Most founding CTOs are fired or moved sideways within 3–5 years. Here’s why!
When I was helping startups get investment (10+ years ago), I noticed that within 3–5 years many founding CTOs were removed from their own companies.
It didn’t make sense:
- These were often world experts in a specific technical area.
- Many of them were educated at Cambridge or Oxford University.
- There was no question of their technical competence.
I became curious why.
After talking to so many of them and their investors, I realised that there was a business acumen gap between the CTO and the board.
This gap became more and more obvious as the company grew.
The founding CTOs were seen as:
- arrogant — showing disdain towards board and ELT members who were non technical
- alienating the board with geek speak
- not talking about the business outcomes of tech and
- saying to the board things like: “You have to trust me” without ever making a business case
- constantly under-delivering with no explanation, warning or proactive plans to mitigate the risk of not delivering.
These are the core elements that made CTOs lose their executive role in the very company they founded.
What other reasons have you found that got the founding CTO fired?
