I'm Stephan, an experienced and influential former CTO. If you're a CTO, CPTO or VP Engineering, I want to hear from you: Schedule a free video chat with me to find out about CTO coaching or ask any questions you have.
You will become better with coachingAfter decades as a tech manager, I’ve decided to share my knowledge and help others grow faster and not make the same mistakes I made. I’ve seen a lot of things from large enterprise to small startups, from exponential growth to layoffs. I’ve learned some things working at ImmobilienScout24 and for eBay. I founded my own startups and helped my wife grow and sell hers. You can learn from my experiences in my coaching
Success Stories
Schedule a Welcome CallTake action now! If you’re a CTO, CPTO or VP of Engineering, let us talk in a Welcome Call. We can discuss your situation and talk about coaching, see how I can help you.
Stephan Schmidt launched his tech career as a self-taught coder, mastering the art of programming as a kid in a department store back in 1981 with ambitions of creating video games. His passion for technology led him to university, where he delved into computer science, specializing in distributed systems and artificial intelligence, while also exploring the realms of philosophy. With the dawn of the internet era, Stephan became a pioneering coder and engineering manager for several startups.
His journey in the tech world expanded as he founded a venture capital-funded startup and tackled architecture, processes, and growth challenges in various fast-growing VC-backed companies. His roles have included engineering manager at ImmoScout24 and CTO of an eBay Inc. subsidiary. Following the successful sale of his wife's startup, the couple relocated to the seaside, where Stephan embraced his role as a CTO Coach, guiding technology leaders through the intricacies of their evolving roles.
With most coachees coaching sessions are one or two hours every second week. In very demanding situations coaching is every week. In the beginning we focus on current problems and challenges. Coaching gives different viewpoints, solutions I have found to problems and different and more options. I bring those topics from the Amazing CTO model to the table that I think help you most. Often we start with a friendly due diligence to see the statups quo. This often gives the coachee many insights early on. After a phase of consulting we shift more towards coaching focusing on you and find out what you want to do and what makes you shine. It helps tremendously when there is someone with whom you can bounce ideas, get feedback before you roll out ideas and to talk to someone who really understands you.
You might ask yourself if you need coaching and someone helping you with your role or you may have already decided you want CTO coaching coming here. My coaching will make you happier and more successful with your job. Your job will be less stressful, and you enable others around you to grow. Taken together this will also make your company more successful. Coaching for technical managers makes most sense for VPs of Engineering and CTOs. You might work in a startup and may have been promoted to the role recently or changed to a larger company where you feel out of your waters. Or you have joined a company with lots of technical debt and open bugs. Startups often do not have adequate training for talents, so I have specialized myself in startups and grownups. As everyone else, you might face difficult work relationships, you might need to hire and scale your team, the company grows and there are new tasks, there might be a new investment round coming with due diligence or having been closed. I can help you with all of these challenges, I have seen them myself and discussed them as a CTO coach with many coachees already.
Your hard skills landed you the management position, but it’s your soft and management skills that will drive your success. Numerous books cover architecture and processes, "Amazing CTO" stands out as the essential guide for managing effectively, authored by influential CTO Coach Stephan Schmidt.