
Ask HN: Best way to find a CTO? - curbenthusiasm
I am just curious as to what the best way to find a CTO is, considering an already built product developed through outsourcing? I am assuming they would prefer to see an already built product(check) with a decent amount of users and solid engagement(still to be done)... Do you think that&#x27;s the case for people examining potential companies to work with as CTO? Let me hear your thoughts
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rmtutty
What do you want from a CTO? As a serial CTO/lead dev/architect-y guy, I can
tell you that the title can be extremely varied in interest and actual duties.

Are you looking for someone to select the tools and the way those tools work
together to meet your goals? Then they might not want to see an already built
product.

Are you looking for someone to help you scale the application as engagement
(hopefully) goes through the roof? You may be looking for more of a devops
person.

Are you looking for someone to set up the developer culture, the process and
hire/mentor an internal team? A good lead developer can handle these issues.

Are you looking for someone to which to hand ALL of these issues, to just
handle them? Then, you are actually looking for a CTO. This person will be
more expensive than the others, and will likely drive additional expenses
through hiring those others as well. So consider your MVT (minimum viable
team) as well as MVP, and go looking for the people you really need.

Best of luck!

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hkarthik
This is an awesome response. +1000

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aosmith
I've been a CTO a couple times, under similar circumstances. My candid
thoughts are:

\- A legacy code base from an offshore team can be a blessing or a curse.

\- How's your cash flow situation? Remember your perspective CTO is probably
being offered 6/7 figures elsewhere.

\- Tightly related to the above, what is your CPA? What about LTV? How do
those numbers compare? Are you making money or loosing money on every user?

You're welcome to shoot me an email... <hn username>@gmail.com.

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debt
I think money is probably the number one request. Any good CTO isn't too
concerned with the state of the product as long it's not in total disarray.

So the question should be do you have enough money to pay a decent salary for
a CTO? Then you should ask, is it a product that would benefit from a CTO?

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rush-tea
Rather than employ the candidate with salary and minimum stock, why don't ask
him to join as a co founder with decent share? With that, you will have
someone who can own up as his share value and wealth also depends on his
performance.

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dylanhassinger
yes, exactly

also having money to pay them

last but not least, before you get a CTO, get some good technical advisers.
They can be your virtual CTO until you get a real one, and help you to vet
candidates too.

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curbenthusiasm
Hmm... what's the best place to meet technical advisors? Are these just
friends, or would they want some form of compensation, assuming they just
advice and don't have to stand in as CTO, maybe just do interviews...

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karmajunkie
I function in this role for many of my clients.

1.) Definitely pay them. There's a lot of reasons for this, but most
importantly, much like you pay a lawyer to be your most vocal and aggressive
advocate, your virtual CTO is the person who has your company's back. His job
is to provide you with good advice, vetting other technical staff and work,
understand business climate and where your position is in the market, as well
as augment your vision for your company.

2.) use them where its appropriate. The right person (or sometimes a firm)
isn't going to be cheap—you're looking for the proverbial unicorn. Don't waste
the budget having them work on perfecting CSS. When you have them working on
code, have them build a foundation and show other team members how to leverage
it. What you're paying for is their knowledge and experience. Have them review
code, provide feedback, make sure you're getting your money's worth out of an
outsourced team. Let them give you advice when you need it (and most
importantly, take the advice! I can't tell you how many clients pay a lot of
money for the advice then throw it out the window.)

3.) if you have a friend who can fill the role, that's great, but don't trust
their technical skills just because they're a friend and will talk to you over
beers. Advice is very much a get-what-you-pay-for kind of thing.

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curbenthusiasm
Do you get paid hourly then as a virtual CTO? Also, what are the upsides of
having a virtual cto versus an on-location guy?

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karmajunkie
I usually bill hourly, but sometimes as a day rate, almost always with a
retainer that we bill against.

Typically, having a full-time CTO is the "ideal" situation. For a company who
can't afford a full-time CTO, however, having a virtual CTO means that they
get access wealth of experience that they'd otherwise never be able to afford.
A startup who's business is based on technology in any meaningful way
absolutely needs someone to fill that role—you can't (or shouldn't) just trust
that a run-of-the-mill contractor is going to deliver what you think you're
getting, and you probably aren't qualified to determine whether they are or
not. This is the main reason outsourced projects end badly. Having a virtual
CTO isn't as good as having a technical cofounder, but its a damn sight better
than having no technical members on the team at all.

