CTO replacement
The CTO who got you here is not the CTO for what's next.
Everyone knows it, including them. What usually goes wrong is not the decision but the execution: a rushed exit, a 6-month vacancy, and the best engineers gone before the new leader starts.
How the bridge works
I step in as interim CTO the week the decision is made, so there is no vacancy and no drift. The outgoing leader gets an exit with dignity, sometimes a new seat that fits, like chief architect. The search runs alongside, with me on the technical interviews. When the new CTO starts, I stay 6 weeks past their start date, then leave.
A founding CTO replaced, nobody lost: Series A, 28 engineers, an 8-month bridge, zero regretted attrition. Not sure yet the seat is the problem? The signs your CTO isn't the right CTO lists what I look for, and hiring an interim CTO covers the mechanics.
Where it starts
Often with doubt rather than a decision. The 3-week diagnosis settles it with data: what engineering actually ships, what the org needs next, and whether the current CTO can carry it. Sometimes the answer is that they can, with a changed scope. That is a cheaper answer than a replacement.