Stepping into the role of CEO is challenging in any company, but it can be especially so in the tech industry, whether someone is a first-time CEO or a newcomer to the sector. Tech professionals stepping into a senior leadership role for the first time have to adjust to new responsibilities and a fresh mindset, while seasoned leaders from other sectors must adapt quickly to the fast-paced, high-knowledge tech world.
The members of Forbes Technology Council blend years of tech expertise with long-term leadership know-how. Below, 20 of them share their tested tips to help newly minted tech CEOs lead their teams on the journey to success.
1. Listen To Your Users
Be an active listener. A new CEO might be inspired by their vision and what has worked in the past and think they know what’s best for buyers. Instead, it’s important to intentionally commit time and energy to actively listening to users and deeply understanding their needs—even if what you learn contradicts your initial thinking. Customers always need to feel understood and heard. – Nikhil Arora, Epignosis, parent company of TalentLMS
2. Maximize Your First 100 Days
Speaking to new female CEOs, your first 100 days in office are precious. Because female CEOs are underrepresented in tech and often hired into companies in crisis (the glass cliff theory), we’re under special pressure to show progress quickly. Don’t waste your first 100 days just developing a point of view. Make your short- and long-term priorities clear as soon as possible, start executing quick wins and iterate as you go. – Marne Martin, Emburse
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3. Build A Diverse And Inclusive Team
Invest in building a diverse and inclusive team from the beginning. Diversity in a technology company isn’t just a checkbox; it’s a strategic advantage. A team with diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives is better equipped to drive innovation, solve complex problems and understand the needs of a global customer base. – Balaji Dhamodharan, NXP Semiconductors
4. Continuously Work On Honing Your Expertise
It’s essential to become an expert in your field and stay current, especially in tech, where rapid advancements are common. A CEO with deep product, market and technology knowledge earns respect from the team and stakeholders. Expertise enables better decision making and risk identification and inspires confidence in investors, employees and partners, driving sustainable success. – Federico Menna, EIT Digital
5. Own A Problem End-To-End
It’s easy to get caught up in feature development or making your product technically superior. Often—especially in risk-averse industries like healthcare—the real breakthroughs come from understanding the decision makers, the influencers and, most importantly, the detractors in the full customer journey. Invest in neutralizing detractors and gaining product champions along the full journey. – Mariya Filipova, Filipova.Health
6. Find Your Niche
Focus relentlessly on a specific niche or category within the technology market. With the fast-paced, competitive nature of the industry, it’s best to avoid competing across multiple fronts. This strategy will help you as you pursue resource efficiency, innovation, customer satisfaction and scalability. – Tony Safoian, SADA
7. Ensure Your Personal Goals Align With The Company’s Vision
In the world of startups, it is easy to get lost in the latest and greatest innovations. Aligning your personal career goals with those of the company can help make the transition easier. In the end, you’re seeing a vision that doesn’t exist now and figuring out the steps you need to take for yourself, and for your company, to reach that goal. – Garima Kapoor, MinIO
8. Emphasize Efficiency
If established carefully and correctly, efficiency can change the destiny of an organization. CEOs should emphasize efficiency from the foundation—but don’t just look at it from a “move as fast as possible” point of view. Engage your stakeholders to determine what pace works for your business and how you can ensure quality and speed simultaneously. – Reuven Aronashvili, CYE
9. Don’t Try To Go It Alone
Think in terms of an ecosystem, not just your products. As a technology company, your success depends on your ability to deploy a commercial and product strategy that effectively integrates partners. This is essential, because you alone can’t provide your customers with everything they want, where and how they want it. By working with partners, you can also scale your go-to-market efforts. – Satnam Singh, CBRE
10. Join A Peer Group
My No. 1 recommendation is to join a CEO peer group and surround yourself with a mix of corporate and founder CEOs. It is essential to have a group of people whom you can bounce ideas off of—being a CEO is a lonely place. – David Bennett, Object First
11. Prioritize Camaraderie
As part of the world’s fastest-evolving industry, tech workers are forced to be especially adaptable. That’s why my biggest piece of advice to new CEOs would be to prioritize camaraderie. By bringing people together under a shared philosophy and celebrating one another’s wins, we can break down traditional hierarchies and foster a culture of mutual support that ultimately benefits the whole team. – Sam Yoshida, Canon
12. Trust, But Validate
A nontechnical CEO needs to have a “trust, but validate” relationship with their CTO, whether they’re hiring, cofounding or stepping into an established company. Build a trusted network that you can lean on to confirm the expertise of your tech leadership. Once they’re independently confirmed, trust them. I wasn’t offended when my cofounder stress-tested my work. I’d be concerned if he didn’t. – Cody Greco, Prescient AI
13. Focus On Flexibility And Urgency
As a CEO in a startup, being versatile is key. Your focus shifts based on the situation, whether it’s addressing challenges in sales, HR, marketing or engineering. Flexibility is essential as you tackle the most urgent problems in each area. By prioritizing and solving critical issues, you ensure the company remains agile and continues moving forward in a fast-paced environment. – Alexander Britkin, NFWare
14. Ensure You Understand Customer-Facing Functions
For CEOs like me (I went from AI developer to founder), it’s crucial to deeply understand customer-facing functions, such as sales. The sales team’s true goal is to help the customer solve problems, not to gain revenue. When you’re able to work with a customer to pinpoint their issue and find a solution, you can effectively quantify results. – Saar Yoskovitz, Augury
15. Foster Alignment Among The Leadership Team
Look at how leaders are incented to behave. Don’t allow a leader to have objectives that compete with those of another leader—the company cannot be successful if leaders are working against each other. Align all of them on the same objectives to change the culture and get the company on track to achieve success. Innovation is occurring at a fast pace, and you can’t respond if your leaders are fighting each other. – Laureen Knudsen, Broadcom
16. Build A Culture Of Innovation And Accountability
Focus on fostering a culture of innovation where everyone leads and takes calculated risks. Emphasize accountability, and view setbacks as learning opportunities. Avoid showcasing your technical expertise to your engineers. Instead, celebrate your team’s skills and empower them to take ownership. Establish and consistently reinforce core values, as they are the backbone of your organization. – Patrick Emmons, DragonSpears, Inc.
17. Move Quickly, And Trust Your Gut
Move quickly, and trust your gut. To a first-time CEO, the idea of building consensus before taking action feels comfortable. But with the pace of change in technology, waiting for that alignment can quickly leave your organization in a weak position. Gather input from your team, then make the decision that you believe is right. Faster action means better results or more time to correct your course if needed. – Dave Rosen, Wimo Games, Inc.
18. Chart A Course And Bring Your Team Along
As a CEO in the technology sector, the best piece of advice I can offer is to cultivate your people, envision a clear path forward and prioritize bringing your team along on the journey. Technology evolves at a rapid pace, and being adaptable allows you to navigate challenges and take advantage of new opportunities. A strong vision serves as a North Star. – Daniel Keller, InFlux Technologies Limited (FLUX)
19. Get To Know Your Customers
Start with a customer tour. Ask your customers, “Why did you sign up with us? Why are you still a customer?” Implement new initiatives and improvements around your customers’ “whys.” Technology is a means to an end for everyone; come to terms with that, simplify it and make it easy to use. – Hamed Mazrouei, Milagro
20. Balance Involvement With Empowerment
Working closely with your tech team on key releases is a smart strategy. It provides deep technical insight, strengthens team relationships and fosters a culture of innovation and agility. By thoughtfully balancing involvement with empowerment, you can lead your technology company to greater success and resilience in the dynamic tech industry. – Rignesh Soni, Metropolis
