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Am I being dethroned as CTO?
“Are they trying to get rid of me, or is this a normal thing that happens as the company grows?”
is the question I had from 3 different CTOs in the last 3 months alone.
They asked this because their board either:
✓ asked them to change their title to CSO (Chief Scientific Officer), CDO (Chief Digital Officer), CA (Chief Architect), CIO (Chief Innovation Officer), CEGO (Chief Engineering Officer) or any similar title so they can hire “a commercial CTO who’d be seen in a favourable light by the series B, C, etc investors” or
✓ asked them to split their role in two: “I know you’re the CTO but we need to hire a more commercial CTO who has a track record of breaking into X market, so can you please split your role into two: CTO and CA/CDO/CSO/CIO/CEGO etc” or
✓ asked them to become (if they already have an operational VP Engineering) “a technology/engineering advisor to the new commercial CTO and get new title as CEGO, CIO etc”.
These are different ways different boards are trying to fix the same problem that 90% of startups have:
✓ the startup labels their Lead Developer/Principal Engineer (the tech founder or first/most experienced coder) as CTO without thinking about the future and…
Here’s how it impacts and manifests for you and the company:
✓ There’s nowhere to go up from “CTO” — so by starting at the top, you literally have set yourself up for never getting…