Capitalizing Your Technology to Disrupt and Dominate Your Markets Transforming Cost Centers to Innovation Centers

Every business today has some technology as part of its strategy. Inevitably, it is becoming harder for many CEOs to effectively lead their R&D efforts at the same time that their investment in tech keeps growing. Even startup founders can find themselves flustered when trying to understand whether a particular issue is genuinely impossible to solve, getting the team to provide reliable estimates, and having their top tech leaders speak in plain words as opposed to jargon. This book helps them bridge the culture gap between the C-suite and R&D, covers frequent tech-related decisions and issues, and provides a way to unlock tech as an offensive weapon and a strategic differentiator. To create an environment where technology is not merely an execution mechanism but acts as a fulcrum for strategic opportunities, one must put a particular leadership team in place and equip them with digital literacy. Based on the author’s experience and discussions with hundreds of executives worldwide, he short-circuits common failure patterns and enables nontechnical senior leaders to act with more certainty and clarity regarding their tech efforts. Startups and tech efforts initiated without enough understanding of the technical aspects often have to be scrapped and started from scratch within 18 months. This can make or break certain endeavors, and as the author has helped his clients avoid these problems, the book will help the readers establish a sturdy foundation to work from. This book covers clear guidelines for founders, executives, and senior leaders that are not tech-savvy. These include establishing a tech organization, making the first key hires, assessing the relevance and risk involved in different options, and creating a healthy connection as opposed to a tech silo. On top of that, it will include lessons and case studies that stem from experience in the "Startup Nation," such as how to inject chutzpah into daily discussions and create an organization with habitual innovation.

Acknowledgements About the Author Introduction 1. You Don’t Need a “Tech Strategy”: Why Most Efforts Perform Poorly2. Geeks in the Boardroom: Tech Leaders Should Take the Lead3. Defensive Technology: The Fallacy of Digital Transformations4. Forging Cyborgs: Assimilating Tech Throughout Your Ranks5. In-House, Outsource, Build vs. Buy?: Your Technology Force Structure6. Habitual Innovation and Tech Capital: Creating Offensive Creativity On-Demand7. Making R&D Transparent and Predictable: Handling the Soft Parts of Software8. Injecting Chutzpah: Culture Lessons from the World’s Unicorn Capital9. Debugging and Troubleshooting: What to Do When Things Don’t Go According to Plans10. Crypto, NFTs, and Metaverses, Oh My!: Handling Hype and Trends11. Could You Tell if It Hit You in the Face?: Benchmarks for a Successful Tech Team Conclusion Index

Aviv Ben-Yosef is an advisor, coach, and consultant for executives and leaders throughout the tech industry. In his consulting business, he helped companies worldwide, ranging from day-old startups to Fortune 100 companies. By advising, coaching, speaking, and facilitating, he helps his clients forge teams and cultures they are proud of leading. Aviv’s mission is to help create world-class engineering teams that achieve the unthinkable by upgrading tech from a tool to part of the strategy, amassing Tech Capital, and creating Coders without Borders. In his work as a consultant, Aviv has developed a unique approach to aid software organizations’ leadership. Coming from a technical background allows him to “talk shop,” yet maintain a business-impact-driven mindset. Aviv’s online writing has reached over six million readers, and his publishing includes multiple blogs, podcasts, videos, and online courses. When not working with clients, Aviv is likely to be spending time with his three children or digging into one of his many hobbies, including reading, wine, chess, learning Italian, piano, fountain pens, and, of course, coding.