CTO Freedom in Startups and Corporations with Kirill Evseenko

Where does a CTO have more freedom: where a decision takes one evening, or where resources enable a major change? Kirill Evseenko, CTO of Zvuk, compares startups and corporations through his own experience. He began in systems administration, led development at a healthcare startup, then technology and product at START. Over six years, START’s team grew from roughly 12 people to 150. His career principle is to pursue responsibility rather than a title.

Startups offer speed and broad authority but have limited money and people. The CTO must consider architecture, hiring, product, and technology costs together. Corporations offer more resources, yet launches depend on approvals, security, legal requirements, and partner teams. More evidence is needed because mistakes can affect a larger audience and the organization’s reputation. Freedom therefore includes the ability to carry a decision through to a working result.

Understanding Zvuk’s corporate rules took Kirill about six months. The hardest adjustment was influencing through managers and building an effective organization instead of personally fixing technical problems. Platform teams help distribute knowledge previously held by individual specialists. A technical career track lets strong engineers progress without being pushed into management: their expertise should solve real business problems and help colleagues grow.

The conversation also examines why corporations struggle to close initiatives that no longer create value. Teams want their projects to continue, while the personal risk of a failed change can outweigh the reward for success. Startups can borrow clear operating rules, risk management, and incident response procedures. Corporations can borrow team autonomy, faster experiments, and personal accountability. The conclusion: effective CTOs understand technology, people, and money, negotiate across functions, and take responsibility for the consequences of decisions.