. Your technical advisor can likely help. You should definitely hit up the Startup Weekend events as well.

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InfoChachkie

JANUARY 23, 2012

1) Get A Mentor. "I "I started the site when I was 19. Given Facebook's numerous corporate governance mistakes during its early days, Mark would have been well served to have cultivated a mentorship with one or more savvy Advisors. " Creating and sustain a successful startups is beyond difficult.

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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. Actually, I should start by saying – I’m not a lawyer and you might want to get someone who can help you understand your position here. Was it pre or post?

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

So I promised that I would provide a follow-up after the session. This is that follow-up and hopefully it’s useful to people outside of the session as well. Challenges I started by asking the founders in the room to tell me some of the challenges they have working with developers. Have they considered everything?

Develop 280

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2012

You may end up hiring these people eventually and you'll know more about them when you do. 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.

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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. Actually, I should start by saying – I’m not a lawyer and you might want to get someone who can help you understand your position here. Was it pre or post?

CTO 150

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

I promised to do this post as a follow-up to the session to provide additional links and information. The real reason to build an MVP is to do early tests of key Startup Metrics for the business. We end up using WordPress a lot as the marketing front-end of our web sites. It had a passionate group of 50 people attending.

Technical Review 338

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SoCal CTO

MAY 27, 2010

And I always recommend it to people involved in early stage startups. I received a follow-up question from an early-stage startup about the Founder Developer Gap that I’ve described before and that was part of the interview with Frank. This is somewhat the heart of what a CTO does. Do not hire a CTO at this point.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 31, 2013

A special thanks to Jason Lehmbeck , founder & ceo of DataPop , a great LA startup of which I have been a long-standing fan, for championing this event and bringing it to my attention. But, as in every civic endeavor, real change starts with the people. Startup Advice' Register at [link] eventbrite.com/#.

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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

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

I recently got together with Aaron Shechet and an early stage startup to discuss the direction the company might want to take. I grew up in Los Angeles and went to undergrad at UC Santa Barbara, graduating in 2003 with Honors in Economics. While at UC Santa Barbara, I started a café which served over 1100 dorm residents.

Startup 150

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socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2012

That's what Los Angeles-based MergeLocal (www.mergelocal.com) is looking to find out, by offering up points which can be converted to real cash, when users check into local businesses. What's your background, and how did you decide to start the company? Michael Wong: I was previously CTO of an agency called Breakthrough Ads.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

We caught up with Bong to hear more about his new startup. From the ground up, we're focused on both social and fun, and our brand attributes are aspirational, cultured, and fun. What's the story on how you started the company? Bong Koh: We started at the end of April. What is LifeCrowd?

Startup 271

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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 billion dollar mistake.

Customer 227

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

He had an idea for a startup that would help consumers better book service jobs and would take on Service Magic, which he believed had a business model that could be disrupted. I acted as the occasional mentor, advisor and coach to Ethan. In the same year they won Business Insider’s Startup competition.

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Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 8, 2013

I met fellow hustler Brian Curliss about 2 years ago at a Startup Weekend event that I was covering. It came as no surprise whatsoever when I found out that his new company MailLift was called up to the big leagues to join the 500 Startups accelerator. So what is so special about 500 Startups you ask?

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socalTECH

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

Are you an entrepreneur hoping to startup a company in the Los Angeles area? The latest to enter the scene is Los Angeles accelerator Start Engine (www.startengine.com), which was created by Howard Marks and Paul Kessler. Howard Marks: We're a startup accelerator, which will help entrepreneurs become successful in 90 days.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Sunday, February 25, 2007 Interesting Model for University President Saw a post by Paul Kedrosky pointing us to Graeme Thickins on How Stanford Does It. Its interesting to think about how universities might want to have their staff better aligned with moving ideas from the lab to start-ups.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. So I was surprised at the sheer volumes of decisions that had to be made when I became a startup CEO. Somebody asks whether you plan to set up 401k’s and do contribution matching. Yes, I know it’s my job as the CEO to be the coach for people and that’s fine.

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