What is an Outsourced CTO, and What Do They Do?
An outsourced Chief Technology Officer or CTO is someone that you should hire during the early stages of your startup. A CTO makes the business and tech sides of a startup work together. During the early stages of your startup, you may not yet be able to afford a full-time CTO. Hence, outsourced CTO services can help you develop and grow your business for the time being until you can hire a full-time CTO.
What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Hiring an Outsourced CTO?
When deciding whether or not to outsource your CTO, take a look at your budget and what level of commitment you want from them. Here are the advantages of hiring an outsourced CTO and the disadvantages to expect:
| Advantages of an Outsourced CTO | Disadvantages of an Outsourced CTO |
| Saves you money through cost-effective tech leadership.Gives their unbiased professional opinion.Establishes the workflow between management and developers.Helps your business grow as you look for a full-time in-house CTO. | Because you are saving money, they will prioritize essential tasks over enhancing your product or service. May not share your level of passion as it is a job, not a passion project.They will not prioritize your project unless you hire them to work only for you.The need to redelegate CTO duties to your full-time CTO once you hire one and begin to scale your business. |
Types of Outsourced CTOs
With the advantages and disadvantages of hiring an outsourced CTO explained, here are the types of outsourced CTOs that could be a good fit for your company.
- Full-time Outsourced CTO
An outsourced CTO will be your expert for 40 work hours per week remotely.
- Part-time Outsourced CTO
Hiring a part-time outsourced CTO saves startups money by working on the agreed hours under contract. This type of CTO is best for startups evaluating what services are needed and the expected time to complete them.
- One-Time CTO
This type of CTO troubleshoots or performs an audit on the technical side of your startup.
- Interim CTO
This type of CTO is temporarily hired to collaborate with the full-time internal CTO and C-level executives to transform your technological processes.
What Can an Outsourced CTO Do for You?
An outsourced CTO handles the technological management of your startup. This duty can mean differently in any developmental stage of your business. Either way, they ensure that your developmental team and business management work harmoniously.
Pre-Seed Stage
In the pre-seed stage, the business is still an idea or concept. During this stage, the outsourced CTO can do the following:
- Research the feasibility of your startup
- Research risks and how to reduce them
- Competitor analysis
- Determine the technological stack of your Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
- Develop a tech strategy on a budget
- Implement early-stage software development and due diligence
- Build your product development team
Seed Stage
During the seed stage, an MVP is created to demonstrate to investors. You and your team are already developing your mission statement, business plan, and goals. In the seed stage, you can begin looking for a full-time CTO while your outsourced CTO does the necessary work. Your outsourced CTO will do the following:
- Aligns business and tech strategies
- Plans the monthly and yearly IT budget
- Creates a clear roadmap for developers and management to work together
- Develops short and long-term business goals so developers and management are on the same page
- Scales the technical infrastructure of your business
- Install the proper cybersecurity for startups
- Presents the technical aspect of your pitch deck
- Explains the technological value of your startup to investors
- Prove the digital capabilities of your team to investors
Early Stage
In the Early stage, your team is testing your MVP to a small group of customers and improving upon their feedback. Your outsourced CTO helps you with market validation and product testing during this stage.
- Takes tech initiatives that are cost-effective and efficient in your business operations
- Develop and implement solutions to technical issues that are beyond your developers’ capabilities
- Troubleshoots and optimizes your tech stack
- Designs a comprehensive approach to technical scaling
- Reduce technical risks
Growth Stage
Your startup already has a consistent earning and customer base during this stage. Your startup will need more workforce to pick up the pace of its growth. In this stage, your outsourced CTO’s responsibilities are:
- Help in the recruitment of technical employees
- Establish the criteria for hiring the development team
- Evaluate the skills of the developers and motivate them
- Assess technical team productivity and effectiveness
- Audit code quality and functionality
- Report list of recommended improvements
- Delegate their tasks to full-time CTO
Outsourcing a CTO for Your Startup
Outsourcing your CTO can have its advantages and disadvantages. But they can help you save money, time, and effort in the early stages of your startup. Depending on what developmental stage your startup is, you can hire the type of outsourced CTO that’s an excellent fit for your business.
If you want to enhance your startup’s technical side, why not outsource a CTO today? Contact us to see our capabilities.
