Mike Mengell
CTO
What I do at CTO Labs
I am the CTO here, I run the technology side of the business so I’m involved in a lot of areas as we’re a digital business delivering technology services. I have been building software since I was 7 years old (not going to say on what computer, but it is old). I have been writing software and running teams for a couple of decades and I still love where technology is going and how it empowers people. I try to keep myself hands on and current which is a challenge with how fast the technology is moving and the breadth of the industry. While it’s not super aligned to our work I am very excited about VR and AR. Can’t wait to assess a business in this space!
M&A
Within our M&A part of the business, I head up the technology assessment team. I have personally worked across loads of different architectures and patterns so I’ve seen a good number of how businesses have evolved over time and found their niche and flow.
Professional Services
I get involved in most of our larger professional services clients as either a peer or advisory perspective. Sometimes I’m coaching our teams to run workshops or how to consider pragmatic technology decisions in a different way, sometimes I’m part of the team delivering an outcome for a client. I enjoy this side as it enables me to get in deep with a client over a longer period of time.
Internal
We work on a bunch of different internal projects. I own the IT Ops so with the help of other team members we are onboarding new tools, creating automations to reduce manual effort, letting us focus on more interesting tasks. As a small business it’s always a balance between what is needed and what would be great to have as there aren’t enough hours to do everything. But I enjoy this tension as it forces us to be really intentional with where to spend time.
M&A
Within our M&A part of the business, I head up the technology assessment team. I have personally worked across loads of different architectures and patterns so I’ve seen a good number of how businesses have evolved over time and found their niche and flow.
Professional Services
I get involved in most of our larger professional services clients as either a peer or advisory perspective. Sometimes I’m coaching our teams to run workshops or how to consider pragmatic technology decisions in a different way, sometimes I’m part of the team delivering an outcome for a client. I enjoy this side as it enables me to get in deep with a client over a longer period of time.
Internal
We work on a bunch of different internal projects. I own the IT Ops so with the help of other team members we are onboarding new tools, creating automations to reduce manual effort, letting us focus on more interesting tasks. As a small business it’s always a balance between what is needed and what would be great to have as there aren’t enough hours to do everything. But I enjoy this tension as it forces us to be really intentional with where to spend time.
Why CTO Labs
As a business from day one we chose to put diversity at the front of our values. We report on this internally every month to the entire team and while being a small business with small business challenges, we make a strategic decision with every hire. We choose to innovate as much as possible. We have intentionally hired smart, passionate people who want to succeed. This empowers a fantastic culture of support and nurture. We are going through a high growth phase at the moment and that is supporting us to create a better place for nurturing a more diverse team.
Advice for prospective candidates
You’re not expected to know everything. Talk honestly about what motivates you, what you want to be doing and what gaps you have. We are expecting you to be a regular human, just like the rest of us.