Confronting hard problems, exploring creative solutions, and the willingness to keep trying until a working solution is found is critical to being a good developer. These skills happen to perfectly describe the duties of executive leadership in a company.

Many developers dream of entrepreneurship and leadership. We spend our careers understanding business problems and codifying these processes into code. When things break or customers complain, we are often the fixers.

I spent a career in software development and IT, and 5 years ago made the leap to founder and CEO. I now am a co-founder and CEO of 2 companies, both with revenues in the millions. In this talk, I will be sharing my journey and the lessons I learned along the way.

Details

Everyone’s journey is unique, but I believe everyone can be an entrepreneur and executive leader, especially software developers.

Using real-world examples, in this talk, we will cover the hurdles and pitfalls of transitions from developer to leadership, with an emphasis on:

1 - Best practices for making the change
2 - Lessons I learned that you should avoid
3 - Design patterns for a successful business

Just like learning to code, the path of business leadership is one of lifelong learning. Knowing where to start and what to concentrate on can be the difference between success and failure.

Intended Audience

If you have ever considered being the CEO or Founder of a company, this talk is for you.