The Startup CTO’s Handbook

Read the current book draft as a Google Doc here!

CTO Handbook reference materials available here

Backstory

In June 2022 I started writing an outline for a book whose aim is to broadly cover all topics relevant to technical leadership in a startup environment. I was inspired by Matt Mochary’s “The Great CEO Within” which read to me like the ultimate guidebook for CEOs. My aim is to do for the CTO what Mochary did for the CEO.

I completed an initial 50,000 word draft by early August. As of mid-April 2023 the book has finished content editing and is now in final-copy edits before a publication on Amazon and local bookstores in October 2023. The book will be licensed under Creative Commons By-NC-SA and as such is publicly available, in full, here. Feedback, comments, suggestions, criticism etc. are all welcome.

The book references several sample documents, including a sample tech spec, competency matrix/advancement plan. You can find those here.