Often early-stage start-ups struggle with technical direction and expertise. The best-case scenario is to have a co-founder CTO who is from the industry and has a deep understanding of business and technical challenges. However, less lucky start-ups have to find the way around it. It is scary - how to find a person who would understand the business, but also will be able to choose the direction that won’t make the company bust.
Some start-ups try to hire a high-calibre CTO. It might be a good idea if you have a fat round secured, but how many of us did? Money is not the only problem - a fancy CTO typically won’t be able to deliver features by themselves. A good CTO is a strategy person between business, product and technology, not a doer. It means that he or she will try to bring some people who would actually do things with further implications on money and resources.
Other start-ups try to hire a former mid-manager or a tech lead with hands-on skills and appoint them as a CTO. Again, in rare cases this person would be able to grow and mature together with the start-up, however typically, a TL is too hands on and misses the bigger picture. It is a good idea to hire hands-on people to actually build the product and focus on the delivery.
What to do then? One idea is to hire an outsourcer company or a consultant. They can help to build the product and not mess up the strategy completely. The quality of the product is typically lower in this case though. Another idea is to hire a fractional CTO. A fractional CTO is not involved in day-to-day development of the product, which allows her or him to keep a bigger picture, can help with setting up a long-term strategy and won’t be as expensive as a full-time CTO.
There is no fit-all solution out there. Assess your options and see what works for you the best. Fancy a discussion on this topic? Feel free to drop me an email at sanat@serikuly.com