The company

In the first growth phase, the emphasis of the company is on creating both a product and a market. The following are the characteristics of this period of creative evolution:

• The founders of the company are usually technically or entrepreneurially oriented, and they generally disdain management activities; their physical and mental energies are absorbed entirely by making and selling a new product;
• Communication among employees is frequent and informal;
• Long hours of work are rewarded by modest salaries and the promise of ownership benefits;
• Decisions and motivation are highly sensitive to marketplace feedback; management acts as customers react.

The tech team

In this phase, the tech team often consists of only one person: the CTO.

What one expects to find in this tech team

• A way to keep track of versions
• A way to make code available to the public
  • Simple hosting (Heroku, …)

The CTO

The CTO is the only software technician. The CTO programs everything.

• Programming This takes the most time. The CTO wants to churn out as much code as possible. They want to make the company’s ideas tangible as soon as possible, so that they can test the validity of their ideas in the real world.
• Tech strategy While tech strategy is always important in programming, the CTO doesn’t spend much time on it. The tech strategy is often drawn on a proverbial napkin - or it even only exists in the head of the CTO.
• Team alignment Since the CTO’s team consists of only the CTO, they don’t spend much time here.
• C-level alignment While C-level alignment is very important, it doesn’t take much time in this phase. The whole C-level team fits around the proverbial kitchen table.
• Impact horizon Very short. The CTO wants to write something today that they can test out tomorrow.
• Size of tech team One.
• Typical phase of the company Early startup. The founders have an idea and want to put that to the test.