So you wanna be a CTO ?

SO, YOU WANNA BE A CTO ?

ROMAIN COCHET / @COCHET

ROMAIN COCHET, CTO

WHAT DOES IT MEANS TO BE A CTO OF AN

IOT STARTUP ?

What business? CEO

What object? DESIGNER

How to make it? CTO

IOT STARTUP, 3 QUESTIONS

STORY OF AN IOT STARTUP

LIST OF TECHNOLOGIES

STORY OF AN IOT STARTUP

1. PROTOTYPE & ITERATE

2. HELLO WORLD

3. SHIP FIRST CUSTOMERS

4. SCALE

1. PROTOTYPE & ITERATE

QUESTIONS

What object?

What is the selling price?

Is it useful?

Is there a real market for that?

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

HOW TO ANSWER

FAKE IT

GO AS FAST POSSIBLE

DO IT SIMPLE

QUICK & DIRTY

TEST WITH FEW PEOPLE

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

HOW DOES THE CTO FEEL

Code quickly, prototype, doesn’t sleep,

learn a lot of tricks to go quick.

This is exciting!

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

2. HELLO WORLD

QUESTIONS

Are we able to manufacture thisobject for the selling price/4?

How the world will react to our product?

Do we have a real market?

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

HOW TO ANSWER

Kickstarter / Pre-Order

Collect orders, funds, feedbacks.

Test the price at a higher scale.

Get rough quotations but manufacturers.

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

HOW DOES THE CTO FEEL

Taking big responsibilities on cost estimations.

Feel like a star.

Have the biggest todolist ever.

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

3. SHIP FIRST CUSTOMERS

QUESTIONS

How to manufacture my first products?

How to ship as fast as possible?

Why is it so hard to transforma prototype into a product?

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

HOW TO ANSWER

Setup a manufacturing process.

Get into ALL details.

Courage, coffee & endurance.

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

HOW DOES THE CTO FEEL

Trying to make a 3 meters high castle of cards.

Exhausted.

Learning a lot of things about things.

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

4. SCALE

QUESTIONS

How to repeat the first batch?

How to scale manufacturing?

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

HOW TO ANSWER

Find the right manufacturing partner.

Build a strong relationship with them.

Learn them your knowledge about your product.

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

HOW DOES THE CTO FEEL

You are becoming a manager.

Recruit a team.

Find manufacturing partners.

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Ship ScalePrototype Hello

CTO work load

CTO feelings

Start Phases & Time

SO, WHAT’S THE JOB?

LIST OF TECHNOLOGIESBrand / Ecommerce / Dashboard.

Mobile App / User’s Website.

Back-end Servers.

OS & Firmware.

Electronic.

Atoms.

BRAND / ECOMMERCE / DASHBOARD

PURPOSE

You need a place to be visible, where the customer can buy your device.

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

HASHTAGS

#e-commerce

#web

#front-end

#framework

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

MOBILE APP / USER’S WEBSITE

PURPOSE

You have an object to manage. So you want an build a custom interface to interact with.

You want to do a mobile application ?

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

HASHTAGS

#ios + android

#responsive

#framework

#python / #php / #nodejs …

#databases

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

BACK-END SERVERS

PURPOSE

Now, your object will be interacting with your servers. Hopefully you will have 100k working in

real-time in the world. 24/24h.

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

HASHTAGS

#rest

#api

#websocket

#networking

#AWS

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

OS & FIRMWARE

PURPOSE

Now we are in the device. We need an OS working in a embedded system.

Have you ever take care of your code memory usage? Speed? Interactions with OS?

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

HASHTAGS

#linux

#C

#lua #python #sh

#firmware

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

ELECTRONIC

PURPOSE

OS is running on hardware. You are also responsible for this. Have you ever made a PCB?

Sorry, most of the time Arduino & Raspberry pi is not the solution.

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

HASHTAGS

#PCB

#Schematic

#EMC

#Certifications

#Wifi #Bluetooth

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

ATOMS

PURPOSE

Now, you have to put everything in a box. In a nice box. With a lot of constraints. It is easy to

design, hard to design for manufacturing.

Sorry, 3D printing is not the solution.

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

HASHTAGS

#Plastic

#Mold

#CAD

#Injection

#Assembly

STORY : prototype, hello world, ship, scale / LIST : web, user, servers, os, pcb, plastic

BONUS

BONUS (WHAT I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT)

Logistic: truck, boat, borders, VAT,

Quality tests: testing tools, training, QA acceptance

Customer Service: emails, calls, center, refund, replace…

You manage people.

THIS

IS

THE

BEST

JOB

EVER

(IF YOU ARE PREPARED FOR IT)

SO, YOU WANNA BE A CTO ?

ROMAIN COCHET / @COCHET