After convincing someone to offer him his first CTO role, Matthew thought it might be a good idea to set about finding out what the job entailed and what he should be doing.

He emailed a number of CTOs whose companies shared the same investor and lined up a lot of coffee dates. Those whom he met were all incredibly generous with their time and patiently shared their experiences and gave invaluable advice.

Matthew's blood-caffeine levels spiked.

Soon after, the investor arranged a CTO lunch with a senior technologist at Facebook. The meetup was good and a number of CTOs came along. It struck Matthew as interesting that as they left a huddle formed at the door. The CTOs really wanted to talk with each other and hadn't really got together before. There seemed to be a lack of forum in which CTOs could meet, share experiences and help each other. It was a lonely role with huge and incredibly varied responsibilities and pressures yet, unlike CEOs, CFOs, and much of the rest of the c-suite, they seemed not to be in touch with each other.

Perhaps, thought Matthew, coffee meetings could be optimised and the wider community could be helped by setting up a CTO self-help group of sorts. He started a mailing list, seeded by the investor's list of portfolio CTOs and a few other individuals whom he knew. It was to be totally independent from investors and recruiters. It would be a private space within which CTOs could speak freely and ask any questions without fear of being overheard by their CEOs, staff or investors.

Matthew's blood-caffeine levels reduced to more manageable levels.

In addition to the mailing list (so chosen to encourage and facilitate long-form communications over a period of time) the CTO drinks meetups provided an opportunity to get together in person. The first saw three people gather in the Golden Lion, St James. More may have turned up but not only was this Golden Lion down a quite hard to find alley, it turned out there were two pubs with the same name and Matthew had some things to learn about organising a tech meetup in a (sort of) brewery...

The venue changed, the meetups proved popular and attendance grew along with membership numbers over the years. The mailing list continues to provide valuable and sage advice shared under the Chatham House Rule by CTOs from all backgrounds in all manner of companies and commercial sectors. Bartech has spawned many one-off ad-hoc events, a one-day conference and gone sailing. More of all of the above is to come!