The CTO Substack

The CTO’s Incoming Storms

Let me name the six conversations I’m watching land on CTOs right now, and the stance I’d want you holding in each one.

Apr 16 • Etienne de Bruin

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The CTO’s Entropy War

The second law of thermodynamics is coming for your codebase. AI just handed it a flamethrower.

Apr 9 • Etienne de Bruin

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March 2026

The CTO’s New Engineering Ladder

How to build a performance ladder that actually means something when everyone in the company writes code

Mar 12 • Etienne de Bruin

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February 2026

The CTO’s Next Customer

How the zero-interface revolution will make your SaaS product obsolete — unless you rebuild it for the right user.

Feb 11 • Etienne de Bruin

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January 2026

The CTO’s Token Treasury

What every technology leader needs to know about the fundamental unit powering AI

Jan 29 • Etienne de Bruin

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The CTO’s Methodological Pivot

How AI is forcing CTOs to rethink everything they believed about Agile and Waterfall

Jan 23 • Etienne de Bruin

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The CTO’s AI Provider Predicament

Why getting cozy with your AI coding vendor might be the most expensive decision you make this year

Jan 13 • Etienne de Bruin

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Made as a Service (MaaS) Will Eat SaaS

AI Made Building Cheaper Than Renting. Now What?

Jan 8 • Etienne de Bruin

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December 2025

The CTO’s Missing Partner

The one thing I want for you in 2026

Dec 30, 2025 • Etienne de Bruin

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$23 Million Is Not a Plan

How to transform vague revenue targets into objectives your technology team can actually deliver

Dec 19, 2025 • Etienne de Bruin

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The CTO’s Translation Failure

Why being technically correct can cost you your job—and what I wish I’d known about showing complex work simply

Dec 10, 2025 • Etienne de Bruin

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November 2025

The CTO’s Double Diamond

A two-diamond design model that aligns engineering and product teams through divergence and convergence across four phases: Discover, Define, Develop…

Nov 27, 2025 • Etienne de Bruin

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