Chief Technical Officer CTO is a person who plays a key role in the success of an IT product and a company. He chooses the tech stack, plans the application's functionality, and controls the entire software development process.
For a startup, CTO is often the co-founder. So he must know how to create and launch an MVP as well as be a reliable long-term partner.
In an ideal situation, any CTO understands the business "pains" and challenges and knows how technology will help solve them. He can define exactly what kind of programmers to hire, which tools are essential to use, and how much time is required to develop a product for launch.
How do you find the right CTO for a startup? We will not consider the pros and cons of each approach but simply list them here. There are three main options:
1 — A standard approach is to identify among your closest circle of contacts a potential CTO — who can collaborate within the classic tech startup model where the startup is launched by a few friends, a tech guy, and a financial backer. Such was the fate of Facebook.
2 — Outsourcing the technical part. In this scenario, the designated team will work on your project from conception to the release of MVP. The advantage is that you don't need to search for software developers - the outsourcer team will provide all the expertise necessary for the product launch.
3 — Traditional recruitment approach means you hire a person on the side. In this case, you need to be 100% sure that the expertise of the hired person is sufficient to achieve the MVP. He will be able to develop a good product that meets your expectations.
To find the ideal startup CTO is a real challenge of availability and their skill set. With significant expertise in collaborating with startups to achieve their MVP, we are happy to help. Use our practical Hiring Guide for contracting a CTO. This is an example of a job description document that we circulate for our projects.
Contact us for additional advice.