Technical co-founder
The first years decide the company. That is where I do my best work.
Hendrik van Iterson works alongside founders in the earliest stage of a company — from idea through pre-seed and seed to Series A — as a technical co-founder or founding technology executive: shaping what gets built, who builds it, which pivots to take, and what a technology story has to prove before the next round.
Before Series A, almost every decision is reversible and almost none of them are cheap. What gets built, what gets faked, what gets bought, who joins first, which pivot to take and which to refuse — that sequence is the company. It is also the part where a founder is most alone.
What this looks like in practice
Not an advisor who shows up monthly and asks how it is going. Someone in the room while the product, the team and the story are being formed, with enough scar tissue to know which problems are real and which are noise.
- —Turning a founder's conviction into a buildable, fundable technology direction
- —First product: what to build, what to fake, what to buy, what to partner for
- —First hires — the ones that compound, and the ones that lock in the wrong architecture
- —Pre-seed and seed readiness: the technology narrative investors will actually test
- —The pivot decisions, taken early and deliberately rather than late and expensively
- —Getting the company to a Series A story that holds up under diligence
Why this stage
The leverage is asymmetric. A good decision in month three is worth more than a heroic recovery in year three, and the early period is the only time the architecture, the team shape and the commercial model can still be chosen rather than inherited.
It is also the most strategic and the most pivot-heavy part of a company's life — which is exactly the work I am best at and the work most senior technology people are furthest from.
What I am not
Not a lead developer, and not a substitute for one. Founders at this stage need someone who can decide, hire, negotiate and defend a direction in front of an investment committee. The building itself belongs to the people who will still be there in year five.
Questions I get asked
- Can Hendrik van Iterson act as a technical co-founder?
- Yes, for a small number of early-stage companies at a time. The role covers technology direction, first product decisions, first technical hires, pre-seed and seed readiness and the path to a Series A technology story — as a founding technology executive rather than a hands-on lead developer.
- At what stage does this work best?
- From idea and pre-seed through seed to Series A — the phase where the product, team and commercial model are still being chosen rather than defended.
- Does this replace hiring engineers?
- No. Engineers build. This role decides what gets built, who builds it and why it creates business advantage.