Hey I'm Stephan. I'm your CTO coach.

1:1 CTO Coaching from Experienced CTO who has seen it all.

I'm Stephan, an experienced and influential former CTO. Over the past 8 years, I've been helping CTOs and engineering leaders navigate the complex challenges of scaling technology teams, building robust systems, and leading through rapid growth. Whether you're struggling with technical debt, team dynamics, or strategic direction, I provide personalized coaching to help you become the leader your organization needs.

My Coaching Model

My coaching model is based on four pillars for getting you unstuck and make you grow and successfull.

Consulting: I help you fix all current problems that are blocking you
Mentoring: Focusing on knowledge transfer to enable you to grow and scale for what is coming
Coaching: Changing your behavior to make you successful
Branding: Be seen the way you want to be seen

Over the last 8 years as a CTO coach I have adapted my coaching model from the success I had with my clients. Starting with mentoring I learned that you also need coaching to work on your behavior, and clients need consulting to remove blockers to grow. The latest addition is branding - which is elementary in this age of AI transformation.

1:1 CTO Coaching

No groups. Just you and me. Real 60 minutes. 1:1. Every week or every second week based on your context and needs. So we can talk about the real challenges. My Material and document review included.

Success Story

Working with Stephan let me grow professionally as well as personally and help me become a great tech leader.
— Martin Klemann, CTO Sensit!l

For Whom? For You!

This is for CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and engineering managers who are stuck. Maybe you're scaling fast and everything is breaking. Maybe you have team problems. Maybe you're new to the CTO role and don't know what you're doing. I've helped many leaders unstuck and scale.

CTO Coaching Topics

How to make AI work
Delegation and scaling yourself
Being assertive
Managing performance
Hiring and layoffs
... and all you might need

Why me

40+ years of software development, 25+ years of engineering management. I've coached 80+ CTOs, engineering managers and founders through scaling challenges, team building, and career growth. From startup chaos to enterprise complexity - I've been there and can guide you through it.

Success Stories

The coaching with Stephan helped me align our development organization across different countries.

— Florian Klemt, CTO Fashion Cloud

Stephan is a vast source of knowledge in technology, organization building, and systemic thinking. His coaching and reflections have guided me in difficult situations and, more importantly, contributed to my personal growth.

— Veronica Garcia, Unit Lead Technology & Engineering Eurowings Digital

I worked with Stephan for over a year. He coached me through a massive growth period of our company, asking the right questions as well as giving constructive advice based on his profound knowledge and experience in the field. He helped me to grow and become the professional I am today. I highly recommend working with him

— Sebastian Galonska, CTO & Co-Founder, Kontist

Stephans coaching helped me to become more effective in important areas, in particular with recruiting and with leading the engineering team through different startup phases.

— Jerome Meinke, CTO Tomes GmbH & Idana

Working with Stephan let me grow professionally as well as personally and help me become a great tech leader.

— Martin Klemann, CTO Sensit!

Stephan has a very quick grasp and a wealth of experience which he can call upon as appropriate advice. I find his competence in helping through self-reflection most helpful.

— Mladen Miljic, CTO

Why Stephan Why Stephan Why Stephan Why Stephan Why Stephan Why Stephan Why Stephan Why Stephan Why Stephan Why Stephan

What makes me unique as a coach

Having been a coder for decades and writing some code every day, with a keen interest in technologies I blend a deep understanding of the nitty gritty details of software development with my experience as an engineering manager of 25+ years. I've worked as a manager in small startups, large scaleups, startups with explosive growth and enterprises. Combining this with my business experience from founding 3 companies makes me the best coach for you. I've walked the walk a million times.

40+ years of software development experience
25+ years of engineering management experience
80+ CTOs, and founders mentored and coached
3x startups founder

You will become better with coaching

After decades as a tech manager, I’ve decided to share my knowledge and help others grow faster and not make the same mistakes I made. I’ve seen a lot of things from large enterprise to small startups, from exponential growth to layoffs. I’ve learned some things working at ImmobilienScout24 and for eBay. I founded my own startups and helped my wife grow and sell hers. You can learn from my experiences in my coaching

Schedule a Welcome Call

Take action now! If you're a CTO, CPTO or VP of Engineering, let us talk in a Welcome Call. We can discuss your situation and talk about coaching, see how I can help you.

Or send me an email or message on Linkedin

I can help you

Are there problems you would like to have a second opinion on?

You feel sometimes alone at the top and that everything bubbles up to you?

Do you want to discuss things on eye level you can’t discuss with anyone else?

Do you want to learn from somebody who had the same challenges, and what worked and what didn’t work?

How does 1:1 CTO Coaching work?

With most coachees coaching sessions are one or two hours every second week. In very demanding situations coaching is every week. In the beginning we focus on current problems and challenges. Coaching gives different viewpoints, solutions I have found to problems and different and more options. I bring those topics from the Amazing CTO model to the table that I think help you most. Often we start with a friendly due diligence to see the statups quo. This often gives the coachee many insights early on. After a phase of consulting we shift more towards coaching focusing on you and find out what you want to do and what makes you shine. It helps tremendously when there is someone with whom you can bounce ideas, get feedback before you roll out ideas and to talk to someone who really understands you.

Based on Amazing CTO model
Sessions every week
Duration 1h
Following defined steps beginning with friendly due diligence, so we know the status quo, and you get good insights early on
Talking about daily problems
Solve urgent challenges
Mentoring on topics and coaching on changing behaviour and skills

You need CTO coaching

You might ask yourself if you need coaching and someone helping you with your role or you may have already decided you want CTO coaching coming here. My coaching will make you happier and more successful with your job. Your job will be less stressful, and you enable others around you to grow. Taken together this will also make your company more successful. Coaching for technical managers makes most sense for VPs of Engineering and CTOs. You might work in a startup and may have been promoted to the role recently or changed to a larger company where you feel out of your waters. Or you have joined a company with lots of technical debt and open bugs. Startups often do not have adequate training for talents, so I have specialized myself in startups and grownups. As everyone else, you might face difficult work relationships, you might need to hire and scale your team, the company grows and there are new tasks, there might be a new investment round coming with due diligence or having been closed. I can help you with all of these challenges, I have seen them myself and discussed them as a CTO coach with many coachees already.