The Startup Handbook
Building a company, through a CTO’s eyes
I was part of a startup as it grew from six people to 400 and became a unicorn. Now I am building another from scratch. This handbook brings together what I learned, what I think we should do, and how that shapes my work as a CTO.
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The chapters
Read in order, or dip in- 01
Beginnings
You have an idea, a company and funding. What comes next?
Updated - 02
People
Hiring, onboarding, feedback, performance and helping people grow
Updated - 03
Decisions
Who decides, what ownership requires and how we keep agreements clear
Updated - 04
Delivery
Turning priorities into goals, tracking the work and releasing changes safely
Updated - 05
Production
Runbooks, checklists, releases, incidents and support once customers depend on the product
Updated - 06
Collaboration
Meetings, shared context and the division of work as a team grows
Updated - 07
Operations
Shared knowledge, handovers, compliance and the recurring work beyond engineering
Updated - 08
Compliance
Getting compliant: the policies, procedures, records and workspace behind SOC 2 and ISO 27001
Updated - 09
Habits
How I use my time, follow through on commitments and hand work over as the role changes
Updated - 10
Appendices
Goals, onboarding plans, one-to-one notes, handovers and meeting agendas to adapt
Updated