Whether they are Bio-Tech, Fin-Tech, Legal-Tech, Green-Tech, technology is the common point of all start-ups. Crucial for their development, technology will be one of their main challenges throughout the growth of these organizations.
In order to seduce their users, to meet security constraints and to develop their activities, these companies must have efficient technical solutions.
CTOs are one of the cornerstones contributing to this development.
Often held by the founders at the creation of the company, technological challenges evolve with time. Do-it-yourselfers at the beginning (development at low cost of a viable model), new issues regarding maturity, security, stability and reporting are quickly added on. The necessity to provide information and tools to accompany growth is becoming more and more crucial.
We can, however, observe frequent pitfalls:
? An over technological profile that is not open to other domains:
After the starting phase, it is important to know how to handle growth and how to work hand in hand with the Directors of other departments. The CTO must be sensitive to the business and to the products, and they must also be able to take important decisions for the future of the company, beyond technological choices.
? A CTO that is too structured:
Despite needing to structure the company, its important to know how to remain agile in the comprehension of the business challenges and in the technological choices. The chosen solutions must remain flexible and must be able to evolve over time
The ideal profile can be described as an orchestra conductor who knows how to make his teams play the technical partition and also know how to improvise and be versatile. He must have a global approach and a strong technical granularity.
In post-emergence phase, a CTO must be able to pilot the budget and handle daily reporting. He must be aware of:
- His capacities: be reasonable between the means at his disposal and his ambitions.
- The short and medium-term objectives: reliability, service quality, maintenance of the technical platform and the capacity to make it scalable.
ARROWMAN Key Insights
The Chief Technologic Officer is one of the essential players for the accompaniment and sustainability of development. Vincent MONNET advices Founders to:
? Anticipate, by sharing our knowledge on the ecosystem, in order to succeed in your growth and avoid technological troubles.
? Dare to choose certain large group profiles with advanced methodologies, transversal visions and international experience.
? Be attentive to managerial capacities and the capacity to manage multidisciplinary teams.
? Search for profiles with a sensitivity to business and a culture facilitating their integration and collaboration with your different business unit directors.
? Do not hesitate to interest your CTO on your companys success (with variable et / or equity). Player of the company, he is co-responsible for his growth.
Last of all, Vincent MONNET recommends candidates to verify, beyond technological challenges, their appetence for the business activity or activities of the company. Dare the entrepreneurial adventure!
Vincent MONNET is a Director at ARROWMAN Executive Search and a Digital & Technology expert.
