Responsible for the complete technology budget, making strategic decisions about infrastructure, tools, and team investments while optimizing costs.
Challenge
As CTO, I was accountable for all technology spending while ensuring the organization had the infrastructure, tools, and team capabilities needed for growth and reliability.
Approach
Strategic Planning
- Developed annual technology budget aligned with business objectives
- Identified critical investments vs. nice-to-haves
- Created multi-year planning for major initiatives
Infrastructure Optimization
- Analyzed AWS infrastructure spending patterns
- Implemented Infrastructure as Code for cost management
- Optimized resource utilization and auto-scaling
- Evaluated and negotiated with cloud and SaaS vendors
Team Investments
- Made strategic hiring decisions within budget constraints
- Invested in team development and training
- Evaluated and selected development tools and platforms
ROI Analysis
- Tracked technology investments against business outcomes
- Demonstrated value of technology initiatives to leadership
- Made data-driven decisions about continuing or ending initiatives
Results
- Successfully managed technology budget across multiple years
- Reduced infrastructure costs while improving performance and reliability
- Made strategic investments that enabled product growth
- Maintained team capabilities and productivity
- Demonstrated fiscal responsibility while delivering technical excellence
