CTO in a Small Startup Bryan Helmig Zapier - webrazzi summit 2015

1. CTO in a Small Startup
Bryan Helmig - CTO Zapier

2. Story time…
…or, why this topic?

3. So what the heck is a CTO?

4. TL;DW - nobody really
knows.
(and that’s okay)

5. Some Qualifiers
• Software at the core of the business
• During initial growth stage, starting at
0 and up to 12 engineers
• First time leading a tech organization

6. Upgrade Tree

7. …er, excuse
the nerd.

8. solo hacker
1 or 2 eng

9. solo hacker small team hacker
1 or 2 eng 2-6 eng

10. solo hacker small team hacker
a bit of everything
1 or 2 eng 2-6 eng
6-12 eng

11. solo hacker small team hacker
a bit of everything
VPE (manager)
CTO (hacker)
1 or 2 eng 2-6 eng
6-12 eng
12+ eng
12+ eng

12. engineers time coding confidence
solo hacker 1 or 2 100% 100%
small team
hacker
2-6 ~80% 90%
a bit of
everything
6-12 <50% 10-50%
VPE 12+ 0% 90%
CTO? 12+ ~80% 60%

13. How to navigate the tree?

14. Interesting
Anecdotes

15. Embrace breaking points.

16. No man’s land.

17. Mimic structure.

18. Focus up.

19. @bryanhelmig bryan@zapier.com