Tech Executive Mentor
I help CTOs and VPEs navigate growth, build stronger organizations, and become the leaders their companies need as AI reshapes our entire profession.
Let's Talk5+
Years
100+
Leaders
1,200+
Mentoring sessions
I help CTOs and VPEs navigate growth, build stronger organizations, and become the leaders their companies need as AI reshapes our entire profession.
Let's TalkDepending on your role, here are the most common challenges I work on with my clients, sharpened by how fast AI is reshaping our world.
The technical side of the CTO role came naturally. The people side is different: giving hard feedback, holding someone accountable, making calls that affect careers. No one hands you a manual, and most first-time CTOs learn this slowly and expensively.
I help you apply your instincts to decisions that set precedents: identifying who has leadership potential and how to develop it, setting the technical and process foundations that define what great looks like, and learning to measure your own success through what your team produces, not what you do yourself.
The flat structure works until it doesn't. You'll see it: communication breaks down, priorities blur, AI adoption turns sporadic, and you're in everyone's calendar. The question is how to add structure without losing the people who built the team with you.
I help you navigate the split: how to think about an organization with more leaders, both in management and in tech leadership; how to structure AI-native adoption to keep speeding up; how to manage product roadmap work alongside the need to keep the lights on and be ready for scale.
Seasoned VPEs arrive at this role one of two ways, each with its own trap. Promoted from within, exec team pressure can pull you toward protecting your people rather than meeting the business. Coming in from outside, the lack of depth into real problems makes it hard to rally the team around what needs to change. Either way, today's CEOs expect you to reinvent how the org operates as an AI-native one, not just keep it running, which raises the stakes even further.
I help you build the operating model that scales without you in the room, and it starts with defining what an AI-native org actually looks like for your team. From there: org structures and OKRs that align your engineering leaders around business goals rather than just reporting upward, and the judgment to know when a team's problem needs coaching, structural change, or a harder conversation.
Most VPEs spend more time defending engineering's capacity than shaping the priorities that create the pressure. The real gap isn't execution, it's influence: whether you're part of company-level decisions, or just handed the outcome. That gap shows up sharpest around AI, where most companies still treat "going AI-native" as engineering's job alone.
I help you understand the business well enough to offer options in how goals get achieved, not just execute against a plan. That means mutual accountability with your exec peers, and engaging Product, Sales, Customer Support, and Marketing as a driver of company outcomes rather than a downstream dependency. Becoming AI-native is where that starts: not an engineering initiative handed down, but a company-wide effort the exec team drives together. The result is a seat at the executive table earned through contribution, not granted by title.
A new business opportunity, an upcoming fundraise, or a possible acquisition: whatever is raising the stakes, you need engineering to operate like the strategic asset it actually is, not just execute quietly in the background. You want quality and delivery expectations to land in engineering as something the team owns and drives, not something imposed from above.
I work with your engineering leader on the fundamentals of engineering excellence: how work gets decided and prioritized, including where AI changes what's actually possible, how it turns into shipped, monitored impact, and how that impact gets measured in terms the business can see. The result is a leader who comes back with a plan and real numbers, not just a status update.
Interviewing well and performing well in the job are different skills. The right hire can level the entire company up; the wrong one costs you a year and leaves the org in a harder place than before. You can't afford to get this wrong.
I bring deep expertise in assessing engineering leadership candidates, including how clearly they understand what becoming AI-native actually means for your org, and how realistic their plan is to get there; where they're stretching down into familiar territory and can execute with confidence, and where they're stretching up and will need peer support to succeed. I'll map where the fit is genuine and where the gaps are, so you go in clear-eyed. I won't choose your hire for you, but I'll help you succeed with whoever you wisely choose.
From CEOs, CTOs, and engineering leaders building some of today's most ambitious AI companies.
Any CEO who wants their engineering leadership to grow as fast as their company should work with Anton.
Anton didn't try to impose a textbook management framework on a structure that didn't fit one. He understood our organization, worked within its realities, and helped our Head of Engineering become the kind of leader AI21 needed as a VP.
That balance - getting the most out of the current situation while preparing honestly for what comes next - is rare. Most consultants either push too hard for change or avoid the hard conversations entirely. Anton did neither.
What I valued about working with Anton was his ability to operate in ambiguity. We were balancing innovation with enterprise delivery, integrating diverse leaders, and building new functions inside an established R&D culture. Anton was effective across all of it.
Any VP of Engineering or R&D leader dealing with complexity that doesn't have a clean answer - fast-moving business, an org that needs to keep evolving, personal growth all at once - will find real value working with Anton.
Anton didn't just help us find a good candidate - he saw exactly where that candidate would need support, and then provided it. The hiring and the mentoring aren't separate services; they're one continuous investment in getting the leadership right.
First-time CTOs building in complex, enterprise-driven domains - especially where the pressure to become a services company is constant - will find Anton's perspective invaluable.
What I didn't expect when I started working with Anton was that I'd come to enjoy the leadership side of the CTO role as much as the technical side. That shift is probably the most lasting thing he gave me.
Anton focuses on people. He helps me see the full picture - what someone is capable of, what's holding them back, and what I can realistically do about it - and then helps me take action that's bolder than I'd have managed alone, and fully mine to own.
CTOs managing multiple teams with different dynamics, who need to grow as leaders without losing focus on what matters most to the business, will find Anton invaluable.
In any given session we might move from org design to individual coaching to operational process, and he was equally effective across all of it.
I personally found his guidance valuable in navigating both people-management decisions and broader organizational trade-offs during a period of significant growth.
Interactive tools distilled from real mentoring engagements.
AI transformation feels like the holy grail, but the path there is full of contradictions: tokenmaxxing dressed up as progress, duplicated effort, and working practices that don't get shared. Use the radar to understand how AI-native your organization actually is, and what it can evolve into.
See the RadarAI is reshaping what engineers actually do, and what professional growth looks like. Whether your career ladder feels outdated or you're building one for the first time, treat this as a baseline, not a custom fit. Building the tailored version is usually a later step in a mentoring engagement.
Explore the LadderAI-native shifts create real uncertainty, and press against the values of your org. A survey shows you how credible the values are in your org, and gives you clear focus on what to improve. Keeping tabs on what the org really sees and feels is often part of a mentoring engagement.
Check the SurveyI've been in Engineering leadership roles for over two decades. The most intense one was Snyk, where I joined as the first hire and scaled Engineering to 150 people over five years. The hard-earned lessons along the way shaped my philosophy on leadership. I now describe myself as a VP of People who happened to build and run an Engineering org.
Leaving Snyk, I realized my motivation is levelling up leaders in Engineering. What looks like work to most feels like play to me, and I wanted to do more of it than any single role would allow. For the past five years, I've mentored over 100 clients across start-ups in the US, Europe and Israel, sharing my lessons, honing my perspective, and building a much wider view of what Engineering leaders are really dealing with.
What I bring to each engagement is pattern recognition earned across dozens of companies, and the willingness to build real familiarity with yours. The advice isn't generic. It's grounded in your specific context and informed by what I've seen work and fail in situations like it. Every company is different, but the leadership challenges are remarkably transferable.
First hire at Snyk, scaled Engineering from 1 to 150 over 5 years.
1:1 mentoring sessions, in person or remote, typically every other week. Hourly, flexible, and tailored to your pace. Engagements last between 3 months and 2 years.
CTOs, VPs of Engineering, Heads of Engineering in Seed stage companies, all the way to Engineering orgs of 100+ people.
No long contracts, no rigid frameworks. Just honest, focused work.
We meet for an initial conversation to understand your situation and see if there's a fit. No commitment, no pitch - just a real conversation.
We begin with regular 1:1 sessions, typically every other week. Each session is focused on your most pressing challenges: strategic, organizational, or personal.
Engagements run as long as they're valuable. Some last a few months, many extend well past a year. You set the pace, and we adapt as your needs evolve.
If you believe you can benefit from a conversation, the first coffee is on me.
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