
So you're the CEO, what do you actually do? - axiom
http://www.tophatmonocle.com/blog/2010/12/16/what-does-a-ceo-do/
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RockyMcNuts
possibly relevant comment and discussion

"A CEO does only three things. Sets the overall vision and strategy of the
company and communicates it to all stakeholders. Recruits, hires, and retains
the very best talent for the company. Makes sure there is always enough cash
in the bank."

<http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/08/what-a-ceo-does.html>

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coffeemug
That's true once the company reaches critical mass. Before that, the CEO does
everything from setting the strategy and recruiting talent, to piping cables
and making sure the pixels line up just right.

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derefr
No, before that, you don't _have_ a position called "CEO." You just have a
"business guy."

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jaxn
Or in the case of the original post, a developer / business guy.

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balsamiq
This reminds me of my Schnitzelconf talk from last September. Slides here if
you're interested: <http://bit.ly/cotoletta>

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hajrice
My favorite part was the last slide where you gave an overview presented in a
table..I really loved the Feeling row, I can really reflect on it(we're near
launching).

doing the time: happy

making it real: not so sure

making the jump: cry

launching: scared <\-- a lot of us are here :(

some traction!: Yes!

gaining momentum: Ack!

growth: AAACK!!

team in place: Adjusting

sustain: Happy

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troygoode
What does "coop" mean in this context? ("founders and 2 _coops_, based in my
living room") Is this basically an intern from a cooperative education
program? If so, I'd love to hear more about your experience as a startup being
involved in that kind of program.

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zacharycohn
My school (Rochester Institute of Technology) had a huge coop program. The
major difference I think is that coops are short term, paid work. You're
supposed to be treated like a short term Full Time Employee (as opposed to
someone who is supposed to go make coffee). People in technical majors would
often get coops with Microsoft, Apple, Google, Cisco, etc. To complete your
Computer Science degree, you were actually required to have completed 4
3-month coops.

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jallmann
Hey, another RIT alum, cool! /waves

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zacharycohn
Hi there!

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jskopek
Two things I picked up from this:

1) It's really import to have software chops as a startup founder. Top Hat
Monocle started off with a CTO co-founder that was dedicated to development,
but it seems like coding took up most of the time for all three founders.
There's a lot to be said for selling early, but unless you have the funding to
hire developers from day 1 you'll be moving much slower.

2) axiom's job description never changed all that much over the last 18
months; it's more just the distribution of time. That's seems like something
that can be easily modified to suit the CEO's experience by hiring the right
people.

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dinedal
Something else can be gained from the first point, and that as a start up, at
first, your priority is to get something that you can actually sell and
market.

There's no point spending energy marketing or selling something that doesn't
exist yet. No point in having a website about it either. Code your
product/service first, because without a product/service you can't sell it,
and without sales you have no income.

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ookblah
I have to half-disagree with this, you CAN "sell" something that doesn't exist
and sometimes it's a good way to test interest and ideas.

You don't want to sell complete vapor (as in get a lot of interest then be
like, oops now wait 4-5 months or whatever) but you don't want to build
something that nobody wants or realize that people don't want it as badly as
you thought they did.

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krav
Email. Lots of email.

