The Engineering Trap: Why Most CTOs Never Become Real Executives
Wed Dec 03 2025
Most “CTOs” are still senior engineers with a fancy title — stuck in the code, fumbling in the boardroom, and bleeding money through bad tech decisions. This conversation shows you how to flip into a true business-first CTO who leads with strategy, ROI and systems, not commit history.
Perfect listen for aspiring CTO in a startup or scale-up who keeps getting pulled into delivery hell while your CEO wants commercial answers, not technical detail.
To unpack this, I sat down with Khalil Dimachkie, co-creator of Imperial College’s Emerging CTO Programme. He’s the CTO at Blue Light Card, leading technology for 5.7m+ frontline members, has grown teams from 1 to 100+, and has advised private equity firms through tech-heavy M&A deals.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/khalild/
In this episode:
The “engineering trap”: how hands-on CTOs slow the business down, lose investor confidence, and what it looks like to escape into a true executive role.A simple way to “zoom out” and spot your own gaps as a CTO, plus how to use coaches, communities and structured programmes to build real business skills fast.The core operating system of a modern CTO: ROI as your north star, how to think about metrics beyond DORA, and why security posture belongs in every board pack.How to spend your first 90 days as a new CTO: the discovery pattern Khalil uses, who to speak to, what to map, and how to resist being dragged into firefighting.The meetings, habits and reports that signal you’re a business-focused CTO: daily trading checks, monthly operational reviews, one-to-ones that actually work, and non-negotiable release decision rights.Where most tech teams leak money in the cloud, why logging and microservices are often the culprits, and how to embed FinOps thinking into everyday engineering.Get the links, notes and CTO resources from this episode at masteringtechgrowth.com.
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Most “CTOs” are still senior engineers with a fancy title — stuck in the code, fumbling in the boardroom, and bleeding money through bad tech decisions. This conversation shows you how to flip into a true business-first CTO who leads with strategy, ROI and systems, not commit history. Perfect listen for aspiring CTO in a startup or scale-up who keeps getting pulled into delivery hell while your CEO wants commercial answers, not technical detail. To unpack this, I sat down with Khalil Dimachkie, co-creator of Imperial College’s Emerging CTO Programme. He’s the CTO at Blue Light Card, leading technology for 5.7m+ frontline members, has grown teams from 1 to 100+, and has advised private equity firms through tech-heavy M&A deals. https://www.linkedin.com/in/khalild/ In this episode: The “engineering trap”: how hands-on CTOs slow the business down, lose investor confidence, and what it looks like to escape into a true executive role.A simple way to “zoom out” and spot your own gaps as a CTO, plus how to use coaches, communities and structured programmes to build real business skills fast.The core operating system of a modern CTO: ROI as your north star, how to think about metrics beyond DORA, and why security posture belongs in every board pack.How to spend your first 90 days as a new CTO: the discovery pattern Khalil uses, who to speak to, what to map, and how to resist being dragged into firefighting.The meetings, habits and reports that signal you’re a business-focused CTO: daily trading checks, monthly operational reviews, one-to-ones that actually work, and non-negotiable release decision rights.Where most tech teams leak money in the cloud, why logging and microservices are often the culprits, and how to embed FinOps thinking into everyday engineering.Get the links, notes and CTO resources from this episode at masteringtechgrowth.com.