Is CTO as a Service actually better than hiring a full-time CTO?
Since the time I have joined this group, I see a lot of members are posting CTO requirements. I believe looking for CTO at the start of a project is futile activity and can be avoided by hiring a product development studio like mine.
I started my own development studio last year to help non-tech founders launch MVPs faster. We helped 5 startups build their launch faster and at a much cheaper cost this allowed them to quickly get validation of ideas and 3 of them were able to secure seed funding.
I want to understand from the community which approach they think is better?
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what you do sounds more as hiring a freelancer to make an MVP.
CTO is way more important position than just someone to do the MVP part.
Yes it is difficult, especially if you are not comfortable working remotely with someone but you need a partner that believe in your idea enough to do it for free.
Usually there are at least 10 different ways and/or technologies to implement every step in your product and there are many steps in every product that must be implemented.
If you relay on people that are not close to you to understand what are you trying to do even with their best intentions things goes sideways. Starting a company is difficult even if you have people to help you, you may be in it to change the world, they may be in it to be able to work from the beach with a beer in their hand.
CTO is not the person that creates your MVP and someone to deal with the "computer staff" it is someone that constantly looks for better ways to improve on your product, test every new technology that sows up for opportunities to benefit your product, builds the team that will create your ideas and makes sure that the development is going in the right direction, CTO is the bridge between you and the world of technology.
Even the genius idea without implementation is a waste of time but genius idea with bad implementation is also a waste of time.
Yes, I agree with your point. What I am trying to solve with my development studio is getting them quick access to technical know-how to help get them started.
A lot of non-technical founders lack a network of technical people whom they can pitch an idea and make them fully involved in it - taking the same risk as they are taking.
And that's why I feel finding a full-time CTO should be deferred to the point where you have an MVP or Idea validation or some seed funding. This de-risks the process of hiring a CTO and makes your startup more attractive to the tech community.