[ $davids.sh ] — david shekunts blog

🧌 **Everyone Needs a CTO 🧌

# [ $davids.sh ] · message #176

🧌 **Everyone Needs a CTO 🧌

**In one popular product channel, a survey was posted to find co-founders, and interestingly, 80% of all applications are for a CTO.

I assume that most often, people mean "Super Technically Skilled, but Absolutely Free Developer" when they say "CTO", someone who will be offered some kind of rainbow prospect in the future, but for now, they will have to work for 5 years without pay.

In the first couple of years of my career, if I hadn't organized several startups myself, I would have joined someone else's project that I liked the most.

Now, however, I have many more selection criteria, in order of importance:

– The first and most important thing is the human component of the team. If we don't have "chemistry", understanding, and jokes, the team will quickly fall apart. And most importantly, as a CTO, you must fully trust all business-technical decisions, which won't happen without "chemistry".

– The second thing is the team's motivation. If these are guys who just work on something in their free time, then they should compensate for their motivation with their own money (and you can invest in them yourself), but if the team is immersed in their product, runs around, and tries to push it everywhere to catch luck, then such guys will be able to find many more necessary resources.

– The third thing is the team's professionalism. I will choose co-founders who are more skilled in their field than I am in mine. That is, if I'm a Senior who has worked in a bunch of startups and companies, creating successful projects from scratch, I will look for a marketer/manager/salesperson/investor who can say the same about themselves.

– Already found Product/Market Fit – from my own experience, I know that to be convinced of the need for a product (and even start earning), a CTO and development are not needed. If the team couldn't find interested customers/investors without development, then there's a high chance they think that "written code" will be their selling aspect (disclaimer, this is almost never the case, and you're dealing with people who don't understand the startup and business structure in general).

– Own investments. And I'm not talking about full self-financing, but just some money, $50-100k if all founders chip in. This money will greatly simplify development, marketing, and sales issues, and will be enough to outstrip and immediately exit the "pet project" category (i.e., 90% of the market), move 10 times faster, and spend less effort. With $10k per month, I can even assemble a whole team and develop the entire product in 2-3 months. In short, money is needed, no matter what.

If all 5 factors are present, then I could consider the idea of becoming a free CTO and even investing some money in the project.

But again, this is because I'm a tech bourgeois who has relaxed on the laurels of experience and demands a good life for myself, 4-5 years ago I would have joined with much fewer ambitions and would have been happy with the experience.

Is there anyone here who can share their thoughts on "being a CTO in startups"?

  • @ Ivan ITK 🚫 · # 529

    A good plan, reliable as a Swiss Army knife)))

    It's not applicable to tech startups, where they first create a technology to solve a problem, and then market fit appears for it) but these are also slightly different types of startups, where marketing often comes last, not first.

    About the free developer, alas, but it's true. I like solving complex R&D things for people that "could cost millions." Many such projects die along with these technologies, and in this regard, I agree with you that it's good to spend time on a project where everything is already ready, which is almost at the round stage, with a strong team and a clear product and roadmap without pivots))

    I was very sad about dead startups with good technologies that I invested effort in, but I didn't have the necessary experience to take on the technology completely and start my own startup after their demise, to find suitable people, strong business development, marketing, and most importantly, to get everyone so involved.

    But, over the years, some of the startups have developed and become excellent portfolios, although I'm not technically a CTO in them, I didn't expect that, and moved on to the next ones. When exiting, I found people and handed over the refined processes. But, I still periodically help them solve some complex tasks. And this is no less pleasant, even though it's not co-founding and doesn't carry obligations. But it frees you up and gives you the opportunity to move on yourself, develop in different directions, gain experience, and create your own product.

  • @ [ $davids.sh ] · # 530

    I really like your approach. I haven't done something like this for a couple of years (I used to call it "IT consulting")), but I hope I'll soon have the time and energy to continue, because challenges like these are very motivating and help me grow.

    "Not applicable to tech startups where they first create a technology to solve a problem, and then it finds its market fit" – I wrote such a text here that it deserves its own post)