Hiring guide · Leadership
How to hire a
CTO.
CTOs lead technical strategy, hire technical leadership, and represent engineering to the board. Pre-Series-A this is often a co-founder; post-Series-B it's usually a hire.
Comp range$300k-$500k+ base + significant equity.
Timeline12-24 weeks.
When to hire
Hire in-house
Post-Series-B, you don't have one yet, and your CEO needs a peer for technical decisions.
When to outsource
Outsource to a studio
Pre-Series-A, hire fractional first. A real CTO is expensive and needs to be load-bearing.
Evaluation · 02
Signs of strong candidates.
Strong signals
- Has been CTO at a comparable-stage company
- Has scaled a team and architecture together
- Strong board and investor crossover
- Has hired and built engineering org
- Strategic thinker
Red flags
- ✗Has never been CTO before
- ✗Title-only — was actually tech lead
- ✗Pure technical, no leadership
- ✗No fundraising or board experience
- ✗Wants to do all the coding
Interview · 03
Questions to ask.
- Q1
Walk me through your hardest scaling challenge.
- Q2
How do you balance shipping vs hiring?
- Q3
How do you set technical direction with input from the team?
- Q4
How do you partner with the CEO?
- Q5
How do you handle a board update?
Considering a studio?
We bridge
to your hire.
We help structure CTO hiring briefs. If you're not ready to hire a CTO yet, brief us — we can fill the gap and help you hire later.
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