The First CTO - The Job Nobody Explains: Practical playbook for first-time CTOs at startups.

When I first started writing this, I thought it would simply be a great way to catalogue my experience and package it up for new CTOs in the role. Whilst that turned out to be true, I did not expect that delving back into those 5 years and putting all my decisions under a literary microscope would be as uncomfortable, cathartic and exposing as it was. I never wrote it claiming to be a great CTO. I wanted to document all my mistakes, failures and blunders - but seemingly that required me to dig below the surface of what drove those decisions and motivations. This book is for first-time CTOs who feel like they're making it up as they go along. For experienced CTOs who want to feel seen. For anyone who's held the title and wondered if they're doing it right. It's 15 chapters of honest, sometimes embarrassing stories from 5 years across two startups. No frameworks dressed up as wisdom. No "10 things every CTO should know." Just what it actually felt like, and what I wish someone had told me. I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who read early drafts and gave honest feedback, to the teams at both startups who made the work worth writing about, and to my wife for telling me the things I needed to hear - including quite a few that ended up in the book. It's available now.