The Role of a CTO in a Startup

This is where your technical expertise will prove invaluable—you’re likely to actually get your hands dirty. CTOs make decisions on multiple factors that support the company’s business goals—from purchasing new technologies to implementing cost-cutting measures to changing vendors or outsourcing services. The CTO is a specialist in product delivery and software development. Even in non-software companies, the CTO still manages websites, develops apps, and interacts with customers digitally. He defines ways to streamline internal technical processes, improve the efficiency of IT operations and increase profits.

The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Investopedia receives compensation. Investopedia does not include all offers available in the marketplace. CTOs start out with bachelor’s degrees in a computer-science-related field. They often earn master’s degrees as well, again in computer sciences or mathematics fields—though more general MBAs are common as well. However, they may report directly to a company’s CEO, especially if there is no CIO position. Timothy Li is a consultant, accountant, and finance manager with an MBA from USC and over 15 years of corporate finance experience.

Many will have chosen the career because of their love of programming, coding, etc, and it may feel difficult to leave that behind. We’re emailing you the app fee waiver code and other information about getting your degree from WGU. Learn to navigate emergencies, execute strategies, and optimize systems with the competencies within this specialty MBA. The CTO will likely be more crucial to your business if your value is the product.

The employment of chief technical officers is expected to decline over the next decade. CTOs need at least a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems, or a related field, according to Indeed. In some cases, a degree in business administration or management is valuable. Many CTOs have at least a master’s degree, and some even have PhDs in IT or business administration fields. Knowing how technology works is crucial, but it’s also important to be able to explain the business value of a particular technology to C-level colleagues who might not be technically inclined.

CIO and CTO are two leadership positions that work at the same level in an organization’s hierarchy. Both roles are equally important as they contribute to the operation of the business by developing technology-related goals and strategies and working to improve the company’s performance. CIO evaluates technologies and develops technical architectures to manage complexity and improve business agility. The technologist’s responsibilities include identifying and analyzing new technologies, including cloud, mobile, and robotic automation processes, and standardizing various technology platforms. As technology becomes increasingly important to your company, the role of CTO expands beyond the maintenance of the infrastructure. Yes, the CTO is in charge of the company’s IT department and operations, a position that requires a variety of skills.

ERP for Construction Industry and Infrastructure

They play an increasingly important strategic role, collaborating with every part of the business as well as working beyond company borders. CTOs generally have at least 15 years of IT job experience under their belts. Along with technical expertise, they must demonstrate leadership, decision-making, management, and business strategy skills.

Nowadays, innovations are the main driving force behind the growth of any business. That’s why the way a tech startup adopts and handles technologies defines if it’ll succeed or not in the end. From this standpoint, it becomes clear that the CTO’s mission is not limited to doing some coding work — it’s much broader. Basically, a CTO is a person who ensures that the implementation of a business strategy that startup founders developed is properly supported with the right software. After the MVP sees the light of the day, the team begins to continuously improve the product by polishing use case scenarios, adding functionality and fixing issues.

They need to have a strong understanding in such areas as infrastructure, code release & deployment, automated testing and performance assessment & monitoring. We are ready to discuss the partnership and suitable solutions our CTO and CIO may offer for your product development. Emphasising transparency and openness among all employees which minimizes the competition and leads to the company’s growth. CTOs will need to stay up-to-date on these developments to keep their skills relevant and maintain a competitive advantage in the workplace.

ZipRecruiter makes no representation as to whether the template above accurately describes the employer’s job posting. Please review our Terms of Use and Job Posting Rules for further information. Keeping the central technology in mind, you have to constantly interact with various functions of the business and ensure they’re fully informed on how the tech may impact what they’re doing. Working between the CEO/founding team and the engineering team, CTOs act as a mediator. Our CEO has a vision, and it’s my role to bring that to life,” says Richard Levy, CTO at Byway.

Chief Technical Officer Skills

CTOs are central to the search phase and build phase of a business, especially if the CEO/co-founder are from a non-technical background. Almost all CTOs come from technical backgrounds and it’s often the natural progression of responsibility for engineers or other technical professions. Here, the role includes overseeing data, security, maintenance, and networking for the company and implementing the technical strategy for the business. Further, technological innovations combined with the intelligent use of data allow startup companies to create entirely new business models, turning incumbent industries upside down.

The chief technology officer will be in charge of all company technology and technological resources. The chief technology officer will establish company technology vision, strategies, and plans for growth. The CTO will focus on maintaining and improving all technological issues in the company. Critical thinking A CTO should be engaged in thought leadership where possible. A CTO who has a specialized understanding of technology trends and target markets and harnesses this knowledge to inform the development of corporate strategy is set up for success. CTO is a multi-dimensional role that requires technical expertise, team leading skills and the ability to make sound decisions both in long and short-term planning.

This program was designed in collaboration with national intelligence organizations and IT industry leaders, ensuring you’ll learn emerging technologies and best practices in security governance. Surf has been making mobile apps for more than 10 years using native and cross-platform technologies. In case you want to build a mobile app for your business, we’d be glad to discuss and estimate its costs or serve as tech consultants for your team. During the development of MVP, it is very likely that CTO would write some code themself.

Jobs That Require a Certificate in Information Technology

Such initiatives will include technology projects directly serving the residents of Seattle, as well as projects with an internal City government impact. Having a CTO on board is a good move for organizations if they want to adapt to the ever-changing tech landscape. CTOs are not only tech-savvy, but they’re also phenomenal when it comes to scaling a business.

• Chief technical officers can capitalize on this trend by becoming experts in specific areas of technology.
• When an organization has both a CIO and CTO, the CTO usually has more technical know-how and expertise, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics .
• Although they both have different roles, they often work together to achieve the same goal, support, and drive business growth.
• A startup CTO as a member of a C-suite often does a lot of managerial work.
• This requires a high risk tolerance, continuous learning and in-depth knowledge of the ever-changing technological landscape.

For example, if a CTO wants to migrate the IT infrastructure to the AWS Cloud, then knowledge of the AWS platform is necessary. A CIO is the head of the whole IT department while a CTO oversees the company’s tech adoption, product development, and R&D. In fact, most of the CTOs are also the company’s co-founders, one who creates the prototype of the product. There are plenty of classifications of CTOs, but most of them can’t provide a clear explanation of which responsibilities the CTO role involves. For example, an article by Gartner singles out five CTO personas and explains them really well.

CTO Job Description

Besides teaching others, startup CTO must be able to always learn new things themselves. Since technologies are evolving at a rapid pace, a good startup chief technology officer must be thirsty for new knowledge. A person in this position needs to keep their fingers on the pulse of innovations in general and tech trends in the specific industry a startup is targeted at. A startup CTO as a member of a C-suite often does a lot of managerial work. It includes not only the management of a startup team but also cooperation with freelancers, external partners, vendors, etc. The main challenge is to make all these parties work effectively together so they ultimately can complete the project successfully.

In addition, chief technical officers can also work with other members of the executive team to develop a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy for the company. A chief technology officer is the highest technology responsibility of cto executive position within a company and leads the technology or engineering department. They develop policies and procedures and use technology to enhance products and services that focus on external customers.

Chief Technical Officer Job Duties

Also, the CTO determines KPIs, breaks down complex tasks, monitors progress and conducts reviews of the jobs done. Proper security practices will help the company avoid hacker attacks with subsequent financial losses or failed audits and large fines. This is especially true for fintech startups that have access to banking details and other financial data. Before a full-fledged IT security department is set up, the CTO would need to be the one who ensures the company’s servers and data are protected. In practice, the CTO may report to the CIO, the CEO, or both, depending on the company. Although they both have different roles, they often work together to achieve the same goal, support, and drive business growth.

They’re an expensive resource, and it’s your responsibility to work for them and make sure they’re productive and moving in the right direction,“ Kunal says. At this stage, you need to be open-minded about the right methods https://globalcloudteam.com/ to use. Don’t be fixated on your vision—always bring it back to what will deliver the best business/product. When Jack Dorsey stepped down as Twitter CEO in November 2021, he named Parag Agrawal as his successor.

How to Become a Software Architect

A Chief Technical Officer helps bridge the gap between C-level executive decision-making and technical knowledge of the product, systems, and architecture. At Maryville, we are committed to not only showing you how to become a chief technology officer, but to providing you with the educational foundation and critical skills that make employers take notice. One way to prepare to advance in this promising field is to learn more about Maryville University’s master’s in cybersecurity online program. It can help you develop the skills to excel in a fast-paced technological environment and set a trajectory for long-term business success. A CTO must also be able to manage teams, communicate effectively across departments, and work with other executives. CTOs are expected to keep up with the latest digital trends, and they should also know how those trends will impact their business.

Educational Requirements for CTO Jobs

The chief technology officer has emerged as a key player in the C-suite, as digital transformations become high strategic priorities for so many organizations. CIOs generally look inward, developing and using technology to improve the company’s procedures and operations. This kind of CTO will help set up the corporate strategy and fuel technological infrastructure, will analyze target markets, and create business models.

CTO Salaries and Job Outlook

For instance, the routine tasks which a chief tech officer is in charge of are usually different at different stages of a startup’s business life cycle. The size of a particular organization, its main activities, and available financial resources also have a great impact. So you can hardly find two similar chief technologist job descriptions.