3 Questions a CTO should ask a CEO before joining their startup

I’m a tech guy. I build things. I love people and have found myself in the roles of software engineering, CTO and a few partnerships over the last 25 years. I celebrated an exit from my company in 2016 where I built the product and the tech team.

I have been on the receiving end of many pitches to join new ventures as the technical co-founder or as the CTO. I noticed in myself what makes me happy and what makes me sad when listening to someone pitch their idea. Here are the the three questions I ask the startup CEO before I would consider being their CTO:

1. Can You Walk Me Through Your Product Wireframes Or Flow Charts?

I hear many people describe with great eloquence the problem they are addressing or want to solve with technology. But I need more than that. I need you to demonstrate that you have a solution in mind. And no, not one where you wave your hands a lot or draw a few circles on the whiteboard. I want to see that you’re obsessing over the solution and usually that means you’re showing me PRD’s or Wireframes or Flowcharts of some sort.

2. Do You Have Special Access To The Market You’re Addressing?

Now that I am convinced that you’ve thought about the solution and assuming I like the problem you’re solving, I want to know if you have an inside track into the market you’re addressing. Do you “know people”? Do they trust you enough to give you access to their market in order to try out your product? Yes, I know we can run Facebook Ads and ninja our customer acquisition, but I want to get a sense from you whether you know how to find your future customers.

3. How Much Of Your Own Money Have You Invested?

Money is a great indicator. Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is? I am less interested in knowing how *I* get paid. I just want to know if you believe enough to put some skin in the game. I would be perfectly happy to put my own skin in the game as well as long as you’ve done really well on questions 1 and 2. Don’t tell me that you “don’t have money”. We all have credit cards and home mortgages :)

I hope these questions help guide you in your next venture.

What questions would you ask?

[update] I spoke with my good friend Matt Aimonetti and he added that he always asks “How can I personally help you make this company successful?”. I love this because it elicits a view on how the CEO sees you personally playing a part in the success of the venture. It requires an articulation of that role. Always good.

Etienne de Bruin, find more of me here: http://bit.ly/2lXaQeb