Does Your Startup Really Need a CTO?
Understanding the role of a CTO in your early-stage startup
In a tech startup, the “CTO” title often sounds important, but it can be a catch-all. Studies show most successful startups do have technical leadership. Index Ventures found 78% of top startups had either a founding CTO or a technical CEO. Still, hiring a CTO (especially a co-founder) is a big commitment. Gergely Orosz’s Pragmatic CTO series suggests the CTO role really splits into two halves – inward-looking (hands-on building and architecture) and outward-looking (evangelism, boardroom/PR) – and few people excel at both. Early on, the CTO is usually just the founder with the best tech chops, focused on “using technology to enable the startup business goals”. As Michael Lopp (Rands in Repose) observes, at a startup “the CTO is responsible for building the machine: the product, the service… [this] could have easily been the founding VP of Engineering, but engineers gravitate to the CTO title because it’s shinier”.
When to consider a CTO: If your product strategy truly needs an innovative technologist at the helm (for example, you’re building deep R&D features or cutting-edge architecture), or if having a public-facing technical leader will drive hiring and sales. A CTO can own strategy (new platforms, big pivots) and act as the “face” of your tech (open-source, conferences, press).
When you might not need a CTO (yet): If the focus is on getting an MVP or shipping a core product, and you just need strong engineering management, you can delay a formal CTO. As one startup guide says, in early-stage ventures “the CTO’s one job is to figure out how to hit the business milestones using technology”, which often means the existing tech lead or founder wearing that hat. If your main gaps are in day-to-day delivery, process, and culture, a VP / Head of Engineering might suffice.
CTO vs. VP of Engineering in a Startup
It helps to clarify roles. In very early startups these often blur, but experts distinguish them. Michael Lopp advises that a startup CTO “builds the machine” (focusing on the product and technology), whereas the VP of Engineering (or Head of Eng) “runs the machine” (focusing on growing the team, processes, and removing blockers).
In practice, a single technical co-founder often does both at first. David Mytton similarly notes that as you scale, a new VP of Engineering role usually splits off to handle people: “the VP Eng’s job is to make everyone in the engineering organization successful” while the CTO remains “the strongest technologist…often the technical co-founder”. This was also the case for my own startup Passbase. Once we passed 15 engineers, I needed someone to help me run the day-to-day and engineering team, so that I have again time to think more about strategic topics.
In short: if your startup needs someone to manage and grow the team day-to-day, that may be a VP/Head of Eng. If you need someone to set long-term tech vision, drive big projects, or be a public face for your product, that’s more the CTO. Often an early CTO co-founder will eventually hand over team management to a VP Eng, focusing on strategy and innovation.
Three Types of Startup CTOs
Depending on your needs and stage, CTOs tend to fall into one of three profiles:
The Tech Innovator (Hands-On CTO): This inward-focused CTO is a builder and architect. They rally small teams of “free electrons” to prototype new products or side-projects. They have deep coding skills and drive technical vision. This CTO shines when you have a stable core product and want to spin off experiments or new features. The downside: they may be less interested in routine management and can wander into “gotta build something cool” territory without managing process.
The People-Builder (Managerial CTO): This CTO is as much a leader as a technologist. They excel at recruiting, mentorship, and culture-building, essentially a “culture-hero” for the engineering org. Often they started as an engineering manager. They help scale the team, define processes, and resolve day-to-day roadblocks. Once a startup grows, the VP Eng or similar “focuses on people and process,” while the CTO stays on tech. This type is vital when you need to hire rapidly and maintain cohesion. The risk is they may neglect future product innovation or external strategy, so it should match your priorities.
The Evangelist (Outward-Facing CTO): This CTO spends a lot of time outside the codebase: speaking at conferences, writing blog posts, engaging with customers or partners. They amplify the startup’s brand and can attract talent or sales. Gergely Orosz’s Pragmatic CTO blog says an outward CTO needs to be “an excellent communicator, passionate to discuss with both tech and non-tech audiences” to build buy-in. This pays off if raising future funding, recruiting developers, or marketing hinges on having a visionary tech face. However, if they lack technical credibility, the team may see them as disconnected. In early startups, it’s rare one person does everything, so many companies either hire a separate evangelist or wait until later.
In reality, most CTOs blend these. As the Pragmatic CTO author warns, “it’s extremely hard to find a single person who would perfectly fit all of the above” roles, so “one should take a pragmatic approach”. Be clear which strengths you need.
Making the Call
So, do you need a CTO? It depends on stage and strategy. Ask:
What does our startup most critically need? New product breakthroughs, or solid delivery and team growth?
Do we need an external tech champion? If investor or marketing confidence depends on visible technical leadership, that argues for a CTO.
Who is already covering tech? If a founder/CEO or lead engineer can handle vision and hands-on work, a separate CTO might not add value yet.
Remember, a CTO (especially with co-founder equity) is expensive. If your immediate gap is building and managing the engineering team, an Engineering Director/VP might be wiser until you reach the point where you can split roles. David Mytton advises early-stage founders to hire executives based on the next 12–18 months: hire the person whose skills will carry you through your current crunch. In practice, many startups simply label their technical co-founder “CTO” and then hire a VP Engineering or Directors underneath as they grow, handing off the management side.
In summary, don’t hire a CTO just for the title. Instead, pinpoint the critical gaps in leadership or innovation you have today. You might start with a strong technical co-founder or lead engineer, then later bring in a formal CTO (with the right mix of hands-on, management, or evangelism skills) once you’re ready for the next phase. As one expert puts it, the only task for an early CTO is “business, through technology”, everything else is secondary. Stay pragmatic: if you do bring on a CTO, make sure their particular style (innovator, manager or evangelist) matches your startup’s needs right now.