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Hi,

Welcome to the #5 newsletter from The Geek Labs. This week we will talk about how to get hired as a CTO and what the difference is between a CTO & A VP of Engineering and our first sponsor for The Geek Labs.

So you want to get hired as a CTO at a startup? But what does a CTO actually do? Read below:

The Role of a CTO at a Startup

So, what does the CTO actually do at a startup? To be honest, a CTO does pretty much everything, especially in the initial years of the company. They need to be the technical lead, a software engineer, the head of engineering, manage the scrum process, work with business teams, handle financial modeling, and much more. However, this role becomes more defined as the company matures and the team grows.

During the initial phase, when you are hired as the CTO and the company has fewer than 10 people, your primary responsibility is to collaborate with the CEO to determine product-market fit. In the first year, or before the startup generates significant revenue, the CTO's main objective is to achieve this alongside the CEO. While it's easy to be tempted by the latest technologies, fancy stacks, and intricate architectures, it's crucial to focus on finding the most effective and efficient stack that meets the company's needs. Your role is to ensure that the technology chosen is practical and capable of delivering results, rather than getting lost in the allure of new trends.

Get things DONE!

It is your responsibility to find the quickest, fastest, and sometimes dirtiest way to get things done. You are the main hacker at the company. Your job is not to create the world's best software; your job is to quickly validate business ideas. You need to find ways to quickly test different business ideas, launch them, and get them in front of users. At times, these solutions may barely work, or you may do things you might not be proud of as a senior software engineer, but as long as it gets the job done, it's OK.

Hiring and Networking → Building the Team

Your second most important job as a CTO is to hire people, specifically developers. You are in charge of figuring out who the company needs to hire, finding ways to hire those people, reaching out to your networks, and conducting interviews. You need to be actively involved in the hiring process from the start. A successful CTO has a network of people they can reach out to for advice, feedback, and potential hires in the future.

Planning and Development → Managing Engineering Processes

It is also the CTO's job to help with planning, releases, and scrum or sprint management. As the company grows, the startup may hire a head of engineering, and the CTO can choose to remain as a CTO or transition to the head of engineering role. These roles are very different and require different responsibilities. Once the startup has grown to more than five developers, I recommend hiring a head of engineering or asking the CTO to transition to the head of engineering role.

While, the main job of the head of engineering or the VP of engineering is to manage engineers, manage the roadmap, conduct weekly scrum and sprint meetings, and work with the product and business side. If the CTO transitions to this role, its focus shifts to managing the engineering team and ensuring the timely release of new features and the development of software to fulfill business requirements.

If the CTO remains in their role, they often work independently, focusing on technology, product architecture, and innovation. This kind of system is common at big companies like Amazon, where the legendary CTO Werner Vogels works independently on new technologies, innovation, and future planning.

CTO or Head of Engineering?

So, what role is best for you? If you like to get your hands dirty, love coding and want to stay very technical, I recommend the CTO position. But if you are a people person, love managing teams, and enjoy building products, then the head of engineering role might be a better fit. That said, there are no strict rules; it's really up to you and the organization to define the role.

How to Get Hired as a CTO

Most startups would be happy to hire a senior engineer who has managed a small team of 4 to 5 people or has worked as a tech lead in their prior roles for this position. Having prior CTO experience is highly beneficial on your resume, and it can make it easier to get hired as a tech lead at big companies like Amazon or Google. What matters is your ability to show that you can get products built and deliver results.

How to Get Hired as a Head of Engineering

To get hired as a VP or head of engineering, it's essential to master scrum and sprint planning. You need to show that you can manage people, plan software delivery cycles, and understand the entire software delivery lifecycle. A good head of engineering helps team members progress in their careers and develop new skills. You should be involved in hiring, conducting interviews for cultural fit, and assigning senior engineers as mentors to new developers.

For new startups, I recommend not hiring a VP of engineering initially. Instead, consider promoting senior developers or tech leads who are eager to transition into this role.

If you're looking to get hired as a CTO at a startup, you're in luck. Most startups struggle to find a tech co-founder because many engineers are already working for high salaries at big companies like Google and Facebook and hence there is a huge shortage. If you have a tech background or you can code & lead a team then you're in high demand. Check out my previous newsletter newsletters on identifying the best startups to work for, especially the section titled “Working for Others.”

Top AI tools this week: Claude by AnthropicYou probably already know about Claude by Anthropic, but I recently tried it again and found the artifact feature to be the best in any GPT chat application I've seen so far. It generates artifacts such as code snippets, and documents like presentations or PDFs, and displays them right in the browser. It's truly impressive, and I highly recommend giving it a try. Free to try.

Top Podcast this week:Microsoft Part 1 by Acquired: You might have guessed by now that I love the Acquired Podcast. They recently did an episode covering the entire history, formation, and evolution of Microsoft, and I was amazed at how much I learned. I had no idea how Microsoft became the giant it is today. Their success was phenomenal right from the start, with incredible revenue in the first two years. It's a podcast, but I highly recommend listening to it. It offers fascinating insights into Microsoft's early days and how to predict the future, believe in it, and ride the wave.

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What did you think of this week’s newsletter? Was it helpful? Did you make it to the end? I'd love to hear your thoughts—feel free to email me anytime at [email protected].

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great day!

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Best regards,
Shashank Agarwal