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About this book
Is a CTO an engineer, an architect, a people manager, or an executive?
Turns out, in most cases, it’s all of the above—and even the most experienced “techies” often find themselves underprepared for the human and logistical sides of this pivotal role.
In this engaging, eminently practical book, consultant and veteran CTO Zach Goldberg offers guidance on handling the complexities of one of business’s hardest-to-define roles, and provides clear pathways through the most common challenges faced by startup CTOs and technical founders. From managing other executives, to hiring (and firing), to supporting engineers through critical rollouts, this book has frameworks, best practices, and guidance to help you build a high performing and happy engineering organization.
This book is a must-read for all founders, as well as anyone transitioning from a technical or engineering role to the position of CTO. With Goldberg’s knowledge at your fingertips, you’ll soon master both the science and the art of leading a high performing technical team.
About the Author
Zach Goldberg graduated from the University of Pennsylvania magna cum laude with a degree in Computer Science and Engineering. He’s been the CTO of six startups including WiFast, Sticks and Brains, AutoLotto, Trellis Technologies, GrowFlow (acq. Dama Financial, 2022), and Towards Equilibrium Inc, as well as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Tencent and an Associate Product Manager at Google. After Dama acquired GrowFlow in 2022, Zach sat down and poured all of his experience into this book.
Learn more about Zach’s work at zachgoldberg.com.
Endorsements
“Zach Goldberg’s The Startup CTO’s Handbook delivers a compelling daily resource for all engineering leaders. Whether it’s practical day-to-day frameworks or insightful perspectives, Goldberg’s book will instantly help you tackle the most complex issues in developing a high-performing engineering team.” - Michael Lopp, randsinrepose.com
“Zach has done an amazing job creating a resource for CTOs in startup organizations (and beyond). He provides actionable advice across the real people, process, technology issues we face as technology leaders in early-stage companies.” - Tony Karrer, Ph.D. Cofounder of LA CTO Forum, Founder & CEO TechEmpower, Founder & CTO Aggregage
“A foundational guide for any engineering leader!” - Gordon Pretorius, CTO of Typeform
“Zach's concise chapters of how-to wisdom artfully distill decades of on-the-job experience leading early-stage technical teams. Worth checking out!” - Daniel Demetri, CEO and 3x Start-Up Executive
“The Startup CTO’s Handbook is an inspired collection of practical, actionable recommendations for aspiring and experienced technology leaders alike. Whether you're in the process of building a world-class engineering team from the ground up, have ambitions of becoming a CTO, or have been in the role for years, this handbook serves as your indispensable guide.” - Eric Johannsen, CTO at Dama Financial, Author of C# 8.0 in a Nutshell
“When I was stumbling around in the dark trying to figure this out for myself and overwhelmed with several tech management books, this is the concise summary of all the things I needed back then. My head was nodding most of the time I was reading this, and I'm already thinking about who I need to give a copy to.” - Charlie von Metzradt, co-founder, Metrcfire / Hosted Graphite
“Boost brought Zach on as a CTO advisor as we transitioned from a founder-only codebase to bringing on our first full-time engineers. I'd highly recommend Zach as a CTO sounding board as he was able to share actionable frameworks (some of which were from the book) across a variety of decisions, including buying vs building, performance OKRs, 1:1 playbooks, code architecture, etc.” - Holman Gao, Founder & CEO, Boost My School