CTO to founder
I recently joined a call through CTO Craft (thoroughly recommended) about the path a CTO cal follow to becoming a founder.
The call was hosted by Andy Skipper and the panel was Hywel Carver, Naman Muley and Carol Palombini.
The following are my disorganised notes from the call:
“If not you, who else?” - one of the panel mentioned this quote from Terry Pratchett. Basically if there is a problem that needs solving, why don’t you be the one to do it?
Tech people tend to focus more on the obstacles and tend to avoid risk. They love working out what might go wrong.
They also love building something even if there is no proven audience for it; they enjoy the creation process.
Don’t use someone else’s view of success - you should build you own view of what success looks like. Success for someone like Jeff Bezos is different to someone running a small company.
If people might be interested in the process of building your product then do it public and use that as a way to promote it and get feedback.
The way you talk to customers is so crucial to get right - what problem are you solving?
Fall in love with the problem, not the product. This was repeated a number of times. It is very easy to get so into the product that you forget that it has an end goal which is to solve a problem for someone.
Recognise you are going to be lost and a beginner again. When moving to become a founder there is so much that you will need to learn from scratch. You are no longer the expert on technology, you also need to learn about everything else as well.
Interesting from Hywel - he talked to 50 CTOs to get a view on training and their offering was so much better than what was currently in the market that they deliberately said they are not a training company so they could differentiate and not pull in preconceived ideas.
Change your mindset to “I am sure I am going to make mistakes”. Don’t expect everything to work. There will be problems and you will make mistakes so come in with an expectation that they will happen.
Identify what is most likely to fail and focus on that - you either solve it or throw away the idea. Basically identify the biggest risks to success and address those first so you can more quickly determine if the idea is feasible.
You need to consider founder break up from the beginning. Having been involved in a startup and someone leaving after the first year I have seen the complications and friction this can cause.
Identify your non-negotiables between the co-founders especially around integrity.
Don’t hire “clones” of yourself. Hire people who share the same values but complement your skills.
Close your eyes for 3 seconds and think about 3 people you would love to found a company with and go and ask them.
Skills are not as important as most people think they are. I’ve certainly found that as long as their technical skills are at a suitable level their soft skills and attitude are as important.
Don’t jump into building the code. This is a real challenge when you have a coding background. You need to work out if there is actually a market before you spend your time building something.
Prepare your family. It is easy to forget the impact it can have on those around you - in terms of hours, financially, mood, etc.
What is the purpose that you want to do this? Identify the main reason you want to do it - is it financial? the freedom? the challenge?
Focus less on the idea and success and more on the people you are going to be doing it with. If you are going to spend a lot of time with people building this then you want to be around people you enjoy spending time with.
The best learning resource is customers. Learn how to talk to customers.
Can you solve it without building the product first? Is there a way that you can solve the problem without building something, either long term or as a stop gap to prove that it is worth solving?
Your network is your currency. The value of your contacts is often underestimated.
Three founders can create conflict as two can gang up - ideally have more than one founder and an odd number.
The dynamic between founders is important - who would you value in 5 years when a strategic question comes up?
If you are questioning if someone should be a co-founder then the answer is probably no. They need to be essential to the life of the company. Be generous with your equity if they are absolutely critical.