Posts Tagged ‘fractional CTO’

Tech teams and hiring right

“In the end we couldn’t find a tech team we could trust and that could produce what we asked of them.”

How these words ring so true. This is from a Medium post by John Biggs, now working at The Block.

It is amazing to see what happened, as they hired two tech teams:

“Our first tech team worked mightily on product that worked but was not scalable. Our second tech team was self-interested and the tech did not work.”

They raised $150k, had 10 employees, two development teams, and over 8,000 beta users, but were unable to deliver functioning technology.

I have no idea if these were outsourced teams, or hired teams (I’ll go with outsourced), but this is a real problem facing many companies, not just those involved in the cryptocurrency space. Sometimes it also has to do with the irrational exuberance of the leadership team, directing the tech teams. This is where experience makes sense and pays off…

It makes me think a lot about the offering of the fractional CTO (basically a fractional CxO in general). There is a lot to do. A lot of patterns to recognise. A lot of project management. And a lot of understanding on what can and should be delivered in an appropriate timeframe. Something a really technical co-founder or lead will get right, but something the average founder will miss.


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