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Most companies get this wrong when hiring a CTO: They hire highly technical, perhaps even world leading experts in their narrow field of technology, instead of hiring as CTO a business strategist with technical expertise in that industry: e.g. a CTO who is known for delivering wearables, or SaaS platforms, or one who knows semiconductors or consumer products. I'll explain: The CTO sets the direction for the technical strategy to achieve the business strategy. If you hire a CTO that's a world leader in X technology, they're likely hyper focused on that, but have no strategic view of how this technology can serve the business. A strategic CTO can always hire subject matter experts (and give them fancy titles like Chief Science Officer or Chief Nanoparticles Engineer, or Chief Robotics Engineer) and harness their exceptional technical talent for the company's technology strategy. Instead, companies hire a highly technical CTO and then are disappointed when this technical expert is not strategic. This technical expert became an expert because they focused their life's work on this technology. They didn't focus their life's work on business tech strategy in your industry. You need a CTO who understands business AND technology. To put it bluntly: Someone who understand how to harness technology to make money. Otherwise, you'll find yourself spending incredible amounts of money on doing engineering work (as well as pet projects) which are not strategic, and therefore are not focused on bringing real value to the business. Challenge me if you think I'm mistaken. I'm absolutely open for debate! Now... the current market gets this point more than ever and this is part of the reason so many people struggle to secure a CTO role - because the bar is much higher as there are not as many CTO roles. The ones who secure a CTO role now know how position themselves as an executive minded CTO who can deliver business goals with their technical and business expertise in a particular industry. What kind of CTO should companies be recruiting in your view? I will be running in Sept a webinar on how to land a CTO role in a tough job market. It will only have 25 places available. To express your interest in information and initiatives like this webinar that help you become a truly Executive CTO, please click here: https://lnkd.in/eZS86fTG #cto #ceo #recruitment #reengineeringleadership

Most companies get this wrong when hiring a CTO: They hire highly technical, perhaps even world leading experts in their narrow field of technology, instead of hiring as CTO a business strategist with broader technical expertise in that industry. I'll explain: The CTO sets the direction for the technical strategy to achieve the business strategy. If you hire a CTO that's a world leader in X technology, they're likely hyper focused on that, but have no strategic view of how this technology can serve the business. A strategic CTO can always hire subject matter experts (and give them fancy titles like Chief Science Officer or Chief Nanoparticles Engineer, or Chief Robotics Engineer) and harness their exceptional technical talent for the company's technology strategy. Instead, companies hire a highly technical CTO and then are disappointed when this technical expert is not strategic. This technical expert became an expert because they focused their life's work on this technology. They didn't focus their life's work on business tech strategy in your industry. You need a CTO who understands business first, and technology second. Otherwise, you'll find yourself spending incredible amounts of money on doing engineering work (as well as pet projects) which are not strategic, and therefore are not focused on bringing real value to the business. Challenge me if you think I'm mistaken. I'm absolutely open for debate! What kind of CTO should companies be recruiting? #cto #ceo #recruitment #reengineeringleadership

I love the conversations that arise as a result of posts like this. The following comment within the conversation is a brilliant summary of how a technical person may develop their skills to be more prepared for a business leadership position: https://lnkd.in/eq9NEebF I particularly like the response here because it's more informative than the standard "do less technical work" response that is given. Thanks, Adelina Chalmers. #leadership #personaldevelopment

Technological #excellence isn’t just about delivering on product demands - it’s about understanding the business at its core and proactively offering tech solutions to overcome real-world challenges . In today’s complex landscape, it’s not enough to simply meet requirements. True #innovation happens when #tech teams think ahead, anticipate potential roadblocks, and design systems that are not only resilient but also ready to scale with the business. Whether it’s making an impact on users' lives, boosting revenue, safeguarding sensitive data, optimizing systems for peak performance, or envisioning future needs, a forward-thinking approach is key. @Neema - Better Than a Bank we’ve learned that the most impactful solutions come when technology works in harmony with business strategy. When we move beyond what is needed now to what will be needed next, we enable businesses to thrive in a constantly evolving world. Sounds interesting? WE ARE #HIRING tech leaders that want to make true impact, solve real pains of real people, tackle complexed technological #challenges and have fun in the process! Open positions available here: https://lnkd.in/dHv9y_iE

Is it time to elevate your company's tech strategy? Hiring a CTO could be the game-changer you need. Discover when and why bringing in a Chief Technology Officer is crucial for your business's success in our latest blog post. Dive into the key signs and strategies that signal it's time to make this critical hire. Read now and position your company for technological excellence: https://lnkd.in/d-897FyD #CTO #TechLeadership #BusinessGrowth #HunterHunter

WHAT IS A VIRTUAL CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER?  DISCOVER HOW A VIRTUAL CTO CAN DRIVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD Looking for tech leadership without a full-time hire? That’s where a Virtual Chief Technology Officer (Virtual CTO) steps in. A Virtual CTO offers strategic, expert guidance - helping businesses scale, secure, and make the most of their IT budgets. Here’s how a Virtual CTO can make an impact: 1️⃣ Streamline IT Spending A Virtual CTO aligns your tech budget with business goals, helping you cut waste and focus on investments that genuinely add value. 2️⃣ Enhance Cybersecurity on a Budget Security is critical, but it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. A Virtual CTO designs cost-effective security strategies that keep your data safe. 3️⃣ Boost Efficiency with the Right Tools From automating processes to upgrading systems, a Virtual CTO identifies tools that enhance daily operations, so your team stays productive. 4️⃣ Build a Scalable Tech Infrastructure Planning for growth? A Virtual CTO ensures your tech is ready to scale as your business expands, without runaway costs. 5️⃣ Develop a Roadmap for Innovation A Virtual CTO maps out a tech strategy that not only supports today’s needs but positions your business for future success. Think of a Virtual CTO as your part-time tech partner -there when you need them, working to make your business more agile, secure, and ready for what’s next. Curious how a Virtual CTO could fit into your business strategy? Let’s chat about what’s possible. #virtualcto #techstrategy #itbudget #businessgrowth #cybersecurity

Looking to expand the Arcadian Technologies! We're on the hunt for one or two exceptional companies to partner with.                   As a Fractional CTO firm, we provide technology leadership as a service. If you know of a company that could use strategic direction or is going through an IT project or digital transformation, let's connect. #fractionalCTO #techleadership #growth #hiring #smallbusiness

"Just another security review!" 6 months of running sales cycle. A couple of pilots are running fine. $100s of thousands in the pipeline. 1 CISO review pending. The result: ❎ Zero deals closed The Harsh Truth: While you obsess over new features, ✅ Enterprises buy based on what they CAN'T SEE. ❎ Your tech stack is just telling a story. ❎ Enterprises are reading in between the lines. When the sales team hit these walls, You are at least half a year away from your enterprise revenue. What technical barrier cost you an enterprise deal? P.S. Plot twist: I'm seeking my next CTO/VP Eng role. Spoiler alert: I know how to build for enterprise from day one! Let's chat 🎯 -------------- #TechLeadership #Engineering #CTO #Enterprise #Strategy 🔥 Ignite your network: ➊ Share this post ➋ Follow Sanjeev Thapa ➌ DM for free consultation

💡 How to tell the difference between a misaligned CTO and a solid CTO? A CTO role is perhaps the least understood role among all C-level executives. And it doesn't help that the scope of the role is very different depending on the stage and the company's size. Actually, it's not uncommon for CTOs themselves and C-level execs they report to that they don't fully know what CTO should really be responsible for. While giving a precise answer to the question about "what should the CTO actually do?" might require a book on its own, we can simplify it and analyze some scenarios how a misaligned CTO and a solid CTO would act. For the next weeks I'll be sharing one scenario at a given day Let's start with #1 - Prioritization of own work. Solid CTO - takes care of the most impactful work and the most strategic one - could be anything between improving the performance of the teams, reducing ramp-up time for new hires during a hypergrowth stage, budgeting for the next year, figuring out a path of strategic re-architecture of the system to support the expected growth of customers for the next year, merging tech roadmap with product roadmap... Misaligned CTO - takes care of what looks like the most exciting thing at the moment - some cool complex features, maybe implementing some fancy internal tool that could be helpful, but at the same time could be done by pretty much any senior engineer in the team. What's the difference? A feature or a cool tool can be implemented by anyone and that's the first thing to delegate. The strategic high-level tech work can only be done by the CTO. While it might be ok for the CTO to be hands-on (mostly for the smaller companies), it should only be the case once the strategic work is taken care of. What are the other signs of being a misaligned CTO? If you liked this post: 👉 Follow me for regular insights about tech leadership, software engineering, productivity, and remote work ♻ Repost to help others

What do you 👀 when looking into the mind of the CTO? What I mostly see can be best described as a person with a skillset and characteristics like a Chameleon. Together with Human Collective, we are going to investigate the personality profile of the CTO based upon the big five personality traits. Are you a CTO and want to participate in this research  - and by preference a woman - let me know in the comment or send me a direct message. Do you want to be informed on the outcomes of this research, leave a comment below. In my experience, the Chief Technology Officer is the most misunderstood (personality) profile in the Management Team. And it makes sense because of two reasons: - In general, a good CTO is like a chameleon - being able to switch communication styles, disciplines and interests almost instantly - A good CTO is not just a good tech person, not just a people’s person, not only capable from setting the vision to dealing with risks and details, not only being able to predict and manage the finances from product development investments and not only able to communicate with every personality and level - instead a good CTO must be able to do all of these things. I hear you think: HOW DOES THAT WORK IN ONE PERSON??? 🤯 Placing Tech leaders and Chief Technology Officers for over ten years, I came to appreciate the CTO craft immensely. During CTO-decision-meetings, feedback I get back from the majority of people interviewing CTO’s, resonates towards: - What is her (hopefully more female CTO’s will rise) or his personality? It looks like the candidate can be “blue, green, red or yellow” simultaneously... So what is it? - If the candidate is too much of a match with us (the management team), can he or she connect with the tech team who speaks a completely different language than we do? - The candidate mentioned so many technical details I don’t understand, that I doubt the visionary skills of this person. - We trust the skills of this person completely but we find it difficult to assess whether the candidate is a fit with our culture and our team. - How enthusiastic is the candidate about us and our company? So it’s time to get this sorted out in a more scientifically backed manner. To do so, I’m teaming up with Michiel Castelijns from Humancollective to investigate the personality of the Chief Technology Officer. We aim to find 20 up to 40 CTO’s, ideally 50% of them being women (If your C-level minus one, you can also be  part of this group), who like to do a FACET 5 personality questionnaire with us - based upon the big five personality traits. The costs for questionnaire + debrief which normally is EUR 185, will be covered by Human Collective. It takes about 20 minutes to do the questionnaire and a 1-1,5h debrief about the outcomes. PS, no chameleons were harmed while writing this article.