In hiring a CTO, you’re gaining access to a person’s experience and time in a highly technological field. For most small- and medium-sized businesses that lack this expertise, this frees up valuable time to be spent on other tasks.
Here are some of the tasks an rCTO may be responsible for:
Identify off-the-shelf products, instead of developing custom software.
Why spend time and money developing a resource when you can save by buying a readily available and proven product? For instance, if you need a project management system, why create one? There are many available at different price points to suite your needs. Third parties have spend years testing developing their software in many invironments. They won’t be perfect but they will save money and get the job done.
Conduct software developer interviews and evaluate estimates.
When you do need to develop specialized software, a CTO can review estimates and qualifications of applicants. They will use their specialized knowledge to identify the best choice in a sometimes complicated situation.
Review technical plans and schedules.
A CTO can rely on their experience to check scheduled tasks against their labor budget, to keep tasks fair and attainable. This prevents overworking employees and protects you from being taken advantage of. At the same time, non-technical people may naively believe a convoluted feature can be achieved unreasonably quickly. A CTO keeps expectations realistic and achievable.
Get professional experience without the cost of a permanent employee.
With an rCTO you won’t need to pay a benefits package, stock options or a permanent salary. They can come in, help kickoff a project, keep it on track, train employees, and then hand off. They’re also able to headhunt for a permanent CTO when the time is right or come back on a temporary basis to re-evaluate things.