cto @ startup
DESCRIPTION
Talk given in the #tsn15 @ Mexico CityTRANSCRIPT
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Working at a startupas the CTO
Tech Startups Nights #TSN15Mexico City, 2013-Jun-20
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Disclaimer
I’m not a CTO
I don't work at a startup
WTF?
Why I'm here?
Because I used to be a CTO at a startup
Because I have a story to share, a life story
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The beginningI quit my job as development manager at BMV (Mexican Stock Market)
I joined a startup in the music business
With the most impressive technical team I ever had
With a lot of resources
With a very ambicious plan
Earning less money than my previous job
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My first resultsThe most challenging project ever in my profesional life
Teamwork, agile environment, extreme programming
Multicultural
The better hires != the best team
Focus is key
More features, more time, we never delivered a product, lack of MVP definition
After a year I was disappointed. So, I returned back to work in my own company for a few months, until...
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¿Y si se trata de trata?
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First reaction“sarcasm”: “Seems legit”
I didn’t respond...
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3 months later...
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Epic adventure began
A friend of mine asked me for some hints to hire developers
Very difficult to find developers with a specific skills and knowledge
After some weeks and more details, my friend asked me to join the startup as the CTO
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My first day
9:00 am. Conference call with the development team at Berlin, Germany
11:00 am. Quick talk with the CEO
11:05 am. CEO to me: “have you been in Germany?, No?, ok, Tonight, make your luggage. Tomorrow morning you will travel to Berlin. We will launch the store in 2 weeks”
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Startup Spirit
Go as fast as you can
Build a team, the right team. Very risky.
Deliver, deliver, deliver...
fail fast?
Ecommerce platform built from scratch
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LaunchSpent two weeks in Berlin, learning about the project, very intensive days (Payment Gateway for Mexican Market)
One week after I came back to Mexico, we launch
One week after Mexico launching, We launch in Argentina
Platform not ready for latam market, huge efforts to adapt
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Next steps
Built the development team in Mexico
Took ownership of the platform
Hardware infrastructure
Software development
New business requirements
Flexibility, Agility
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Some numbers3 to 100 employees
0 to 5 million users
180 million emails sent a month
200k-300k visits daily
1.5M > page views daily
80K concurrent users
20K-50K new users daily
1000-3000 purchases daily
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Good stuff
clickOnero bought several startups
National presence
Won the prize for “Best internet company in Mexico 2011”
Culture
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“Ecommerce Company of the year in Mexico”
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Dev Team Culture
No control freaks
Freedom
Embrace innovation
Write code and take care of the code
Automate almost everything
DevOps
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Bad stuff, very bad
Logistics
Call center
Customer service
Lack of commitment by Merchants
Crisis, end of the world¡
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End of the world
No money, no more funding
Layoffs...
Affected Customer service
Decrease operational costs
Technology. <- Oportunity
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¡clickOnero by Mexicans!New era
New business model
New team
New strategy
New CEO
New ecommerce platform, new technology
Oportunity¡
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My personal profit
Learn, learn, learn a lot
Stronger,
More confident
Best experience in my life
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Hey CEOs, don’t forget