Empowering Tech Leaders to Build

High-Performing Software Engineering Teams

Expert Coaching for Visionary Tech Executives

Hi, I'm Zach Goldberg

I’m an experienced executive coach and the author of “The Startup CTO’s Handbook.” My mission is to guide visionary tech executives in cultivating high-performing software engineering teams.

With a unique blend of leadership wisdom and technical insight, I tailor my approach to meet the distinct challenges of the tech industry.

Why You Might Need Coaching

Misaligned Teams:

Departments working in silos, hindering collaboration and efficiency.

Delivery Delays:

Scaling complexity can lead to missed deadlines and frustrated stakeholders.

Unclear Priorities:

Conflicting goals and objectives create confusion and slow progress.

Scaling Challenges:

Rapid growth exposes gaps and strains processes, culture, and infrastructure.

How My Coaching Helps

Lead With Impact:

Communicate clearly, inspire action, and build a high-performing team.

Scale with Agility:

Adapt quickly, prioritize smartly, and streamline workflows to scale effectively.

Bridge the Tech-Business Gap:

Align your tech team with business goals for measurable success.

Drive Strategic Clarity:

Set crystal-clear goals and focus your team’s efforts where it matters most.

What Clients Have to Say

  • “Within the first few months of working with Zach we've implemented tools and strategies across the business, from engineering to support to sales, that have culminated in: 1) back to back record breaking sales months, 2) increased clarity of vision that helped us close our latest round of fund-raising and 3) improvements everyone can feel in culture and hiring. Zach is an easy person to talk to, he "gets it", understands my questions and crafts neat frameworks that I can understand and apply immediately with the team. I'm a better leader and our company is better set up for success thanks to Zach.”

    Mit Patel
    CEO and Founder, Swiftsku

  • “I thoroughly endorse Zach as an executive tech advisor and mentor. I hired Zach as an advisor and our work focused primarily on hiring and technical architecture. Zach was thoughtful, highly responsive and generous with his time. His advice and perspective on who to hire and technical direction was very valuable and has set us up for high performance and success long term.”

    Jacklyn Rome
    CEO and Founder, Onward

  • "There's a big world out there of advice, it's hard to consume and parse it all without context. The value of working with Zach is getting a specific perspective and context to influence my own as I'm making technical, leadership and human decisions. There are 100s of books I didn't read because I talked to Zach instead."

    David Scrobonia
    CTO and Co-founder, Portal Labs, Inc.

  • "Boost brought Zach on as a CTO advisor as we transitioned from a founder-only codebase to bringing on our first full-time engineers. I'd highly recommend Zach as a CTO sounding board as he was able to share actionable frameworks (some of which were from the book) across a variety of decisions, including buying vs building, performance OKRs, 1:1 playbooks, code architecture, etc."

    Holman Gao
    CEO and Founder, Boost My School

  • "Zach Goldberg has been an invaluable coach and mentor to me for several years, offering guidance and perspective predominantly in the realms of people, processes, and experience management. I've found our discussions most valuable when I come with either a half baked idea that I'd like to flesh out, or for another perspective on a tactical or strategic challenge I'm facing. His ability to listen attentively and provide thoughtful feedback has been crucial in navigating complex challenges in my career at multiple companies."

    Zach Wills
    VP of Engineering, Haven

“Zach Goldberg is the perfect example of someone who is a business leader, a mentor, and an advocate for education.”

“We've recently adopted automated call transcriptions, routing AI-generated summaries to appropriate internal communication channels. This nearly zero-effort system has significantly improved our internal coordination and time savings.”

Streamlining Efficiency Through Automation

- featured in CTO Sync

“I think a healthy company deals with conflict all the time. I think the nuance is that most people have a negative connotation of the word conflict – they think of it as a bad thing. They picture an argument with raised voices and high tension. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Conflict between people who have a shared goal is really just a matter of exploring different perspectives, contexts, and needs, getting it all on the table to identify the tradeoffs that make the most sense at the time.”
— Zach on Behind the Hustle with Logan Pudalov

How We’ll Work Together

Free Tech Team Assessment

Start with a free evaluation. Identify what your team does well and where it can improve. Use these insights to move forward.

Customized Leadership Strategies

Get advice tailored to your challenges. Improve team dynamics and project delivery with strategies built just for you and your team.

Actionable Roadmap for Success

Start with a free evaluation. Identify what your team does well and where it can improve. Use these insights to move forward.

Get started with a discovery call, today.

Executive Coaching Package

Executive Coaching Calls

  • Tailored Coaching Sessions

  • Accountability Partnership with Me

Prompt Communication

  • With continuous Slack Support

360 Reviews

  • Twice a year

  • Feedbacks to identify areas for growth

On-Demand Services

  • Specialized support available at an hourly rate

Podcast Appearances

Guiding Startup Success

January 10, 2025

Zachary Goldberg shares his expertise on empowering tech leaders in startup environments. He discusses the unique challenges of startup leadership, from managing resource constraints to building agile, high-performing teams.

Discover how to transition from tech specialist to effective CTO, the importance of empathy in leadership, and the core strategies for achieving product-market fit. Learn more about Zach’s book, coaching practice, and advice for aspiring startup leaders.

Coaching Managers for Excellence

November 19, 2024

In this episode, Zach shares key lessons from leading startup engineering teams, common CTO mistakes during growth, how to build a culture of continuous learning and high performance, the importance of external thought leadership, and more.

Zach Goldberg is an executive coach, author of the 10k+ GitHub star book The Startup CTO’s Handbook, and CTO of Gruntwork. He’s served as CTO for seven startups, including WiFast, Sticks and Brains, AutoLotto, Trellis Technologies, GrowFlow, Towards Equilibrium Inc., and most recently, Gruntwork.

The Top Mistake by Startup CTOs

August 26, 2024

Today, we’re talking to Zach Goldberg, CTO at Gruntwork and Executive Leadership Coach. We explore key takeaways from his book, 'The Startup CTO’s Handbook,' common CTO mistakes, AI ethics, and more.

Zach, a seasoned technical entrepreneur with a 'founder's mentality,' believes in making software development a science by applying best practices, building a collaborative culture, and hiring well, all while creating a fun and world-class work environment.

Deep Dive Into Terragrunt and OpenTofu with Zach Goldberg

June 21, 2024

In this episode, Zach Goldberg, CTO of Gruntwork, shares his insights on tackling enterprise IaC complexity with open source tools. We dive into the origins of Terragrunt and its roadmap, why organizations are rapidly adopting OpenTofu, and explore the innovative ways these tools are being used in the community.

How are these developments transforming IaC practices? What challenges and opportunities lie ahead?

Zach Goldberg, Gruntwork & The Startup CTO’s Handbook

March 14, 2024

Zach Goldberg was sent to computer camp when he was 12 years old. There, he fell in love with tech, and eventually became a counselor. He finds the most joy and impact at the intersection of business and technology.

Zach shares insights from his extensive career as a CTO and his journey in writing a book that condenses the wisdom of numerous other influential works into a single, comprehensive guide.

The Startup CTO’s Handbook

February 20, 2024

Host Dan Lines welcomes back Zach Goldberg, CTO and author of the book 'The Startup CTO's Handbook: Essential Skills and Best Practices for High-Performing Engineering Teams.’

Zach shares insights from his extensive career as a CTO and his journey in writing a book that condenses the wisdom of numerous other influential works into a single, comprehensive guide.

Creating a Better CTO Playbook

June 25, 2022

Zach Goldberg, CTO at Dama Financial, joins Dev Interrupted to talk about the few truths in software engineering & the need for a CTO playbook.

In this great conversation, Zach talks about the most important things he’s learned in separating signal from noise in the realm of engineering leadership. He also provides some amazing guidance on who you should be listening to (when you’re not listening to us).