Joe Cohen, Draftea | Why you do NOT need a CTO

The audio and video are in Spanish. These notes are a translation.

Today I spoke with Joe Cohen, cofounder and CTO of Draftea, a Daily Fantasy Sports platform that has raised more than 20 million dollars from investors such as Sequoia, Kaszek Ventures, and athletes such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Pau Gasol. Before that, Joe was Director of Engineering at Vercel from an early stage until it became a unicorn.

Today Joe and I talk about:
The lessons from working at a Silicon Valley unicorn like Vercel
The differences between a CTO and a Director of Engineering
Why you do not need a CTO to start your startup
How to choose your startup’s technology stack
And how to find great engineers for your startup

Joe has led top technology teams in Silicon Valley, so he encouraged you to grab a pencil and paper and take notes on this great conversation.

Youtube Timestamps*

[00:00] Welcome and Guest Introduction

[01:37 - 04:34] Passion and Experience in the Open Source World

Joe started programming at 13 and spent a long time in the open source world. What does Joe think the open source ecosystem has that makes it a great cradle of technical talent?
Joe Cohen met Guillermo Rauch in 2018 in Mexico, who today is one of the most respected founders in Silicon Valley. What did Joe learn from Guillermo? Is there a specific lesson or tool that Joe uses today in his day to day as a founder of Draftea?

[04:34 - 12:19] Lessons in Entrepreneurship and Growth at Vercel

What were the biggest entrepreneurship lessons Joe took from his time at Vercel?

[12:19 - 25:29] Building and Managing Technology Teams Effectively

What profile should you look for in that first technical leader or Director of Engineering you want to bring into your startup, according to Joe? What kinds of experiences or characteristics should that person have?
Considering the experiences and characteristics that person should have, when is it actually the right moment to look for a CTO?
Where do founders commonly fail in putting together and initially managing their technology teams, in Joe’s experience?

[25:29 - 37:52] Strategic Technology Decisions for Startups

What criteria should be considered when choosing my startup’s technology stack?
In the early stage of a startup, is “buy vs build” better? How does Joe think you should decide when it is better to build internally versus using external solutions?
What is your approach to managing technical debt, especially in the early stages of a startup, when speed is often prioritized over perfection?
How has Joe thought about replicating the characteristics and environment of a Silicon Valley technical team? Which ones has he perhaps realized do not connect with Latin American teams?

[37:52 - 54:55] Culture and Recruiting in Technology Teams

What characteristics make a great engineer for Joe? How does he structure hiring processes to find that person? What are the key questions or tests that help him reveal these characteristics?
What unique ingredients does Vercel’s recruiting process have for attracting so much talent? Do not tell me that we have a high bar or that we spend more time hiring. What did they do that was unique to Vercel?

[54:55 - 57:35] The Role of Stock Options in Hiring

Why does Joe Cohen think it is hard to communicate the value of stock options to talent in Latin America effectively? What have they done at Draftea to try to solve this?

[57:35] Final Reflections

When Joe thinks about his role as CTO, what is something people are trying to disrupt that Joe believes will actually never change?

Joe Cohen, Draftea | Why you do NOT need a CTO

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