CTO @ startup
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The document summarizes the speaker's experience as CTO of a startup. He quit his job to join a music startup but they struggled to deliver an MVP. Later, a friend recruited him to be CTO of an ecommerce platform in Mexico and Germany. They grew rapidly but eventually ran out of funding, leading to layoffs. However, he learned a great deal and sees it as the best experience of his life.
CTO @ startup
- 1. Working at a startup as the CTO Tech Startups Nights #TSN15 Mexico City, 2013-Jun-20
- 2. Disclaimer I’m not a CTO I don't work at a startup WTF? Why I'm here? Because I used to be a CTO at a startup Because I have a story to share, a life story
- 3. The beginning I quit my job as development manager at BMV (Mexican Stock Market) I joined a startup in the music business With the most impressive technical team I ever had With a lot of resources With a very ambicious plan Earning less money than my previous job
- 4. My first results The most challenging project ever in my profesional life Teamwork, agile environment, extreme programming Multicultural The better hires != the best team Focus is key More features, more time, we never delivered a product, lack of MVP definition After a year I was disappointed. So, I returned back to work in my own company for a few months, until...
- 6. ¿Y si se trata de trata?
- 7. First reaction “sarcasm”: “Seems legit” I didn’t respond...
- 9. Epic adventure began A friend of mine asked me for some hints to hire developers Very difficult to find developers with a specific skills and knowledge After some weeks and more details, my friend asked me to join the startup as the CTO
- 10. My first day 9:00 am. Conference call with the development team at Berlin, Germany 11:00 am. Quick talk with the CEO 11:05 am. CEO to me: “have you been in Germany?, No?, ok, Tonight, make your luggage. Tomorrow morning you will travel to Berlin. We will launch the store in 2 weeks”
- 11. Startup Spirit Go as fast as you can Build a team, the right team. Very risky. Deliver, deliver, deliver... fail fast? Ecommerce platform built from scratch
- 12. Launch Spent two weeks in Berlin, learning about the project, very intensive days (Payment Gateway for Mexican Market) One week after I came back to Mexico, we launch One week after Mexico launching, We launch in Argentina Platform not ready for latam market, huge efforts to adapt
- 16. Next steps Built the development team in Mexico Took ownership of the platform Hardware infrastructure Software development New business requirements Flexibility, Agility
- 17. Some numbers 3 to 100 employees 0 to 5 million users 180 million emails sent a month 200k-300k visits daily 1.5M > page views daily 80K concurrent users 20K-50K new users daily 1000-3000 purchases daily
- 19. Good stuff clickOnero bought several startups National presence Won the prize for “Best internet company in Mexico 2011” Culture
- 20. “Ecommerce Company of the year in Mexico”
- 21. Dev Team Culture No control freaks Freedom Embrace innovation Write code and take care of the code Automate almost everything DevOps
- 22. Bad stuff, very bad Logistics Call center Customer service Lack of commitment by Merchants Crisis, end of the world¡
- 23. End of the world No money, no more funding Layoffs... Affected Customer service Decrease operational costs Technology. <- Oportunity
- 24. ¡clickOnero by Mexicans! New era New business model New team New strategy New CEO New ecommerce platform, new technology Oportunity¡
- 25. My personal profit Learn, learn, learn a lot Stronger, More confident Best experience in my life
- 26. Hey CEOs, don’t forget