Should you hire a CTO for your startup? 🤔

There’s a common belief that every successful tech startup needs a CTO.

(Who doesn’t want to picture themselves as the next Jobs looking for their Woz?)

But the truth is:

Needing someone to code your product does not necessarily mean you need to hire a CTO... or, that you need a cofounder!

Here are five questions to consider before jumping into a partnership:

1. Am I willing to give up some control over my vision?

With a CTO, you’re bringing on a partner, not just a programmer.

The tech you’re developing cannot (and should not) be siloed away from the rest of the business!

Your CTO will rightfully expect their opinions and experience to play a part in top-level decisions.

2. Am I confident that I can get along well with this person for years?

Even if you and your CTO have the best friendship in the world, a startup will test its limits.

Are you confident you won’t want to strangle each other after endless 14-hour workdays, stressing over deadlines together at 3 AM? 😉

Make sure you can see yourself working with them for the long haul.

3. Do I know this person is actually a competent developer?

This is tough to judge, even for experienced developers.

Initial interviews provide only so much insight into someone’s true skill level.

So even if your potential CTO makes a stellar first impression, they might actually not be that great at coding and architecting complex systems.

4. Is this person up to the unique challenges of leading tech development at a startup?

Being a developer on a 500-person team, vs. being 100% responsible for all the tech aspects of a business are two totally different ball games.

Can your potential CTO get down into the trenches when need be?

Are they comfortable with all aspects of the stack + devops, and just get stuff done?

Can they manage people and talk to potential investors without hand-holding?

5. Am I hiring this person because I genuinely believe they’ll do an awesome job... or because I think they’re a good deal?

If you’re thinking about hiring an underpaid CTO, see this flowchart 👇

If you answered “no” to any of these questions...

Then you probably should NOT hire a CTO for your startup.

A better alternative might be to use pre-built platforms for your product (like Squarespace, Shopify, etc.) and this might take you pretty far.

When you need something more, our unbiased opinion is that an agency is a good alternative to trying to build out your own tech team.

If you’re planning on going the agency route:

Our developers at AE Studio can fill in for your entire development team 💪

We’ll put a Swiss Army knife of world-class tech talent at your disposal who can guide your project from concept to launch, without steamrolling your vision.

You can roll us on or off your projects as needed.

And even though our services come at a premium compared to cheaper talent, we can save you headaches (and money) in the long run. 

To learn more, book a free consultation with us here.

See you in the next issue of AE Studio Bytes!