Why is it so hard to find a CTO?
Over the past few years, I’ve met a lot of motivated entrepreneurs looking for a CTO. They usually struggle to find one and complain about how hard it is. As a software developer myself, I’ll try to dive into my own experience to hopefully shed some light about why we are sometimes so cold in our answers.
I don’t want to sign an NDA each time I meet someone
We all have things to do. Chances are when you asked me the big question, I had one or several clients and wouldn’t have been available even part-time for another few months. Yet, you stayed very vague about your idea, and insisted that I sign an NDA so you can explain more… Like I’ll drop everything I do to suddenly steal your idea and build it, with zero knowledge about the market and an empty network in that field... Moreover, once I sign it, if I refuse your deal and someone else comes with a similar idea and I decide to get on board with her, what are you gonna do?
I’m not gonna go back to why ideas don’t matter but execution does but if you’re not ready to share your thoughts openly when you’re trying to find a co-founder, you’re probably doing it wrong. That doesn’t send the right message and doesn’t give any reason to continue the discussion.
What do you do then?
Drop your NDAs, don’t listen to what your business teachers said. Don’t be afraid to share details about your project, to communicate your vision and what you’re trying to do. The more we understand it the more we’ll help you. If you are open and we’re not interested, we’ll be more than happy to recommend people in our network that we believe might be a good fit.
I don’t want to take all the risk at the beginning of your project
Chances are that if you’re looking for a CTO, you probably don’t have a product to sell yet. Maybe some slideware or wireframes but no actual product.
There is also a big possibility that you don’t have customers either. No problem with that, but the first question I’ll be asking yourself is: “what are you going to do while I develop that first version you want during the next few months?”. If you fail to answer that in a convincing way, then I know there is a big chance I’ll be taking all the risk while you’ll be breathing on my neck.
What do you do then?
Do your homework. The best case to me is that you used several MVP types (concierge, wizard of oz, …) to acquire your first 1 to 10 customers. Even better, you found a little bit of money to get started and are ok to invest a part of it in your product, you might also have gotten some letters of intent. Of course it doesn’t mean much at that point, but it shows us you’re not just looking for someone to do the work for you and that you’re a resourceful person who will not sit there waiting, or even worse, get/keep a consulting job that has nothing to do with the project while I develop the product.
1, 5 or 40% of 0 is still 0
To make it up for the fact you don’t have much money, you’ll try to give me equity. But as this title says, without customers, you’ve got nothing, despite the virtual valuation you expect me to believe at more than 1M€ and the 1B€ market you’re targeting. You seem totally convinced that getting 1% of that market is going to be a piece of cake although your experience and your network in the field you’re trying to “disrupt” is close to nothing.
All we ask is for you or the existing founders to be legit.
What do you do then?
Show us that you know what you are talking about, that you have at least a bit of experience in the domain you’re getting into. You want to build the next hot insurtech startup? Show us how much experience you have in that field, what networks you have access to, get some advisors on board that can open up a huge network of potential clients. Don’t have experience? Do some part-time interim there while you launch the project then, show us you’re building that network.
No, “IT” is not a commodity
You’re courageous enough to start a technology company and that’s really great. But then stop thinking that your technology is secondary and that it can be built by some agency somewhere in a cheaper country or that you can find a cheap developer you’ll pay close to nothing because you had the idea or because you’ll be “managing/selling the product”.
To give a comparison, when you build a house, who do you pay the most, the architect or the construction company? Would you pay your architect 70% of the price of building a house? I don’t think so. Software is EXPENSIVE, there is no shortcut.
So what do you do then?
Recognize that building a technology product is a big part of your business and that you value the quality of what will be produced. We all know that we sometimes need to take shortcuts but you need to realize and understand that maintaining a large application is hard and needs skills. Secure some money to invest in tech, show us at least in your business plan that you are taking this point seriously. Of course, putting all your money in tech is not a good idea either. Just show us the work we’ll be doing is valued, that’s all.
Conclusion, we just want to be part of a great team
Remember that most of us just want to work in an awesome team. In a way, the product itself might not matter much. We are mostly interested by the challenges a startup venture might bring. The things we’ll learn, the fun we’ll have but also the challenging times ahead.
You recognize a great team by the way they interact when shit hits the fan.
— Someone smart
If you struggle to convince a developer to join you as a CTO, maybe you’re not the A-Team you think you are. In the past years I’ve seen great developers quit good positions and take risks for a chance to work in an awesome team.
We’re like anybody else, we assess our risks before making a decision and the reason why we are sometimes hard to convince is because not many people use the right words and provide the right arguments…
I know all of this sounds like we are being divas, but the market is unfortunately quite saturated with offers, which means it is harder for an offer to stand out. But by paying attention to the few things listed above, you will have a better chance to get our curiosity.
This is a mating process, so take some time to learn the rules.
