I've been CTO at two early-stage startups.
Both times, I had no idea what I was doing.
So I wrote the playbook I wish existed:
"The First CTO: The Job Nobody Explains"
Pre-order is live (30% off until launch):
https://t.co/GzGk0X72UR
Started writing The First CTO thinking I'd catalogue my experience for new CTOs. Ended up putting every bad decision under a microscope. Never claimed to be a great CTO. Just wanted to document the mistakes honestly.
2 weeks to launch.
https://t.co/Qi10g3E3d5
Print it. Pin it to your wall. Point at it next time someone asks if you can launch on Friday.
Pulled from Chapter 6 of "The First CTO: The Job Nobody Explains" - launches March 31st with five more templates.
https://t.co/Qi10g3E3d5
I'm giving away one of the templates from my CTO playbook.
The Readiness Scale: a one-page framework for answering "is this ready to ship?"
Six levels, from "works on my machine" to "survives a paid campaign influx."
Free PDF: https://t.co/aXyLPQ91eT
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Level 1: Does it work for me?
Level 2: Does it work for a technical colleague?
Level 3: Does it work for a non-tech stakeholder?
Level 4: Does it work for 100 fanatical users?
Level 5: Does it work for a cold new signup?
Level 6: Does it work for an influx from a paid campaign?
12 years of a free fake API, now it's a real backend you call with fetch().
Collections, auth, logs, AI generation. No backend server code.
https://t.co/0ulq47EEIB
Something I keep coming back to while writing this CTO playbook:
Early in your career, success is "look what I built."
Later, it's "look how fast everyone else is building."
That shift is the entire job and nobody warns you about it.
https://t.co/GzGk0X72UR
@TheBrousse That's exactly the confusion the book addresses. At 10-15 people, the title says CTO but the job is part lead dev, part architect, part hiring manager, part founder-therapist. The lines blur completely. Whether thatโs "really" a CTO is semantic, the challenges are real either way
Free to use, no account required, your entries stay on your device. Also has simple breathing/grounding for when things flare up. Would love feedback if you try it.
Shipped a big update to ReqRes.
It's no longer just a mock API - it's a real backend for frontend devs.
Collections, auth, logs, automations.
All called with fetch().
https://t.co/O7FdK4h0OC
It turns out that after 15 years of building things for other people, I needed a better place that explains what I actually do and who for.
New layout, updated projects, clearer story.
https://t.co/3MDepQ4g5j