Skip to main content
Back to Published Books
CTO Excellence in 100 Days

CTO Excellence in 100 Days

by Etienne de Bruin

About This Book

As chief innovator and problem solver, the CTO’s value far exceeds technology skills. The CTO must lead as a highly visible, first-class citizen of the C-suite. Still, many technology experts operate in a reactive, support-oriented style, struggling to command respect or assert influence—let alone executive presence. Whether setting the tone as a new hire or looking to redirect or revitalize an established role, one hundred days are all you need to secure long-term success. In CTO Excellence in 100 Days: Becoming the Leader Your Company Deserves, Etienne de Bruin offers actionable guidelines on how to lead both your company’s technology strategy and the people behind it. The work begins with assessing whether you’re in the right place. Next, Etienne’s methodical approach helps you build trust and visibility through effective communications and a strategic quick win, introduce your company’s technology vision, and navigate challenges—from engaging stakeholders to managing conflict—all within that vital one-hundred-day period.
Leadership B2B Consulting
Etienne de Bruin

Etienne de Bruin

Etienne was born and raised in South Africa. He got his Computer Science degree at Stellenbosch University where he also met his wife, Kathryn. He started his career as a software developer in 1995. After getting married in 1996, Etienne and Kathryn moved to Aachen, Germany to join a Cybersecurity Startup. There he worked inside the FreeBSD kernel to build device drivers for proprietary PCI based encryption cards. In 2000, Etienne and Kathryn moved to San Diego, CA where he joined a Biotech startup to join their Supply Chain Management and Business Intelligence team.

In 2005 he co-founded a startup where he developed a product that helped organizations deploy and edit beautiful websites. This was a hot bed for rapidly scaling teams, being a first class citizen of the C-Suite while also learning how to be a CTO. He had a successful exit from this company when it was sold in 2015.

After serving on a few advisory boards, organizing communities and consulting as CTO, he founded 7CTOs in 2013. 7CTOs is a peer group and coaching organization for people in technical leadership roles including CTO, VP and Director levels. In 2021 he obtained his ontological coaching training and has become a coach to CTOs, C-Suites and founders alike.

View full profile