Press any Key to Continue
and level up your leadership
Unlock your next level of leadership, mindset, and impact in San Diego, CA
FUEL UP WITH REAL CONNECTIONS | UNLOCK YOUR NEXT LEVEL | SHAPE WHAT’S AHEAD
Join us at the 0111 CTO Conference in San Diego, CA
November 6th and 7th, 2025
Close out your year with clarity. Launch the next with purpose.
The 0111 CTO Conference returns November 6–7, 2025, bringing together senior tech leaders for an immersive, hands-on experience like no other.
Set against the waterfront backdrop of Shelter Island at Humphreys Half Moon Inn, this year’s theme “Press Any Key to Continue” invites you to expand your next level of leadership, mindset, and impact.
WHY ATTEND?
This One Day Will Fuel Your Entire Quarter
Sharpen
your leadership edge in an AI-powered world
Gain
bold, tactical insights from expert speakers who walk the talk
Expand
your influence and executive presence
Recharge
with fresh ideas, inspiration, and peer support
Grow
your network with tech leaders who get it without the small talk
Return
ready to lead what’s next with confidence
You don’t have to be a 7CTOs member (yet) to attend.
Bring a friend, your co-founder, or a fellow tech leader. The more, the smarter.
Special Bonus for Members
Bring 2 guests who register, and you’ll receive a month of complimentary 1:1 private coaching sessions with one of our top-tier executive coaches.
This is a chance to sharpen your strategy and grow your impact.
AGENDA
Wednesday, November 5th 2025
Thursday, November 6th 2025
Friday, November 7th 2025
ACCOMMODATION
Venue: Humphreys Half Moon Inn
Located on the waterfront of Shelter Island, Humphreys Half Moon Inn offers a peaceful, inspiring setting just minutes from downtown and the airport.
Enjoy lush surroundings, marina views, and easy access to everything you need to unwind and recharge.
Includes:
- High-speed WiFi in rooms and meeting space
- 10–20% off on-site dining and entertainment
- Pool, fitness center and walking paths
Hotel booking details will be shared upon registration.
YOUR HOSTS: THE 7CTOS TEAM
Brittany Cotton
Brittany Cotton is a seasoned executive and leadership coach, CEO of Coach EXE, and Head of Coaching at 7CTOs, known for driving transformative change at the highest levels. She partners with C-suite leaders to unlock blind spots, elevate performance, and inspire innovation across organizations.
With experience guiding leaders at Microsoft, Live Nation, Lyft, and Nike, Brittany is a trusted advisor who blends strategic insight with heart-based leadership. Her expertise in culture, strategy, and organizational dynamics enables her to drive systemic, lasting impact. She empowers leaders to lead with purpose, authenticity, and vision, creating environments where excellence and growth thrive.
Etienne de Bruin
Founder and CEO
Etienne also writes the CTO Substack and hosts The CTO Podcast, sharing insights on leadership, strategy, and the evolving role of the CTO.
Nina Hamlett
OPERATIONS ADMINISTRATOR
Her expertise ensures smooth operations within the organization. She is based in Colorado.
SPEAKERS
Matt Ferguson
KEYNOTE | CTO: ROOF MAXX
There and Back Again, A CTO’s Journey with AI
John K Bates
CEO & FOUNDER: EXECUTIVE SPEAKING SUCCESS
The Neurobiology of Influence: Why Leading Humans is Not Logical; It’s BIO-Logical
Sigalit Tsadok
founder: harbor view solutions
Living the core value of autonomy
Brian Andrews
CIO: BAKER ELECTRIC
Going Beyond IQ and EQ to Live with Greater Purpose
Jacob West
CTO: SHIPCALM
On Becoming Greater than the
Sum of your Parts
Kelvin Pho
CTO & CO-FOUNDER: MIA LABS, INC.
Off the Hook: Voice Al on the Phone
Ryan Vice
CO-FOUNDER & CEO: VICE SOFTWARE, LLC
From Frustration to Acceleration: Leading Al Transformation in Your Org
Rafi Ghazarian
CO-FOUNDER & CTO: OKOOD
Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast – How I Built High Functioning Elite Teams
Paige Wilhide
PLAY COACH & STRATEGIST
Mastering Adaptive Leadership Using Tools of Improv
Calvin Hendryx-Parker
CTO: SIX FEET UP, INC.
Rolling out Enterprise Al: Tools, Insights, and Team Empowerment
Darryl Kuhn
CTO: PENCHECKS
Skills Matrix, Providing Structured Professional Development Targets
SPONSORS
Howdy
At Howdy.com, we keep humanity and transparency at the heart of hiring.
By helping organizations transcend borders while connecting Latin American professionals with meaningful, regionally well-compensated work, we’re empowering the technology leaders and LatAm experts alike to thrive in a fast-evolving tech world.
OUR ATTENDEES
Since 2013 7CTOs has helped hundreds of technology leaders rediscover the joy of being
technologists while mastering their roles, elevating their teams, and creating more fulfiling,
impactful careers.
More than 75% are C-level executives: CTOs, ClOs, and Co-Founders, while the rest are VPs
and Directors of Engineering leading scale-stage organizations.
These are not practitioners. They are strategic operators with end-to-end ownership of
technology, team growth, and budget.
Who’s in the room:
- Scaling CTOs
Leading delivery-focused orgs through headcount growth, platform decisions, and
cross-functional alignment. - Org Architects
VPs and Directors establishing structure, leadership depth, and operational clarity across
expanding teams. - Founding Technologists
Early-stage CTOs balancing product ownership with architecture, hiring, and early team design. - Enterprise-Ready Leaders
Executives scaling beyond 60+ engineers, focused on leadership systems, risk
management, and long-term capability.
TEAM SIZE
10-100
-
- 50% lead teams of 20 to 60 engineers, actively building out second-layer leadership and delivery systems.
- 25% lead teams of 10 to 20 engineers, transitioning from hands-on execution to strategic oversight.
- 15% lead teams of 60 to 100+ engineers, focused on scale, structure, and enterprise readiness.
- 10% lead smaller teams of 2 to 10 engineers, typically early-stage CTOs or founding technologists navigating rapid growth.
These leaders are building teams that ship, scale, and evolve fast-
often hiring 5 to 30 engineers in the next 12 months.
BUDGET
1M-12M
to over $12 million annually. They are directly accountable for how capital
is allocated across infrastructure, tooling, headcount, security, and
R&D. Many are actively expanding budget influence beyond
engineering, collaborating with product, finance, and executive
leadership to align technical investment with business outcomes.
OUR SPONSORS
Intuit
Platinum Sponsor
Intuit is a global technology platform that powers prosperity for over 100 million customers worldwide. Through flagship products like TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, Intuit helps individuals, small businesses, and the self-employed achieve complete financial confidence.
Their mission, to power prosperity around the world, drives every innovation, from AI-driven tax preparation to integrated business management tools. By combining data, technology, and customer-first design, Intuit removes financial barriers and unlocks opportunities for all.
With a vision to deliver “Complete Financial Confidence,” Intuit is committed to shaping a future where everyone has the tools to prosper.
BrandCave
Silver Sponsor
Since 2015, BrandCave has been on a mission to make the web a friendlier, more welcoming place through results‑oriented product strategy, UX design, performance marketing, and video production.
As a lean, but powerful software product development company, they punch well above their weight by delivering sophisticated digital products with efficiency and precision using their proprietary Blueprint Agile process.
Whether you’re launching an MVP or leading a full-scale digital transformation, BrandCave’s predictable, affordable, and collaborative approach ensures clarity, speed, and alignment from concept to execution. Their client‑first attitude and strategic design prowess elevate products while making development smoother and more meaningful
NaNLABS
Silver Sponsor
NaNLABS is a custom software development company that partners with organizations to transform big ideas into scalable, cloud-native solutions. With expertise in real-time data processing, AI, and machine learning, their teams deliver tailored applications that grow with your business.
Unlike faceless coding agencies, NaNLABS prides itself on being a true tech sidekick, providing teams of caring, collaborative engineers who embed themselves seamlessly into client workflows. They prioritize flexibility, transparency, and results to help you succeed.
By combining technical depth with a human-centered approach, NaNLABS empowers organizations to innovate faster, harness their data, and achieve lasting impact.
Six Feet Up
Silver Sponsor
Six Feet Up helps purpose-driven visionaries solve complex challenges by building superior, long-lasting software solutions. With a core focus on Python, AI, and big data, they accelerate the launch of game-changing ideas that drive social good, environmental protection, and scientific advancement.
As leaders in the open-source community and founders of IndyPy and the Python Web Conference, Six Feet Up brings deep expertise and a strong commitment to impact. They aim to contribute to 100 IMPACTFUL Projects™ by 2033, measured by the depth and longevity of positive societal effects.
A woman-owned consultancy powered by the EOS Process™, Six Feet Up has earned the trust of organizations like NASA, Purdue University, UNEP, and Capital One. Their dedication is reflected in a 5-star referral rating on Clutch.co and a proven track record of excellence since 1999.
The Search Bar
Bronze Sponsor
The Search Bar specializes in sourcing top‑tier talent at the intersection of AI and search technology. They help companies build high‑performance teams by placing experts in ML/AI, search engineering, backend/data engineering, data science, and product roles — all vetted through their proprietary assessments and deep understanding of search systems.
What makes them unique is their laser focus; they are the only staffing firm dedicated exclusively to Search & AI, not general recruiting. They curate a community of professionals who have hands‑on experience building search, recommendation, and relevance systems, with work spanning from ranking and relevance to vector search, NLP tasks, and scaling production architectures.
Led by founder Brian Pedersen, with a track record that includes 200+ placements and deep domain expertise, The Search Bar delivers fast, precise matches — reducing hiring friction and aligning candidates and companies in both technical fit and culture.
JDAQA
Bronze Sponsor
JDAQA delivers hands‑free, automated quality assurance for Dev Shops and HealthTech SaaS so your team can stay focused on building product, not fixing defects. They own your entire QA pipeline — from strategy through execution — offering scalable QA services, vetted QA talent augmentations, and automation consulting.
What sets them apart: zero overhead, zero excuses. Their U.S.‑based and offshore QA engineers are ready to plug in and increase testing velocity without hiring friction. They build test automation that scales, reduces flakiness, and integrates with CI/CD, all grounded in real‑world best practices.
Founded in the USA (Bucks County, PA), from humble beginnings, JDAQA now serves hundreds of customers globally. They’re trusted for their responsiveness, attention to detail, adaptability — helping teams ship confidently and reliably.
LAST YEAR’S 0111 CTO CoNFERENCE
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