Why, when and how to find the right CTO for your startup

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is the person who handles the technical side of a company and aligns its business strategy with the evolving technology landscape. Essentially, the CTO is responsible for:

CTOs can wear different hats in an early business depending on its stage. According to ITRex CTO Kirill Stashevsky, there are five basic CTO models that startups can benefit from, although CTO tasks can overlap considerably in each of them: Technical advisor This type of CTO is remote and can be a huge help at any stage of the startup lifecycle. Technical advisors brainstorm ideas, handle product discovery, provide MVP or prototype guidance, step in when the project gets stuck, bring expertise on advanced tech, or advise on a product development direction. Other responsibilities can include assistance with pitching to investors and preparing cost estimates. Technical consultants are usually hired for a limited number of hours. This can be only 20 hours per week, for instance, if their task is to plan MVP development. Organizer In this model, CTOs are engaged to accomplish very specific tasks, like guiding your cloud migration or modernization. They can also build in security controls or orchestrate DevOps processes, including CI/CD pipelines, so that your team delivers quality faster. Sometimes they are hired to help the startup tick all the boxes ahead of tech due diligence for the next financing round. This role is also remote, with the CTO working for the company for as long as it is needed to achieve a particular goal. Delivery Manager This type of CTO is responsible for day-to-day product development processes, making sure that the team delivers on time, on budget, and with quality. They lead the team, prioritize work that needs to be done, and keep everyone on the right track. This might include running key sprint ceremonies or coaching engineers on agile tools and techniques. In this model, the CTO is engaged as a full-time CTO for the whole range of CTO tasks. So they can be involved in communication with investors as well. The delivery manager can also be brought into the project only for a few hours a day. For instance, this can be the case when you need their expertise only to streamline an in-house development process. Technical Founder The pressure to find a CTO combining a technical founder role may come directly from investors. The reality is, some investors won’t touch a startup that lacks strong technical leadership. However, there are scenarios when you need to find a CTO for an in-house position from the outset because you just can’t afford to move forward without one. Such scenarios include the following:

There’s no one answer that works for everyone. However, there are some considerations that must be taken into account when determining whether you should start searching for a CTO:

Getting the right-fit CTO talent right away is really, really hard. If you are reading this, chances are you’ve already exhausted the list of friends and acquaintances. There are a few proven paths though to find a CTO, which include:

Often, startups outsource the CTO role. Hiring a remote CTO has a lot of benefits, including:

The AI-powered smart mirror was initially developed by five tech teams working on different parts of the mirror in different countries. At some point the project became overwhelming to manage, forcing the CEO to start looking for an external CTO. Specifically, the client had several pain points:

The CEO of this startup wanted to build a next-gen cybersecurity solution that protects companies from cyber threats, data breaches, and synthetic identities using facial recognition. The founder was looking for a business-oriented CTO who could assist him with designing a product roadmap. “They wanted an expert who could take a look at their solution from a business point of view, doing all market research and understanding how they can succeed and grow,” Kirill says. “So I first provided business-focused consulting to them. At the next step, however, I switched rather to a solution architect role, helping them design a cloud-based architecture using microservices to make sure they are easily scalable as an enterprise-level solution. I also communicated a lot with their patent lawyers. The client needed someone to explain the technical side of the product to them.”

“When this client came to us, he had just an idea,” Kirill notes. “He was not even sure if there’s technology to realize it.” Specifically, the startup wanted to create a lightweight tablet with a high-resolution display that would magnify apps from personal smartphones, mirroring the content without complicated setups required from users. “Stepping in as a technical advisor, I first looked through all available Wi-Fi and Bluetooth protocols that can stream video and audio. I figured out how their idea can be brought to life and drafted an architecture. Then I helped them deliver a prototype. With it, the client was able to raise a few million US dollars more from investors,” Kirill says. “Next, I recruited an international team for them, consisting of both remote and in-house US engineers. This involved handling all the recruitment hurdles, from candidate screening to interviewing and mentoring. Last but not least, I also did vendor due diligence to find a good manufacturer for them.” The product has reached beta testing where 78% of the group valued the product at a price above the $99 campaign price, and the rest, at over $300 (three times the campaign price). “If you can’t find top talent right away to fill in a permanent CTO position, look for trusted outside expertise. My firm belief is that a good remote CTO can bring a lot of value to the table at any stage of a startup journey,” Kirill adds.