Evolving as a Young Tech Founder

Problem

During my transition from a founder to CTO, I struggled with multiple challenges: collaboration and an overload of tasks. For starters, as a founder, I connected with people across the globe from different cultures. I struggled to navigate collaboration when, at times, communication itself was difficult. The second challenge I faced was how to grow and not limit myself. Again, as a founder who also worked as an engineer before, I was held to the highest standard and felt I needed to expand my core engineering skills. Lastly, when I was wearing the founder hat, there was no limit to what I would do. It was troublesome to prioritize other tasks continuously as I found it hard to find the bandwidth.

Actions taken

To improve my collaboration, I began preparing and practicing before meetings and scheduled events. Practice and preparation did not just include my large and important meetings, but I practiced before everything, even negligible, less critical calls. Often, I would review previous conversations I had with clients or have a flowchart drawn up in my head. Even the most basic form of preparation helped me articulate my thoughts more concisely. Next, I created agendas for larger meetings, such as brainstorming new tech designs. Lastly, I thought about my communication from another point of view. Was I providing enough context, and what was the other person looking to get out of this conversation? When I worked to improve my communication skills, I noticed that my skills as a collaborator improved as well.

To gain a higher skill set overall, I started consuming more tech media, starting from books, articles, blogs, and popular developers and their recent work. I observed, analyzed, and applied their work to my projects to see if I could pick up their knowledge or skills. Moving forward, I practiced attempting to solve problems rather than writing code to do so. By doing so, it allowed me to remain technology agnostic. I tried to think of a solution or algorithm without being attached to the syntax effect. This enabled me to be more creative with my solutions while remaining technologically agnostic. As a founder & CTO, I remembered that I was always the last line of defense for my team. I ensured myself that I could solve any problem coming to me, and if I couldn't, I was sure I had attempted every approach to solve it, and I had to maintain complete confidence in my work.

To overcome my extensive workflow, I started my own way to prioritize tasks and events. I use my email as a to-do list, including every task, ensuring I don't miss anything. I combine this with my schedule, prioritizing the most critical tasks and snoozing less substantial ones for later, such as the weekend or the end of the day. I needed to have no distractions that would lead me away from my core work. I created a rule where if I had a task that would take two minutes or under, I would do it right away rather than adding it to the to-do list.

Lessons learned

• I wish I had learned collaboration and effective communication skills earlier in college. I didn't meet the challenges then, which made me struggle, from a high context culture to learning to communicate where I didn't make any assumptions.
• Well-dosed paranoia is essential when being a founder. I ask myself the question, "What am I missing?" multiple times every day. Once I come up with a list of one or two things, I'll add them to my to-do list. I find that paranoia speeds things up, and I am less likely to forget tasks.
• Preparation should look different depending on what you are preparing for. Sometimes I only prepare for two minutes, before short meetings, compared to when I have a crucial meeting and prepare for much longer. Even a simple two-minute preparation can improve your speech and clarity of ideas.