Beyond the Founding Team | A Leadership Playbook for Growth: CTOs

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CTOs are typically hired a year after achieving major funding to begin to develop a platform that enables growth and evolution.

^{Source: 2022 RRA Growth Co Analysis, n = 50 CTOs}

Comparing initially placed CTOs vs. CTOs in seat at IPO

Key Differences in Backgrounds of CTOs (% of CTOs)

Customer Focus: As they scale, B2C companies are twice as likely as B2B companies to replace their first CTO placed beyond the founding team

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Authors

• Robert Alexander is a member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Technology Knowledge team. He is based in New York City.
• Agnes Greaves co-leads the firm’s Core & Growth Technology practice globally and the Consumer Digital & Media practice in Europe. She is based in London.
• Tuck Rickards heads the firm’s San Francisco office and co-leads the Core & Growth Technology practice. He is based in San Francisco.

Methodology and Notes

• Analysis of 40 tech/tech-enabled companies that were founded since 2005 and IPO’d 2017-2021, were largest by region according to valuation at time of deal, and achieved ≥20% revenue growth rate over the three-year period prior to IPO
• Industry verticals included: fintech, healthtech, automotive/transportation, eCommerce/marketplace, software/cloud
• Analysis includes only the appointment of non-founder executives
• Major funding rounds: approximate point in time at which each company reached series C/later stage funding
• APAC excluded from study due to data accessibility
• Sources: Pitchbook, Board Ex