SaaStr

JUNE 1, 2025

China Is Playing a Different Game Entirely The Models Youve Barely Heard Of: DeepSeek R1: 93% performance of OpenAI’s o3-mini at fraction of training cost Alibaba Qwen 2.5-Max: As Andrew Bosworth (Meta CTO) noted: “This is our space race…there’s very few secrets. 80% cheaper than predecessor, costs 0.2%

AI Search 264

AI Search AI CTO Hire ChatGPT 264

Scytale

DECEMBER 3, 2024

Penetration Testing Explained Imagine you hire someone to try to break into your business – not physically, but digitally. If penetration testing is like hiring a hacker to test your defenses against security threats, then a compliance audit is like inviting an official inspector to verify whether you’re playing by the rules.

compliance 52

compliance CTO Hire Technical Review Software Review 52

TechEmpower SaaS

JULY 24, 2023

Still, if you’re a business leader and your developers haven’t asked you these questions, look for a Fractional CTO to help navigate the critical early stage of development. Do you have a custom algorithm or other technology? The innovator/developer relationship needs to be a conversation. Where’s the mystery?

Innovation 780

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TechEmpower SaaS

AUGUST 7, 2023

What does it mean to be a CTO for a startup? Should a startup CTO spend their time programming? Exploring new technologies? The role of a CTO varies as the company matures. That’s why the CTO’s attention is on programming for the earliest stage. A CTO can help you find the right answers.

CTO Hire 390

CTO Hire New CTO CTO Fractional VPE 390

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 18, 2025

Discussed in this Episode: When to hire your first account executives Key traits to look for in early sales hires Structuring compensation for first sales reps Should you ‘hire the buyer’ to be your sales rep? 31:55 Hiring for grit, curiosity & determination. What does Joe look like at that time?

Sales Hiring 98

Sales Hiring CTO Hire Scale VP of Engineering 98

TechEmpower SaaS

MARCH 4, 2024

Focusing on generative AI applications in a select few corporate functions can contribute to a significant portion of the technology's overall impact. This technological integration into software engineering not only enhances the productivity of development teams but also ensures that IT infrastructures are robust and reliable.

Generative AI 443

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SaaStr

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

Despite all the advancements in technology, creating a product with a great user experience remains challenging. Many companies believe excellent product design comes from hiring the best engineers and signing up for the latest software instead of building from the users’ perspectives.

CTO Hire 292

CTO Hire CTO Payment Methods Payment Solutions 292

SaaStr

JANUARY 19, 2024

He made many great leadership points, but one in particular rattles around my head a lot and I think deserves its own post: You usually won’t know if you’ve made a 10x hire … when you make the hire. A good / great employee can become 10x in a new environment was part of Auren’s point. But I didn’t know they were truly 10x hires.

Sales Hiring 295

Sales Hiring CTO Hire New CTO CTO 295

TechEmpower SaaS

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Are specific technologies or platforms involved in your project? Who was involved in those projects, and are they still part of the firm? Do they have experience with the technologies involved in your project? Were they finished on time and on budget? cto , product , saas Or is your project a clean slate?

Software Development 443

Software Development Development Software Review Software 443

SaaStr

JULY 18, 2022

Co-founder and CEO of Plato, Quong Hoang, the #1 mentoring platform for engineering leaders , helped moderate a discussion between CTO of Change.org, Elaine Zhou, and Head of Engineering at Notion, Michael Manapat, on this subject. They also work to see if the engineer desires to build a product and not just implement technology.

CTO Coach 273

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SaaStr

MAY 26, 2023

Dan Robinson, current Advisor and former CTO at Heap , shares five essential learnings from nearly a decade of building a SaaS business. What Your Job Is (And What It Isn’t) Your Job is to Make the Company Win A CTO may imagine their primary job is to provide technical expertise, lead engineers, and help build the product.

CTO Coach 242

CTO Coach CTO Hire CTO Leadership 242

SaaStr

JULY 5, 2024

They hire a VP of Sales who doesn’t want to sell or learn the product. You also don’t want to hire a VP of Sales who won’t carry a bag. If you joined a startup at $2M and wanted to get to $6M with reps doing $400k, that VP of Sales would need to hire ten reps. 90% of the time, sales falls when a founder steps out of it.

CTO Hire 209

CTO Hire Sales Hiring New CTO Venture Capital 209

Valerian Tech

DECEMBER 30, 2022

The role of a Fractional Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is to provide technical expertise and leadership to a company on a part-time or temporary basis. This can be a useful option for startups or small businesses that may not have the resources to hire a full-time CTO or may not need one on a permanent basis.

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Fractional CTO CTO Hire Part-Time CTO CTO 52

SaaStr

AUGUST 20, 2023

In my first start-up, there were literally only a handful of engineers who understood our technology. The best we made our CTO. But what if our CTO gets hit by a bus? He scaled up our technology in a way folks for years had thought was impossible. Sometimes, still hire them. The second best, “William”?

CTO Hire 246

CTO Hire CTO Technology Engineering 246

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 25, 2020

hiring in-house talent). “The initial appeal was just how easy it was to work with the system,” CTO and Cofounder David Heinemeier Hansson said, “that we knew rates were up to date and we were billing our customers for the right rates and we could defend that when we were submitting our paperwork.”

Merchant Services 202

Merchant Services Technical Review Scale Sales Hiring 202

SaaStr

JULY 5, 2019

Luckily, she worked in the same company and had co-invented the technology. To hire our CTO, our first VPE, etc. And to close $6m in customer contracts through founder-led sales. And to close $6m in customer contracts through founder-led sales. You don’t always need to raise money to do a start-up.

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Valerian Tech

JANUARY 5, 2023

It can be beneficial to hire a fractional CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in a variety of situations. They can provide guidance on which technologies to invest in and help you create a roadmap for the future.

Fractional CTO 52

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Part-Time CTO CTO 52

Valerian Tech

DECEMBER 14, 2022

There are many benefits to hiring a fractional CTO, also known as a part-time or interim CTO. A fractional CTO can bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to your organization without the added expense of a full-time executive.

CTO Hire 52

CTO Hire New CTO CTO Technology 52

TurnKey Labs

MARCH 6, 2023

The fact is, not every company needs a Chief Technology Officer. Knowing how to hire a CTO is one thing—knowing when to hire a CTO is another. But if you’re reading this, chances are you’ve put together a strong team and dynamic product, and have realized you’re missing an integral piece of the puzzle.

CTO 59

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Intercom, Inc.

APRIL 19, 2018

It means reducing choices amongst engineering teams and standardizing technology, so our team can spend as much time as possible delivering value to customers. We take care of most of Intercom’s backend technologies. Geoffrey: A lot of this is about choosing standard, or maybe even “boring” technologies.

Outsourcing Services 192

Outsourcing Services Part-Time VPE Software AWS 192

SaaStr

DECEMBER 20, 2023

What technologies do they use? Today, triangulation is how people prioritize who they will reach out to — what’s happening on their list of accounts, if they’ve posted a job, if they’ve hired a new CTO, etc. At ZoomInfo, they’re integrating more AI for personalization and prioritization. What intent topics are important?

New CTO 312

New CTO Scale Sales Hiring CTO Hire 312

Crafty CTO

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

Fractional CTO services can be a valuable asset for businesses that want to take advantage of technology to grow and improve their operations, but don’t have the resources or expertise to do so in-house.

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire New CTO CTO Technology 40

Andreessen Horowitz

JUNE 14, 2023

It’s common for founders to assume the role of chief technology officer (CTO), who either runs the day-to-day work of engineering or focuses on a long-term technological vision. While this … The post Hiring a Senior Vice President of Engineering appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

VP of Engineering 75

VP of Engineering Part-Time CTO CTO CTO Hire 75

BetterCloud

AUGUST 6, 2021

And in a recent episode with Marques Stewart, vice president of technology at Achievement First, he briefly reflected on how he got promoted. So I asked Stewart for more of his time to hear about his career and ultimately what it took to become an executive. When you deal with technology, it tends to be binary.

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SaaStr

JUNE 1, 2021

Co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah shared with us how they got there — and the top mistakes they made — just 3 quarters after their IPO. We have someone that probably 98 percent of you know virtually or socially in some sense, Dharmesh Shah, founder and CTO of HubSpot. ” We didn’t do any annual contracts.

Part-Time VPE 290

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Intercom, Inc.

APRIL 27, 2018

Back in the early days of Intercom, our CTO Ciaran was the entirety of the on call team, both in and out of the office. If this sounds like the sort of environment that you would enjoy, we are actively hiring – check out our openings. Being on call regularly can lead to burnout, apathy or a general desire to never see a computer again.

Engineering 209

Engineering Software Review Technical Review Systems Review 209

CloudGeometry

JULY 8, 2021

When you treat your cloud provider as a fractional colo. The B2B SaaS arms race will be won by those who can consistently translate technical debt into development versatility: adding new features, integrating new data sources and workflow integrations, trying new technologies, retiring locked-in dependencies. DevOps transformation!

Well Architected Framework 130

Well Architected Framework Payment Methods CTO Hire Payment Solutions 130

Crafty CTO

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

I’ve learned so much … most importantly, I think, that I love being a fractional CTO, a role that allows me to make use of everything I’ve learned and experienced over a long technology-focused career. If technology is essential to the company’s viability (when is it not in today’s world?),

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire New CTO CTO Headcount 40

OpenView Labs

APRIL 12, 2019

Getting hiring right is absolutely critical. I’d like to talk about two different companies with two very different approaches to hiring post-seed raise. To get the team started we hired several junior developers. There is a binary feeling that comes from making those first few technical hires. We needed a CTO.

CTO Hire 69

CTO Hire Investment New CTO CTO 69

TurnKey Labs

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) play a critical role in steering technology-driven businesses and tech startups towards success. From keeping pace with ever-evolving technologies to leading development teams effectively, the responsibilities of a CTO are multifaceted.

CTO Coach 59

CTO Coach CTO CTO Hire Technology 59

SaaStr

JANUARY 14, 2020

In that moment, I learned something very special about technology, and I also learned something very special about my relationship with learning. In fact, I wouldn’t be standing here on stage with you had we not evolved from that point in time, because I was teaching technology classes in a classroom, in a physical classroom like this.

B2B 173

B2B B2C Scale New CTO 173

Intercom, Inc.

OCTOBER 31, 2019

Short on time? Here are five quick takeaways: Balancing human-computer interaction has been the difference between technologies that break out and are very successful and technologies that are considered to be ahead of their time or just not the right product-market fit. You can do amazing things.

Artificial Intelligence 169

Artificial Intelligence Scale CTO Hire Technology 169

The Angel VC

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

In my opinion, the founder team of a SaaS startup needs to excel in three areas: engineering/technology, product/UX and domain/market expertise. This can be a huge advantage, especially for a bootstrapped startup that can't afford to hire many people. I have a stronger opinion on the make-up of the team.

CTO Hire 106

CTO Hire Startup Sales Hiring New CTO 106

Valerian Tech

MAY 4, 2023

In this article, we'll explore the benefits of DevOps for legacy businesses and how a Fractional CTO can help overcome the challenges of DevOps adoption. First, legacy businesses often face cultural barriers and resistance to change when it comes to implementing new technologies and practices.

CTO Hire 52

CTO Hire New CTO CTO Business 52

Valerian Tech

JULY 5, 2023

Introduction Technology implementation is a transformative force in the ever-evolving hospitality industry. From improving customer experience to streamlining operations, technology has revolutionized the way hospitality businesses operate and given companies access to extremely valuable insights.

Payment Services 52

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Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 13, 2019

Many of us in the design and technology community pride ourselves on being tool builders, creating products that others can use to get things done. These two tools are bookending the extremes of a very long timeline of the relationship between humans and technology. A unified theory of technology. That’s how I think of myself.

Underperforming Technical Team 223

Underperforming Technical Team New CTO CTO Hire Technology 223

Valerian Tech

JANUARY 22, 2024

At the core of every technological breakthrough and digital advancement lies a single, unifying element: the relentless pursuit of innovation. In this post, we will explore why innovation is not just important but essential in the technology sector, a domain where change is the only constant.

Innovation 52

Innovation Technology CTO Hire Artificial Intelligence 52