The Boulder CTO Lunch
As the saying goes, “In Boulder everything revolves around community”. Thought I should bring to everyone’s attention one of the many good community efforts that are happening in the Boulder technology community.
For the past nine months, I have been organizing the Boulder CTO Lunch, a monthly “meeting of the minds” lunch of Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) in the Boulder area. The mission of the CTO Lunch is to provide resources and support to local CTOs.
Boulder is fast becoming a growing technology hub, especially for startup technology companies. Thanks to Techstars, several newly minted startup technology companies are pumped into the community each year. On average, each of these companies has a developer who is thrust into the role of a CTO overnight. How does one transition from being an energy drink-fueled, all nighter-pulling rockstar coder into a CTO? There are no schools or ready-made resources to help coders transition to CTO roles. CTO Lunch attempts to fill in the gap. CTO Lunch harnesses the existing local CTO community to provide a network of resources to support CTOs of companies in the Bouder area.
In addition to helping startup CTOs find their feet, CTO Lunch is a resource for all Boulder CTOs. We have a good mix of startup CTOs, experienced CTOs, serial CTOs and on occasion we have had ex-CTOs who are now CEOs.
CTO Lunch is in the form of an informal roundtable idea exchange that is held once every month at The Bunker (Techstars Headquarters). A guest CTO is invited every month to share their thoughts or expertise on certain topics. During the hour-long event, CTOs discuss and exchange ideas with their peers. The topics of discussion have become deeper over the last several months and usually reflect the technology issues of the day and challenges that face CTOs on a daily basis in the pursuit of keeping their companies technologically competitive. Peer interaction does not end with the monthly event; to keep the communications lines open among CTOs, there is a Google Group (“Boulder CTOs”) on which CTOs can discuss topics and exchange ideas at any time.
To be part of the Boulder CTO Lunch, send me an email at [tom][at][filtrbox][dot][com]. Boulder CTO Lunch is also part of the “Winter In the Bunker” events. Go to http://winterinthebunker.com/ to find out more information.