Main Responsibilities of a CEO at Blue Dot Motorworks
Tom, Blue Dot Motorworks' CEO, splits time between CEO and CTO roles in the startup, focusing on "enunciating core values" and long-term strategy, as well as team building and—less enjoyably—"fundraising," a necessity for progress in developing cost-effective products aligned with their climate-focused mission.
Executive/Leadership, Teamwork, Fundraising, Product Development, Strategic Planning
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Tom Gurski
CEO
Blue Dot Motorworks
MIT 1999
N/A
Engineering - Mechanical
Automotive & Auto Parts
Entrepreneurship and Business Owner
Took Out Loans
Video Highlights
1. Enunciating core company values, aligning mission with values, and creating a long-term strategy to achieve the mission are crucial CEO responsibilities.
2. Team building is vital for success, requiring assembling the right people to achieve company goals.
3. Fundraising is a significant, albeit less enjoyable, aspect of a CEO's role in startups, essential for progress and growth.
Transcript
What are your main responsibilities within your current role?
My title is CEO. But as a very small startup, everybody wears a lot of hats. I'm kind of split my roles between CEO and CPTO, so that would be Chief Product and Technology Officer.
As CEO, I like to think the most important roles are enunciating the core values of the company, making sure our mission aligns with those values, and then creating the long-term strategy that will best achieve that mission. I think that's probably the most important thing a CEO can do.
Team building is probably the second most important. Obviously, it takes a village to make anything happen, and getting the right people involved is super important.
The almost unfortunate side of what a CEO has to do is fundraising. A good chunk of time is spent on that as a startup. That's probably my least favorite aspect of it. But obviously, if you can't get the money, you can't make progress, so it has to be done.
More on the CPTO side of things, the real core function there is developing the product architectures that will create a compelling, cost-effective product for customers while still serving that top-down mission. That mission is to provide a needed tool in our climate change toolbox.