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When is a person technically hired?

How do you replace an initial CTO at a 5-6 person startup if you're being hired as the "rockstar" engineer?

  • I've been an early adopter of a startup whose product is awesome and I have 110% faith in.  I've liked it so much that about a month ago I began to court this company, volunteering to work a couple hours at a time after my full-time job, contributing code under an NDA, and even participating in strategy meetings with the founders and CTO.  They love my work, have recognized my wealth of technical experience, and I believe that I am very close to being offered a full-time position. The main problem is that the CTO is not as technically qualified as me and the gap is quite large.  He is not a founder, but they gave him the title because they needed someone to develop the product.  They would essentially be bringing me on to redevelop the entire platform (web and mobile) from the ground up from a beta to an enterprise-level scalable architecture.  I would also be more than just a tech guy, I'm being brought on because I've been able to help them with market research and product development.  I'm passionate about the business side of things. The CTO is a great person (they're all great) and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with him, but to put it into perspective he's been asking for my decisions on major architectural features even though I'm just volunteering every once in a while.  He has also been very humble, has said a number of times that he wants to surround himself with people smarter than him, etc.  He's also a competent junior programmer and a smart guy all around.  But at the end of the day, his title would no longer reflect his duties were I to come on. My question is, given this as backdrop, how do I go into negotiations with him and the founder?  I've been contemplating proposing that I be VP of engineering, but really that's not the right position for a startup this size and with the role I'll be playing.  I have no personal animosity with the CTO and would love to continue working with him.  Another possible solution would be to make him VP of engineering or head of PM and me as CTO.  This begins to address the appropriateness-of-roles issue, but they've already introduced him as the CTO to investors (see below) and besides, it still sounds top-heavy.  Yet I don't see any face-saving solution that doesn't entail us both retaining executive roles. Some more background: the company is pre-funding but is in negotiations for series A with angels and VC, and there's a high chance that they will be funded within a few months.  They've also gone through an accelerator and are backed by some big names.  I have a near six-figure salary as an engineer and would probably be taking a haircut of around 80%.  Some executive-level position with access to investors is non-negotiable for me.  The CTO is currently the only tech person.  We are all young.

  • Answer:

    There's no better time to get this sorted out than before you join the company. Reading between the lines, you've got two objectives: 1. Define your role and responsibilities with the founder(s) so that you've got a big enough job to satisfy you and make use of your talents, without any clutter of a management structure that strikes you as face-saving BS. 2. Do so in way that preserves dignity and rapport for the current CTO, whose job evidently needs to be redefined into something smaller. Right now, it sounds as if you're stressing about No. 2 before fully taking care of No. 1. I think you'll resolve this better and faster if you sit down, privately, with the founder(s) and explain how you think you can accomplish the most for the startup. If they agree that you are the go-to guy, they will come up with a structure that meets your objectives. If they can't do it, you shouldn't shoehorn yourself into a company/job where you will be unhappy and frustrated within a matter of weeks. Titles can be pretty arbitrary in a startup, if they exist at all. Don't start by fussing over titles. Get the responsibilities clear -- and then let everyone decide what titles make sense. Remember that the CTO isn't the ultimate fixer of this situation. That's up to the founder(s) There's a whole 'nother set of issues around how much equity you should or can get, vs. the current CTO, but I'm not smart enough to know how to fix that.

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CTO's don't need to be the most technical guy on the team, unless the area in question is the one "selling point" of the company. They don't even necessarily need to be the CTO in that case either. More important is an understanding of how the tech interlocks with the business, and the ability to sniff-check plans for the company. It'd be a big stretch to kick this guy out of the CTO seat now that he's the CTO as well. It also sounds like they gave him the title as part of his compensation package for working for them. In which case, you coming in and trying to usurp him because you think you could do a better job (which is objectively what you're saying) will not go well for you, them or him. Also, a good CTO will ask for the input of senior engineers on the team, and respect that input. Asking for input on things doesn't mean he knows less than you - it's a smart man who asks for help before he truly needs it. "Some executive-level position with access to investors is non-negotiable for me." Sounds like you should start your own company, or get in on the ground floor as CTO at another company. If you're as sharp as you say you are, this should be a no-brainer for you.

Simon Cooke

Don't get me wrong, but I sense inexperience in your question. I have not held any CxO positions in my career so far but I have worked with a few startups. I wish to say a few of things through my experience : It's a classic case of non-tech founders hiring a junior dev for what they thought is just a website and later on realised that it is a lot more complicated thing to build. I have had a couple of instances when people tried to offer me a CTO title (when I was 1-2 yrs experience. I really don't know why). I kept away from them. So, if the CTO is not one of the founders I see that as a problem. It clearly shows that the founders couldn't envision tech side of things and offered a very important position to a person who was as you say obviously not fit for it. If you go ahead with putting your claim as the CTO, it will be ugly in all scenarios except one, the current CTO himself realises that he is out of his depth. He didn't realise that when he took up this job, there is a high probability that he won't now. Whatever you negotiate, it still won't be your company. You won't have equity in line with the founders( not even close ). Then why would you put in all the hard work? For the title? Senior developers in a startup are not just developers. They are always much more than that. There will be a head of engineering position. He plays no less part than a CTO in strategic decisions. I am not questioning your or anyone else's dedication towards the company. But, remember, you will hire employees, who will be more experienced that you, more skilled than you, in some cases plain more dedicated than you. You will have to hire such people if you want to succeed. That wouldn't mean they can replace you. It just doesn't work that way.  And why is having access to investors such a big deal?

Sourabh Agrawal

I have never worked for a company where the CTO was in charge of the code once they got beyond 10 people. The CTO determines the direction of the product from a technical perspective, he/she doesn't create it. There should be a way to work this out.

Matt Wasserman

I do suggest you wait until you get an offer before you get wrapped up about titles and roles. The offer will reflect how they view you, your skills, and your contributions. Both the title they offer you, and the compensation, will let you know if there is a major disconnect in terms of your view of your worth and theirs.

Craig Lawrence

I am a little surprised at people saying that the CTO doesn't need to be the top coder/architect/etc in the team, especially in a small or medium-sized (say <50 dev) team. The CTO should lead the technical team. If there aren't the best at some significant part of that (coding, technical architecture, database) they cannot lead from the front. At that point I would suggest that they transition across to a similar leadership role in a different area - CIO, CXO, Product, etc. Perhaps this is your solution - see if the CTO is feeling like they are a little out of their depth and, perhaps, they would welcome a chance to switch to a more product or market facing role.

James Edwards

I think this is the situation, where ego overpowering the passion for the product. First of all, titles like VP, CTO in a startup with two technical people do not have much weight. Second, CTO does not have to be the smartest guy around the block in terms of the technology. Here are the things to look for in CTO: 1. Does this person have strong understanding of the product vision and customer needs. 2. Can this person lead the development of technical product strategy, infrastructure, development process technical SLA's for the customers. 3. Can this person attract and lead other technical talent? So, if you like to work with this person and feel he is smart enough to be the CTO, you can take respected founding engineer title and then as the team grows become VP of technology.

Anonymous

Get over your arrogance and do your job 100% and leave fate to others.  You are not that great if you are going into a company thinking about getting rid of people!

Zsa Zsa Taylor

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