Technical Expertise Required for CPTO Role

Claire Vo believes that operating at a faster pace than expected is essential for driving innovation, even within larger companies. She intentionally pushes organizations to accelerate their natural rhythm by setting expectations one level faster than what feels comfortable.

When Claire joins a company, she's often hired not to teach them how to operate like a big company, but to remind them they can operate like a startup. She implements this philosophy by establishing a "one click faster" pace expectation with her leadership teams. If someone thinks something needs to be done this year, she challenges them to complete it this half. If they think it needs to be done this quarter, she pushes for this month.

This acceleration mindset extends to how meetings are structured. Claire refuses to let organizational pace degrade to the cadence of recurring meetings. She actively discourages the common pattern of "we'll make the decision in the next meeting" because it creates artificial timelines dictated by calendar systems rather than business needs. Instead, she encourages teams to make decisions based on when they have sufficient information, not when the next scheduled meeting occurs.

For individual contributors, this means recognizing when you're falling into the trap of using meeting schedules as excuses for delayed action. When you hear "we'll discuss this at next week's meeting," consider whether that timeline is truly necessary or if progress could happen sooner. The practical implication is to decouple decision-making from meeting cadences and instead focus on the minimum information needed to move forward.

Claire also emphasizes personal service level agreements - she never wants to be the bottleneck for her organization. As a leader in a decision-making position, she prioritizes being responsive and decisive, recognizing that her speed directly impacts the entire team's velocity. For ICs, this means understanding that your responsiveness to teammates and stakeholders significantly affects how quickly projects can progress.

This pace-setting approach is balanced with maintaining high quality through clear expectations, normalized feedback, and decisive action when someone isn't meeting the bar. Claire believes that "fast beats right" - making a decision and executing with conviction consistently outperforms spending excessive time seeking the perfect solution.