5 Reasons why Big Tech Engineering Leaders may struggle as start-up CTOs
Hiring former Big Tech Director of Engineering as your CTO will give you credibility with investors.
Whoever gives this advice doesn’t fully understand how most businesses are built from scratch.
Here is why having a former Director of Engineering from a big company won’t necessarily add the value and speed of success you were hoping for:
1. Many people don’t even realise how the infrastructure provided to them by the Big Tech they work in means that they don’t learn many things that are crucial in a start-up (like admin, HR, project management, etc). This can make them seem quite passive in a start-up, because unconsciously they might expect and wait for someone else to do these things.
2. This one is huge — operating for an already known brand gives them a smooth pathway they would not have with a startup, where no one knows who your company is or what it does. They’d have to win over every stakeholders, every client, every piece of trust and credibility. Many engineering (and other functions) leaders from corporations are not used to this and could struggle.
3. Corporate Engineering Directors will not have had to do fundraising for the business. Asking them to do this for your startup, could mean that the credibility they bring through the big name on their CV might be overshadowed by their lack of business acumen.
4. Many engineering executives stopped coding or worrying about architecture decades ago. Why? Because someone else was doing it in the Big Tech they worked for. Unless they specifically enjoy coding and hands on creating things, they might struggle to help you create an MVP.
5. In a start-up usually the C Suite relies on instinct rather than data and things change every day. In a corporation it can take months, if not years for something to change. This lack of stability can make some former corporate CXOs very nervous, unsettled and even burn out.
A Director level in a Big Tech is not necessarily an executive mindset engineering leader.
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