CTO revolution Day 2 - Which Avenger are you?

So, let's move on (sorry for a week's pause on the project, I was stucked by my trip to Stockholm).

It was - 15 C and snowing ??

Anyhow, you already know, that trying to be a fractional CTO is a good idea (see Day 1). It's time to dive in and follow the process of finding your uniqueness ??

What are we going to do today?

We will find your strength and check if it can make you money and sustainable growth.

????????

Let's go then

Superpowers & personal confession

Let's work on an example so you can have a better imagination here.

Chris is a CTO, he used to work for a startup and a few corporations and there were things he hated like:

? managing too many people with dramas

? joining too many meetings without a purpose

? being constantly stressed by requests from business

? pressure in an area where the company had high expectations yet he wasn't that good

? disagreeing with some product or tech decisions, but not being listened

and many more. Sounds familiar, huh?

BUT there were some positive things as well like:

? he loved choosing technologies for product development

? he loved shaping the architecture of apps, he was responsible for

? he loved solving technical problems with less experienced members and mentoring them

? he loved recruitment

Chris wasn't happy, but he didn't want to quit his job as the options he saw back there weren't something he wanted to do. Running his own company was just too scary.

Being a freelancer is also tricky, as you have to be a small single company anyway with all of its problems (unpaid invoices, angry clients, sales, etc.)

So he decided to shape his new identity based on things he is good at and monetize them. But he didn't know where to start.

Have you ever been in that place?

YOU ARE CHRIS!

To focus on who you are and what you are good at you have to ask specific questions and reflect a bit.

Don't do personality tests like Gallup - they only partially discover your potential. The truth is that WHAT YOU DO is WHO YOU (really) ARE. Try to identify your strengths based on your previous work, not the imagination.

ASK YOURSELF:

?What drives me at my work as a CTO?

? Which of my work made an impact or positive outcome for my employees

? Can I prove the results of my work (numbers like I decreased the cost of Infrastructure by 50%)

? What is the topic that interests me and I constantly improve in that area

? What problems was I able to solve at my previous job?

? Are there any unique values that only I have (based on my life and my story)

? Is there a huge competition in the area I am trying to address?

? Can I easily find 5-8 potential clients who have similar problems where I can help them

That's it.

Do not overcomplicate things. Write them down and look a few times. When you feel confident then it's time to continue this process.

What if you still don't know? Ask 5-7 colleagues from your workplace to describe your superpower in a few sentences and at least one example of a project.

Example:

A friend of mine Krystian, whose claim is straightforward: As fractional CTO I scale teams from 5 to 50 people.

What's Krystian superpower?

? Ability to shape the right tech team structure

? Ability to hire those people and onboard them

? Ability to train them and lead them

3 top skills. It's enough to start.

Most of the scale-ups need that skill and they find it hard to hire skilled and experienced CTO in the full-time mode. Companies would easily pay for someone who can guarantee successful team scaling without issues.

Now, he can monetize those skills in a few ways (we will dive into this topic tomorrow, but I want to give you a sneak pick of it):

?? Consultation - charge per hour

?? Hiring - charge per hour + success fee (like a recruitment agency)

?? Digital product: example: Playbook "How to manage developers so they love your culture and be very productive - charge per item sold

and many many others we will discuss during DAY 3 (monetization ideas for fractional CTO)

Before that REFLECT! ??♂?

Find your IKAGAI:

Thank you for today. Do the homework. Find your SUPERPOWER and we will build a great business for you around that skill, so you can 2-3X your current salary and have a lot of free time after the first investment phase ??

P.S. Don't quit your job for god's sake ?? I know you are excited, but easy, Cowboy!

I the next lessons I will also teach you how to prepare and validate your offer for skill you have!