Always a challenge to capture wisdom gathered over the years in a few bullets. Maybe that is the lesson for a CTO; things are never easy so you have to dive in? I am in a CTO role for 25+ years in the SAAS space, but also cofounder, which makes it a bit different compared to non-founders I think, as you feel deeply responsible for the growth of the company as a whole, next to building a great product and team.<p>Some things that come to mind while thinking about this:<p>- Work on having an overview of the product + market you are building, but also be able to dive into the nitty gritty details<p>- Never forget that in the end you work for the customer, not for the engineers in your team, and find the right balance between technical debt, building technical amazing solution and feature building<p>- In the best moments you can combine those things; built a great solution that is future proof, uses the best technologies and provides great value to customers, but that's definitely not a given, and one of the skills I still try to excel in every day<p>- To capture market share, sometimes you don't need the most fancy technical solution, only a solution that is good enough, and a solution that competitors do not have (yet) but you are earlier on the market with it. It might go against your engineering heart to be so pragmatic, but it is what is<p>- Talk with customers wherever you can to keep you focused on the market, and find the balance between what the market wants, and what technology can provide<p>- The role of a CTO differs widely. So figure out quick what your take on the role is and how you can provide best value to the company. Are you the technical visionary that writes blogs, present webinars etc? The architect that builds the core of your product? The team builder that can built up the best team?<p>- The role also changes enormously depending of the size of the company and growth over time, so if you're feeling great about the current position, cherish that as it might change soon :)