What does a CTO actually do?!

I have known a lot of CTOs through the years and they always seemed to do very different things. Many CTOs are confused by their role too — the title carries seniority and authority, but rarely comes with a good understanding of scope or success.

This week Pat Kua, CTO coach and one of my favorite authors, published an original article on Refactoring where he demystifies this! He introduces 𝟴 𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀 to make sense of what different CTO roles look like, why mismatches occur, and how the role evolves over time.

He groups them into three stages:

• 🟣 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆-𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 — Founder, Startup, and Fractional CTOs. These archetypes prioritize flexibility, speed, and survival while finding product-market fit.

• 🟠 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 & 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 — Scale-Up, M&A, and Turnaround CTOs. These focus on removing bottlenecks, integrating acquisitions, or stabilizing underperforming orgs.

• 🔵 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁𝘆 & 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 — Group and CTPO roles. These manage alignment across large enterprises or combine product and engineering leadership.

These archetypes are not boxes you need to fit into, but rather lenses to have good conversations. They can help you clarify expectations with your CEO, plan intentional career growth, and spot the right signals when hiring or interviewing.

Ultimately, a CTO’s success depends on how well they align who they are with what the organization needs, and I have found the archetypes incredibly useful in navigating this.