I'd take a look at the large, established companies in the technology space in which you want to operate. Somewhere at one of those companies is an astute, experienced person who might be ready to get out of the big company environment if you come along with the right idea. E.g. Cisco if you are doing networking, Salesforce if you are doing marketing automation, Intuit if you are doing financial apps. The trick is finding one who not only has the technical expertise and wants to get out, but is well suited financially and psychologically for a startup. I learned the hard way that co-founders who are not in the same boat financially can make for an unhappy parting.
It has to be someone you can trust and preferably someone you have worked with before. Because a Startup's main chance of success comes from how well the team functions and communicates with each other and trusts each other, a cto should be also someone who is very knowledgeable and has good networking relations. Every person in a startup is a sales or marketing person, so keep that in mind.
This roles takes me to answering your question: go network. Your CTO should be a networker and thus be found while networking. A lot of Startups are created by friends and positions assigned accordingly, but when is just you and your building your team networking is best & more direct solution. There are rules for networking properly, but that's a different topic.
Give me a call if you would like to go over networking tips and strstegies.
Best of luck!
Humberto Valle
Unthink Strategy
CTO can be an important leadership hire for a company. As it continues to grow CTO adds value to help scale the technology & platform, dev organization and leadership presence with investors/market.
Your networks are always a great source to find such talent - LinkedIn, Founder dating, Angel List and clarity are few forums I would recommend connecting with prospective tech leaders. In addition, depending on your geographical region there are always great startup and tech events to connect with your future CTO.
Finding a CTO is really an individual company cultural centric framework which is governed by technical competency for the area of operation you work it. I recently merged several tech companies into one for this reason, because each partner carries expertise in different verticals the main company operates in or does business. The expertise needed can very often for a startup be outsourced to minimize cost. I have several clients that I work with that have used this strategy to vet cultural fits and minimize cost on staff for a role which may only need have limited engagement or ramped project engagement with the main core business. This of course depends on your business and organizational design, after 25 years in Human Resources and several Tech Endeavors in my life. I have come to realize that fractional CFO, CTO or HR pros have loads of value and can often bring expertise, which can not be found in a direct hire. However this really depends on type of business and markets company works in. I am open to conversation on this as you would like some examples or ideas...
Kind regards,
Reuben
To find apt CTO for your start keep the following in your mind:
1. Be clear about your requirements
You must have a clear picture of your requirements. That could act as a filter to select the most appropriate candidates. In a perfect world, you need to discover somebody who will consider this to be as a bar up on the stepping stool in their profession, for example, a senior programming engineer or specialized group captain who is ravenous to take on the CTO job.
2. Go to places where you are likely to find good technical talent
It is always a good idea to go to cohorts where there are like-minded people as you and these places could be an answer to your question “How to Find a CTO?”. Hackathons, conferences, meetups, summits are all great opportunities to discover a potential CTO who would be a great asset for your company. Search for somebody who can get various innovations.
3. Look for developers at just below the CTO level at start-ups like yours
Jobs like VP or Engineering Lead where there is as of now a CTO at that start-up implies that they presumably have the experience required to be a CTO yet probably won't get the open door where they at currently are. You can scan for individuals like this through LinkedIn. Ensure they have at any rate had experience shipping a product if you need to give them the duty of building yours.
4. Utilise the power of the internet
The internet is a potent tool in today’s world. Make sure you make the best use of it and benefit from its huge pool of talented professionals.
5. Pitch for the position
You would realize that your start-up is the most energizing, imaginative, astonishing organisation to work for but remember that the candidates presumably do not have the foggiest idea about that yet. You must sell your start-up. Whatever novel characteristics your start-up has, sell them well.
6. Ensure that you have a technical advisor before a CTO
How do you differentiate a technical advisor from a CTO? A technical advisor keeps their regular job but works for you 2–4 hours out of every month and fills in as somebody who's not in the weeds with you, every day. On the off chance that you discover a technical advisor first, this individual can be immense aid in finding the CTO. Or maybe, you are requesting that they keep their current job and take on an advisory role that takes a couple of hours a week.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
