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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.
I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Of course, I provide part-timeCTO services.
I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Of course, I provide part-timeCTO services.
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-TimeCTO , Technology Advisor , CTO Founder , Acting CTO ? He needed some kind of CTO and as well Developers.
As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. I think this is a combination of being realists as venture capitalists that outsized returns in our funds must come from taking on bigger, more impactful projects that can move markets.
It’s the company that evokes fear into more startups and venture capitalists looking to fund eCommerce businesses than any other potential competitor. He spent a few months building out the software because just taking stuff from people isn’t that difficult. And could we then compete?” ” type questions.
I told her that I believed America’s best asset – driven initially from software innovation mindset in the San Francisco Bay Area and media innovation driven from Los Angeles – was our willingness to accept failure. We hired outside experts. We checked charge times. Time will tell. Now they are partners.
I spent nearly a decade building software for large companies and then advising companies on the same. You’re sales person is getting blocked by the CTO who says she shouldn’t go above him but the CTO isn’t approving the deal. So we discussed his ideas several times. He looked stunned.
Still, if you’re a business leader and your developers haven’t asked you these questions, look for a FractionalCTO to help navigate the critical early stage of development. How are you funding this? What level of funding do you currently have? The innovator/developer relationship needs to be a conversation.
Last week, Santa Monica-based Revolution Prep announced its first, institutional round of funding, worth $15M, from Kennet Partners. The company provides SAT, ACT, and other similar test preparation courses and related software. I had worked as a tutor for Princeton Review, and Jake for Kaplan. We started in 2000.
The company--which is in the business of operating a content delivery network (CDN) to accelerate the delivery of web graphics, multimedia, applications, and more to end users-- recently disclosed it more than doubled its revenues in 2012, and has grown to over 230 employees--all due to a huge amount of demand for CDN services by its customers.
Your highest priority right now is hiring the 1 or 2 people that are going to join your company and make a difference. There’s you and your killer CTO co-founder. Chris Devore & Andy Sack have created Founder’s Coop with the goal of funding, incubating & launching more early-stage ventures in Seattle.
Ryan Blair: The theme around the fund is pretty simple. My CIO had been ex-CIO at Herbalife, and was an EVP of Software for Disney. We hired the ex-CTO of Sears, and other senior executives out of Disney in software. So where is the fund now? Ryan Blair: I took $20M of personal capital to start the fund.
We spoke with Dave Fink , CEO and co-founder of Posite, and Jonathan Neddenriep , co-founder and CTO of the company, to learn more. Dave Fink: I was one of the original partners at Sciences, and Jonathan was CTO of the e-commerce staff. in funding in that round, which closed about a year ago. What is Postie? We raised $3.5M
Rufus Labs is one of a number of hardware startups which have started to proliferate in the community, due to low cost hardware, 3D printing, and crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Plus, they don't collect data, and use really old, limited software. What's your product, and what is it used for? That's a huge step.
So yes, I want to hire somebody with really high IQ and EQ but not somebody who is more knowledgeable at your specific skill set than you are. What results must you have in order to raise venture capital or garner good press coverage that helps drive customer acquisition (and also more funding!)? They fund people with no customers.
aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. The United States is now a debtor nation to China and that the bill is about to come due. How to Take Down Facebook -- Hint: It Ain't Twitter.
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