So, what is a “Startup CTO”?
A CTO is a visionary and stands for 'Chief Technology Officer'. Experts in modern development technologies are always thinking about innovation to ensure that any technology serves the business. In practice, a large overlap with my previous role as a lead architect for a FTSE top 20 company. However, a start-up CTO also tends to combine many roles as there are more roles than people there to fulfil them.
My first day at Wyser started with some good news:
- No more time-consuming processes and people management
This was immediately followed with some bad news:
- I need to define an onboarding process and hire some new talented developers
That’s when I realised that how my time is spent is closely linked to how quickly we grow:
This means that an early-stage start-up CTO must adhere to the primary goals of a CTO:
- Have a Technical Vision - deliver a technical advantage over market competitors and incumbent suppliers.
- Define the Technology Stack - leverage technology innovation to create more strategic product options for the company.
- Manage Operations - cut operating costs by automating or re-engineering current business processes.
- Track Performance - continually improve reliability and security of services.
- Manage the Team – hire the right talent at the right time.
And depending on business growth and development, wear some other hats:
- Product management
- Engineering management (people, culture)
- Recruitment
- SCRUM master
- IT support
- Architecting and Programming
So, balancing the desire to get stuck in, with the need to be more managerial, is admittedly proving tricky. Right now, I’m enjoying being an individual contributor and writing code while I hire the right talent at the right time.
Did I also mention that I need to stand in front of potential clients and help grow the business? More on that another day…
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