What it really means to be a startup CTO

This sounds more like "what it means to be a startup Director of Engineering". CTO, for what it's worth, is a bit of a vanity title. Also, CTO : Architect :: Dir/E : Developer. Most "smart, gets things done" types don't want the A-word in their title anymore.

A story within a story, summarised as "don't try and re-write the entire codebase", which Joel proclaimed to be "the single worst strategic mistake that any software company can make" 10 years ago:<p><a href="http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html</a><p>i.e. nothing new