Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration 2012

The Role of the Techie



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By Jay Wrolstad

To turn innovations into cash, a company must have a mix of people with technology and business skills; finding that delicate balance where the CTO and CEO teams work in harmony can make the difference between success and failure for new enterprises.

Eric Young , MEng ’78, a partner with the investment firm Canaan Partners, which he co-founded in 1987, is also is a member of Advisory Council of Entrepreneurship@Cornell.
The key is establishing clearly defined roles and responsibilities, and finding individuals with leadership skills, according to a panel of business leaders and “techies” that examined the issue at a panel sponsored by Johnson’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute, “The Vital and Sometimes Confounding Role of the Techie,” held at Sage Hall April 20 as part of the Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration 2012.

“To grow a business you have to build a team—it can’t be about ‘me,’” said Mario Spanicciati ’02, EVP of operations for BlackLine Systems. “With startups, the people involved must be able to add roles while retaining the individual company culture. Organizational structure is needed to assign those roles, and that means looking beyond the technology.”

In some cases, tech founders are not only visionary and energetic, but are also effective team leaders, said Eric Young, MEng ’78, a partner with the investment firm Canaan Partners. “They have to become administrators and develop policies and procedures to reduce chaos,” he said. “At the same time, a CEO must prepare for growth and add people with desired skill sets.”

A potential problem for startups with tech founders is that their leaders often lack basic business skills, such as marketing and fundraising. “Initially, there may be a reluctance to talk to the customers, because the tech founder believes he needs more time to make the product better before releasing it,” said Larry Thomas, president of Primet Precision Materials. “You have to convert from a technology company to a business by supplying something customers need, then let the customers use it to see how it meets their needs and how it can be improved.”

Larry Thomas, president of Primet Precision Materials
It’s important for team members to promote the goals of the business, not just the product, said Michael Seiler ’07, MEng ’08, of technology firm Moat. “You need to emphasize that the company is creating value for customers, not just creating a new technology.”

If worse comes to worst, and there are conflicts between the CTO and the CEO, companies may find that it’s easier if the tech founder and CEO break up a bad relationship. “The most important thing is to determine who is most instrumental in the company’s long-term success,” said Young. “That person must be protected. And if a divorce is needed, it might be best to bring in an outsider who can evaluate the situation with objectivity.”

So how do you evaluate team members and tech leaders? “When hiring team members it’s important to consider their role, and how that role will evolve,” Seiler said. “Do they have a willingness to do mundane tasks, to work with a team? It’s also important that they know their limitations.”

Acknowledging one’s limitations can be a problem, however, at the top of the company ladder, given the egos of many CEOs and CTOs. “It’s important to remember you can’t change people, and there are constructive versus destructive egos,” said Thomas. “If a person is not willing to acknowledge his role he won’t last long. Others with big egos can be good representatives for the company in that they have the company’s best interests at heart and see the companies as extensions of themselves.”





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