Reflections on stepping down as CTO after two years

July 1st 25

Two weeks after finishing my high school exams, I walked into a small company as an intern. I was 18, convinced I could learn more by building real solutions than sitting in university classrooms. Fast forward two years, I'm stepping down to pursue new challenges.

The past two years has been very transformative. I had the chance to work on some challenges, get better at working with people and see practical use of technology in response to day to day life problems, at a certain scale. I didn't expect that much when I just started.

Now that chapter is behind me. I recently left the role, and I’ve been thinking a lot about everything I learned, what went well, what didn’t, and what I want to build next. This post is a reflection on that experience, and I hope it helps anyone on a similar path or curious about building in emerging tech environments.

How it started

I didn’t join the company through a job posting or referral. I called them. I literally picked up the phone and told them I wanted to help make things better. I wasn’t afraid of what they’d think, I just knew I had something to offer, and I was willing to prove it. That wasn’t obvious, and it wasn’t easy or comfortable. I had to be persistent. I forced my way in.

That’s something I think more people need to hear: if you want something, you have to go get it. Don’t just post on LinkedIn saying you’re looking for opportunities, go create them. Keep building things, keep showing the world what you’re capable of, and approach companies like you have something valuable to trade. Because you do. It’s just a matter of showing how your skills can move a business forward.

The world is full of opportunities, be comfortable taking risks. It was risky to decide to not pursue a traditional education path, but I knew I could learn more and today it's also risky to quit a stable job to start something new, without a clear plan. But I believe that’s where the real growth happens. If you’re not willing to take risks, you’ll never know what you’re capable of.

Once I got in, I started small. I helped making things faster. People saw the value and I gained trust by solving problems. Then came bigger projects like migrating our systems to something faster and more reliable, and setting up modern infrastructure that made life easier for the dev team. Over time, I naturally took on more responsibility, and eventually stepped a CTO role.

Big challenges and what they taught me

One of the hardest parts wasn’t technical, it was human. Changing habits is tough. I learned quickly that if you build something that doesn’t align with how people think or work, it won’t be used, no matter how elegant the code is.

I had to learn to communicate better. To listen more. To understand not just the surface of a problem, but the constraints people were working with. I used to think the best solution was the one that made the most technical sense. But often, the best solution is the one people can adopt today.

Making an impact that lasts

One of the most fulfilling parts of my time as CTO was realizing that the work I did mattered in people’s day-to-day lives. I worked on systems that, if they broke, immediately triggered emails and alerts not because of bugs, but because people were relying on them. That direct feedback loop made me realize the impact. I wasn’t just writing code; I was solving real problems for real people. That sense of purpose was a core part of my mission when I joined helping people be more productive by automating repetitive processes so they could focus on what actually matters.

Another side of that impact was internal: setting up a modern tech foundation for the team. When I joined, we were running on a legacy system. My goal was to move us toward a modern, scalable infrastructure that could grow with the company without demanding a large ops team. I introduced tools and practices that made onboarding easier, development faster, and scaling smoother, all while keeping costs low. It worked: we were able to focus on building the product instead of fighting infrastructure.

This is something I see many companies in Senegal still struggling with. Too often, they’re stuck with tools that are hard to scale, hard to maintain, and frustrating for developers. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Today, the global tech ecosystem offers tools specifically built to simplify infrastructure and improve developer happiness. And in my opinion, that’s a key metric: if your developers are happy with the tools they’re using, everything else gets better too.

Looking ahead, I want to share more of this experience whether through writing, videos, or events and help more teams realize that building reliable, scalable systems is more accessible than they think.

One more thing that meant a lot to me was seeing the people around me grow. Watching teammates get better at what they do, become more confident, more curious, more capable, is incredibly fulfilling.

Looking ahead

Now that I’ve left the company, I’m focusing on building new things, especially tools that help people and teams work and collaborate better. One of the projects I’ve started is Cofloh, a tool to help small teams manage projects more simply and affordably.

But beyond that, I want to share what I’ve learned. Build startups online. I'm also looking forward to build and contribute to more opensource projects.

A note to anyone just starting out

If you're young, self-taught, and wondering if you're ready to do something big, here's what I’ll say: you probably are. You won’t have all the answers, and you’ll definitely make mistakes. But you’ll learn fast if you’re willing to listen, build, and take responsibility. The speed at which you learn new things is more important in some extend than the current knowledge you have.

Real-world experience teaches things no course ever will. And if you care deeply about solving problems that matter, you’ll find your way.

Thanks for reading.

— Moustapha