Making the modern CTO | Panel discussion

Becoming a CTO requires you to wear many hats and optimize your skillsets accordingly. But what does that really mean for the role today?
Although Chief Technology Officer is only a single job title, in reality, it feels like it could be any number of different jobs. Some CTOs are focused on organizational leadership, some stay hands on the keyboard, some are strong pitchers who secure funding, and some lead the product and commercial strategy. In all likelihood, however, even if your core focus is in one of those areas, as a CTO you’ll continually be putting on many hats and doing most of that work at least some of the time.
In this 45-minute discussion we’ll take a look the different paths that can lead you to the role of CTO; explore the different focuses that CTOs can have; navigate how to switch between your skill sets and level each one up; and begin to outline the similarities and differences of modern CTOs.
Panellists: Parag Agrawal (CTO, Twitter) and David Singleton (CTO, Stripe), Jason Wong (Leadership Coach, Fractional VP of Engineering), Meri Williams (Co-curator & Chair at LeadDev; CTO at Healx) and Rija Javed (Experienced startup CTO)

[@cym0ril57]

Very inspiring interviews. Considering me as a "junior CTO", this is really helpful to have knowledge shared like that, also realizing how peculiar and difficult this role is.
Thanks for the quality of this video!

[@coreygriffin]

Enjoyed this - thanks for sharing knowledge! Also props for having such a diverse panel.

[@mccleanphotography]

Great information and I use Stripe and Twitter often for my small business! Also have a tech background and trying to get myself tracked toward the product owner and CTO roles. I come from the IT Infrastructure, network admin, sys admin, Information systems and helpdesk side.

[@QuakeC]

“It’s just f***ing spreadsheets, all the way down.” 😂

[@lancethrustworthy]

Initials alienate.
Always reveal, at the beginning, what the initials stand for. Why don't you know and do this?
Some of the guests have terrible audio due to room reverb.
Room reverb damages plosives and fricatives.
Mic placement and room acoustics are important.
If nothing else, get oblique to room walls.