Startup-CTO-Handbook
The Startup CTO's Handbook, a book covering leadership, management and technical topics for leaders of software engineering teams
A practical book for startup CTOs and engineering leaders covering team management, technical decision-making, and the transition from engineer to executive, with the full text freely available on GitHub.
The Startup CTO's Handbook is a book written by Zach Goldberg for people leading engineering teams at startups. It covers leadership, management, and technical topics relevant to a Chief Technology Officer or similar engineering leader role. The full text of the book is available in this GitHub repository in Markdown format, kept up to date as new editions are released.
The book is also available for purchase in print and Kindle on Amazon, and as an audiobook on Audible. The GitHub version reflects the latest content, while an earlier version of the original manuscript exists as a Google Doc, which the author notes is now outdated.
The repository is open to community input. Readers can submit issues or pull requests to suggest additions, corrections, or changes for future editions. Contributors are encouraged to add their names to the acknowledgements file in the repository.
The license allows copying, modifying, and redistributing the content freely, with two conditions: the material cannot be resold, and the author's name and attribution must remain attached. Any modified versions must also be kept open under the same or a similar license.
The README for this repository is brief and does not describe the contents of the book itself in detail. The actual book content lives in a separate Markdown file within the repository.
Where it fits
- Read the complete CTO handbook for free on GitHub to learn how to manage and grow an engineering team at a startup.
- Submit a pull request to suggest corrections or additions that will appear in future printed editions.
- Use the book's frameworks to structure your first engineering hiring process or performance review.