
Short stories of how technology leaders got to where they are. One CTO, one journey, no filler.
New episode every Wednesday.
Road to CTO is a short-format podcast for engineers and engineering managers aiming for the CTO role, and for tech leaders curious how their peers got there. Each episode is one conversation about the path, the turning point, and the lessons learned along the way. Guests ran... more
| Publishes | Weekly | Episodes | 8 | Founded | 2 months ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Listeners | Categories | CareersBusinessTechnology | |||

Maciej Gościński was halfway through Google's interview process when a friend messaged him about a bike. He quit the process, co-founded a cycling travel company in France, and three and a half years later their maps were on the Tour de France websit... more
Erik Stenman was employee number seven at a Swedish startup called Kreditor. He joined as head of engineering, a department of one. Ten years later the company was called Klarna, had 1,200 people, and he had grown with it into the CTO role. His first... more
People called Ammar Shaker a job hopper. Fast-moving goods, mining, banking, the founding CIO of the Saudi Formula One Grand Prix, three failed fintechs. He says that is exactly how you learn what a leader actually needs to know, and he has one rule ... more
In 2001, Filip Jakubowski-Drzewiecki walked into a Dublin design studio with a CV and no job. The manager caught him on the staircase on his way out: can you start tomorrow? Twenty-five years, a failed startup and a digital bank later, he says the mo... more
Most people who become CTO never planned it. Stefan Kühn certainly didn't. A mathematician with a PhD from the Max Planck Institute, he took his first industry job and found himself recruiting and running a team within weeks. His advice for anyone ch... more
At six, Paweł Sobkowiak wrote his first program on a Commodore 128. In high school he quit coding to study sociology. He came back to build the engineering team behind Booksy, from a handful of people to 180.
Paweł Sobkowiak: CTO at Mos Health, buil... more
An officer in the Italian Army at 18. CIO and CTO of a city that didn't exist yet at 40. Alessio Garofalo's road to the top had no map, and that's exactly why it's worth hearing.
Alessio Garofalo: former CIO and CTO of NEOM, Amazon leadership across... more
Welcome to Road to CTO - the podcast designed for software engineers, tech leads, and aspiring engineering leaders making the transition from writing code to steering technical strategy and leading teams.
In this trailer, we dive into what this show... more
How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.
Apple Podcasts | #37 |










Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.
Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.
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This show features candid conversations with technology leaders who reached CTO-level roles, focusing on turning points, people decisions, and practical leadership lessons. Across episodes, listeners hear how guests moved from hands-on engineering to strategy, how they built and scaled teams, navigated cross-cultural or cross-sector environments, and balanced technical depth with business impact. Notable threads include mentorship, ownership of outcomes, the shift from coding to leadership, and the reality that CTO success comes from shaping environments where teams can excel, not just individual prowess. The format is concise and journey-driven, making it useful for engineers and engineering managers aiming for CTO tracks, as well as tech ... more
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Road to CTO launched 2 months ago and published 8 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.
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Recent guests on Road to CTO include:
1. Erik Stenman
2. Ammar Shaker
3. Filip Jakubowski-Drzewiecki
4. Stefan Kuhn
5. Paweł Sobkowiak
6. Alessio Garofalo
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