For startups trying to excel in the software development field, it can be difficult and challenging to ace the technical aspects of the company. Without the expertise of a skilled professional, things can fall apart, and your startup may not be able to grow and succeed as per your goals. This is where a chief technical officer (CTO) comes to play.
Hiring a CTO for your technical startup will ensure that they manage the critical aspects of your business and lead the software development team. In this guide, we are going to discuss when it’ll be the right time for your company to hire a CTO.
Who is a Chief Technical Officer?
A Chief Technical Officer, popularly known as a CTO, is a C-level job position that includes the management of the business as well as the technological requirements of a company. A CTO can also be called the technical lead considering these professionals are responsible for bringing in effective and productive software development teams for the company.
While Chief Technical Officers handle various job responsibilities, their job role usually varies depending on the needs of the company. These professionals mostly come from any of these backgrounds:
- Project Management
- Software engineering
- Business Strategy
- DevOps
- Agile/Scrum certifications
- Software architecture
What are the Various CTO Personas?
Talking about the primary personas of a chief technical officer, there are four personas that you need to know about:
1. A CTO as a Digital Business Leader
As a digital business leader, the CTO is responsible for the following:
- Analyzing and tracking the latest technological trends.
- Analyzing how the technology is being used by the competitors.
- Identifying the technologies your company can use.
2. A CTO as a Business Enabler
As a business enabler, the CTO is responsible for the following:
- Closely tracking how the technology is performing and whether it is aligned with the company’s business goals.
- Handles all the members of the software development team and ensures collaborative work.
- Ensures that the technology that the company has chosen to use has gone through risk assessment.
- Takes decisions related to long-term investments related to the technology.
3. A CTO as an IT Innovator
As an IT Innovator, a CTO is responsible for the following:
- Leading the development team and guiding every individual throughout the process.
- Performs the role of a leader in Agile-led software development teams.
4. A CTO as a Chief Operating Officer of IT
As a chief operating officer of IT, a CTO is responsible for the following:
- Working closely with the development team to ensure the deadlines are being met.
- Vendor management, IT purchasing, as well as IT procurement.
- Keeping track of the external and internal sources to ensure they’re working in a synchronized manner. Also, ensuring that the business objectives are aligned.
How to Hire a CTO for Your Startup?
Here are six steps to find the ideal candidate for a CTO for your startup:
1. Get an Idea of their Technical Background
To be a good CTO, an individual needs to have a solid technical background. They need to have experience working as a project manager at a technical firm, tech lead, or software engineer before you hire them as your startup’s CTO. Ensuring this will ensure that you end up hiring a chief technical operator who knows what to do.
2. Analyze their Experience in the Technical Field
Any professional from a technical background knows how long it takes to reach a point where you can become a CTO. When you’re looking to hire a CTO, make sure that you’re looking into their experience to ensure they have relevant and ample work experience in the field.
3. Does the Candidate Understand Popular & Essential Programming Languages?
You must ensure that the individuals you’re considering hiring as a CTO have knowledge about any one or more of the popular programming languages, including:
- C
- Even Ruby
- Python
- C#
- JavaScript
- PHP
- Go
- Java
A CTO should be skilled in at least two of these programming languages, and they should also be efficient in terms of being able to pick the right programming language for your company.
Startups that have a team of 2 to 10 people work best using PHP, JavaScript, or Python.
4. Does the CTO Acquire In-Depth Technical Knowledge?
You must ensure that the CTO you hire for your company has thorough technical knowledge of the following:
- Development and Operations, popularly known as DevOps.
- Microservices and how they work.
- Methodology as well as the process of agile development.
- Continuous integration, continuous deployment, and continuous delivery.
5. Well Equipped with Cloud Knowledge
After the impact that COVID-19 had on our economy and the evolution of remote-first work culture, a majority of companies have started moving to the cloud, and it will be beneficial for your startup to hire a CTO who has an in-depth understanding of the cloud.
The right CTO for your organization will be the one who helps you pick the suitable cloud service model among SaaS, PaaS, or IaaS. A knowledgeable CTO will also help you create strategies revolving around cloud migration.
6. Thorough Understanding of KPIs
A CTO’s job responsibility includes tracking the performance of your Agile software development team every now and then, which makes it essential for them to understand the performance metrics used by Agile.
Some vital performance metrics include:
- Time to Market- It is the time that the team takes from the ideation process till the product launch.
- Lead Time- it is the time taken to fulfill a requirement after it’s made.
- Velocity- it is the team’s effort estimates that are taken into consideration after every sprint.
When Should You Hire A CTO?
While there are no hard and fast rules for when you should hire a CTO, there are various aspects you should consider:
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- You should consider hiring a CTO if you’re running a technical company but don’t have any technical background yourself. Without technical background and appropriate knowledge, it may get hard for you to understand various concepts and make vital decisions. Hiring a trusted professional as your company’s chief technical officer will ensure that your startup doesn’t make wrong decisions. Moreover, having a CTO who understands operations and technology and is committed to helping your company achieve its short and long-term goals is exactly what will help your startup grow.
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- If your startup requires a leader who can effectively guide the process of software development, you should hire a CTO to mentor and help your software development team in the best possible ways. In addition, a skilled and experienced CTO will help the team members get equipped with the required software that will further help your company grow tremendously.
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- If your company has an old-fashioned way of managing everything, it is time for you to hire a CTO to digitally transform your company. A CTO will ensure that your company goes through a smooth digital transformation while also making the complete experience interesting for your users.
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- As a founder of the company, you may not be able to handle everything. Hiring a CTO will ensure that someone is there to handle the technical aspects of your company while you work on the company’s overall growth. If your company is at a point where everything is stable, but you need to make moves to take it to the next level, having a CTO by your side will ensure that the technical transformation of your company is done smoothly and effectively.
Final Thoughts
In essence, a CTO plays a vital role in accelerating the growth of a startup. Every business functions uniquely, and the right time to hire a chief technical officer for your startup may vary depending on your organization’s level and goals. We hope this article helps you gain perspective in terms of when and how you should hire a CTO for your startup.
If you’re looking to hire an experienced and skilled CTO for your company, we can help you hire a professional who will ensure the growth and effective management of your startup. For further details, contact us right away!
