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About

We help you build SaaS and systems that scale

Welcome to the ultimate resource hub for SaaS CTOs and technology leaders driven to deliver better software and systems in rapidly scaling environments.

Providing technical team leaders with forward-thinking insights and building their confidence guides decision-making, inspires teams, and promotes innovation.

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We equip CTOs with expert guidance and resources

The CTO is a leading publication and community space delivering insights to help you build a better tech ecosystem.

We attract CTOs and business technology executives with unparalleled peer insights and expertise on business strategy, innovation, and leadership.

 

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Join the conversation on scaling in SaaS with industry peers who've been there

We elevate technical team leaders to deliver the latest and greatest insights in the tech world, so you can learn from others who’ve managed rapid growth in tech companies while navigating technical debt, recruiting top talent, and keeping their teams aligned.

Learn about career development for yourself and your technical team, dive into trends and strategies emerging in the field, and get practical guidance for building a solid foundation that will enable you to scale.

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Our Mission

Empowering SaaS CTOs and tech team leads with comprehensive guidance and tools for scaling high-quality software and systems. Tech leaders value learning from those who’ve walked in their shoes.

We are committed to fostering a collaborative community that supports technical leaders in navigating the challenges of rapid growth, and empowering CTOs with actionable advice to shape the future of technology within their organizations and across industries.

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Our Vision

The premier resource hub that fosters innovation, efficiency, and excellence in software and systems development. Using our power as a leading edge digital publisher to amplify the voices of the best and brightest in tech, we provide tech leaders with cutting-edge insights, tools, and community support.

Our Audience

By sponsoring or advertising on The CTO you’ll reach:

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Tech leaders in high growth companies managing $1M to $50M in team budget, infrastructure, and 3rd party costs

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Chief Technology Officers, Engineering Directors, Tech Directors, and SVPs in the SaaS industry

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Owners and managers directly involved in IT strategy decisions that will enable their organization to scale

Meet The CTO Club's Editorial Team

The CTO Club is owned and managed by Black & White Zebra, a fast-growing digital media company.

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Phil Gray

COO of Black & White Zebra, Phil brings 10+ years of operations and leadership experience across biotech, healthcare, logistics, and SaaS. Originally from Glasgow and now based in Vancouver, he’s BWZ’s resident big-picture thinker, with a deep love for data, revenue operations, and process automation. Centralized systems, holistic planning, and an unapologetic enthusiasm for business jargon: Phil is very much the person who will double-click on that.

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Tim Fisher

Tim has 20+ years at the intersection of tech, editorial, and AI, including scaling Lifewire into a top-ranked tech publication and leading AI operations at People Inc. He’s drawn to problems that unlock new possibilities when solved, and AI has become his favorite tool for doing exactly that. When he’s not experimenting with large language models, he’s rereading Project Hail Mary or hunting down good Mexican food.

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Paulo Gardini

Director of Technology at Black & White Zebra, Paulo has 15+ years turning complex engineering problems into scalable systems. He built and leads the tech team behind BWZ’s portfolio of digital publishing brands, with a background spanning cloud infrastructure, AI-driven workflows, and a previous stint running data infrastructure for enterprise partners like Google and Oracle. His favorite challenge: taking something overcomplicated and finding its simplest, most elegant form.

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Christhian Gruhn

Platform Owner and Tech Lead at Black & White Zebra, Christhian has 25 years bridging technical execution and business strategy. He’s led development for clients like XP Inc. and Volkswagen Brazil, founded a tourism platform with 10M+ visits, and holds multiple advanced degrees in software engineering and AI. When he’s not shipping features, he’s building indie games under the Gruhh Games project, with several selections at SBGames, Brazil’s largest academic game conference.

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Gabriel Rosas

Tech Lead at Black & White Zebra, Gabriel has 15+ years in software architecture and cloud infrastructure. He owns the AWS environment and engineering backbone behind BWZ’s editorial platform. Before BWZ, he was CTO at an automotive marketing platform serving 350+ dealerships and led a monolith-to-microservices migration at one of Brazil’s major broadcast networks. Off the clock: motorcycles, Formula 1 strategy, and a very long Witcher 3 playthrough.