0111 CTO Conference 2026: Then. Now. Next.
Ten years ago, a group of tech leaders decided to do something different — not another conference, but a room where you could say the hard thing. A decade later, we're back on the beach to look back honestly, sit with the now, and get intentional about what comes next.
About 0111 2026
A decade in. Still asking the hard questions.
The industry looks nothing like it did. AI didn't just change our roadmaps, it changed what it even means to be a CTO. Some of us have scaled companies, others have rebuilt them from the ground up. We've led through a pandemic, through economic whiplash, through a level of technological disruption that honestly none of us fully predicted. And here we are; still here, still building, still asking the hard questions.
Then. Now. Next. is the thread running through everything: the talks, the experiences, the conversations that happen between sessions. Limited to just 100 attendees, 0111 is intentionally intimate — designed for real conversations, radical growth, and relationship-building that lasts.
The Three Threads
One concept, three angles. Every talk and conversation lives somewhere on this arc.
Then.
The decade that made you. The hard pivots, the calls you'd remake, the lessons only earned in the chair.
Now.
AI didn't just change the roadmap, it changed the role. Honest talk about what's actually working — and what isn't.
Next.
What the next chapter looks like for you, your team, and the craft. Built together, on the beach, in the open.
The Agenda
Pre-event
Wed, Nov 4
Evening
Happy Hour Kickoff
Venue TBA
Day 1
Thu, Nov 5
Breakfast
Conference sessions
Detailed schedule to follow
Happy Hour
Trivia Night
Day 2
Fri, Nov 6
Breakfast
Conference sessions
Detailed schedule to follow
Closing Remarks
Wednesday happy hour venue will be confirmed and added soon.
Speakers
Meet the 0111 2026 lineup. Tap any card for the full bio and a look at the talk. More speakers to be announced soon.
Alo Sarv
Co-founder & CTO, SOCi
"Managing Agentic Teams"
Tap for bioAlo Sarv
The Talk
After building a 700k-line application with Claude in three months, Alo found the unlock wasn't technical skill — it was management skill. Setting vision, context, roles and process is exactly what agentic development demands.
Bio
Alo Sarv is co-founder and CTO of SOCi Inc, a $100M+ ARR agentic marketing technology platform serving nearly 1,000 brands across millions of locations. Recipient of the 7CTOs "Rapid Growth" award and an ICF Associate Certified Coach, he races cars on weekends and plays several musical instruments.
Angelina Hendricks
VP of Engineering, PropertyRadar
"From AI Experiments to an Engineering Operating System"
Tap for bioAngelina Hendricks
The Talk
How to move past scattered AI pilots and design an operating model where agents are first-class participants in planning, development, and review — with more clarity and stronger governance, not less.
Bio
Angelina Hendricks is VP of Engineering at PropertyRadar, where she rebuilt the engineering operating system and designed an agentic engineering workflow. Over two decades she has led engineering organizations from early stage through roughly $100M ARR B2B SaaS, including CTO roles at Planet DDS and eSUB and senior leadership at Verimatrix and TriTech.
Bryan Hall
CEO, Satori Bio
"Betting on Engineers"
Tap for bioBryan Hall
The Talk
Every engineering hire is a bet on someone's future, not their present. Drawing on 150+ technical interviews, Bryan shares how to spot who will keep growing as the profession changes faster than ever.
Bio
Bryan Hall is a two-time founder, former Head of Data & AI at Seismic, and CEO of Satori Bio, an AI startup applying machine learning to improve mental health treatment. He also founded Tech Talent Screen, where he has personally conducted more than 150 technical interviews across AI, embedded systems, distributed infrastructure, and SaaS.
Chris Petersen
CTO & Cofounder, Scientist.com
"The Transaction: What I Learned Selling My Company, and How It Felt"
Tap for bioChris Petersen
The Talk
After nearly 20 years, we sold our company. The first half is what I wish I'd known going in: how Private Equity works, how they negotiate, and how they incentivize you. The second half is what it felt like to have 20 years come down to the biggest exam of my life, to decide what I wanted to do next, and to let go of the role that had come to define me.
Bio
CTO and Cofounder of Scientist.com. Software engineer by training and disposition — his happy place is still at a keyboard building things.
Erik Enge
Engineering Leader & COO
"Managing for Momentum"
Tap for bioErik Enge
The Talk
Growing the right people, in the right direction, fast. Systems thinking taught us that team interactions matter — but in a world where tools change every quarter, Erik argues individual competence matters more now than ever.
Bio
Erik has spent twenty years leading engineering organizations — from hands-on architect to COO — at companies ranging from bootstrapped SaaS to platforms sending 14+ billion emails a month. He leads as a coach more than a commander, pairing psychological safety with real candor, and believes most problems that look like people problems are actually design problems.
Etienne de Bruin
Founder & CEO, 7CTOs
"The CTO's Second Brain"
Tap for bioEtienne de Bruin
The Talk
Full talk description coming soon. A preview of the thinking behind it lives at ctosub.com/p/the-ctos-second-brain.
Bio
Etienne de Bruin is the founder of 7CTOs and a seasoned Chief Technology Officer with two decades of experience. He knows the balancing act of driving technical innovation alongside solid leadership — navigating growth, managing teams, and aligning technology with business objectives. He has been through the trenches, made the tough calls, and felt the weight of leading from the front. While driving companies to success, he noticed a significant gap: there was no real support system or clear roadmap that spoke directly to the unique hurdles a CTO faces. 7CTOs was built to give technology leaders the guidance, community, tools, and proven framework needed to survive, thrive, and scale.
Fayzan Rab
MD, PCC — Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality
"Psychedelics and Leadership: Expanding Consciousness in Times of an Intelligence Boom"
Tap for bioFayzan Rab
The Talk
One of the first systematic investigations of how psychedelic experiences shape leadership — what happens when leaders in the real world, not patients in a trial, encounter these substances, and what trickles into the organizations they run.
Bio
Dr. Rab is a psychiatrist, executive coach, and researcher at the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality. A former product leader at Google and Mindstrong Health, he has coached highly technical founders and executives for seven years and served as a sub-investigator studying psilocybin, MDMA, and 5-MeO-DMT. He is Principal Investigator of the Psychedelics and Leadership Study.
Igor von Nyssen
Director of Technology, Amazon
"What I Learned After I Knew Everything"
Tap for bioIgor von Nyssen
The Talk
Leading teams of 8, 50, 200 and 500+. From being made a manager in week two of his first startup to running a 750-person org behind Amazon's grocery supply chain, Igor unpacks how a leader's value changes at every order of magnitude.
Bio
Igor is a Director of Technology at Amazon, leading business and technology teams for Amazon's grocery supply chain. Previous work includes Amazon Dash, Amazon Go and the PlayStation 4. He has a master's in computer science from Germany and an MBA from USC, and enjoys sailing and astrophotography.
Jennifer Cwagenberg
Head of Engineering, Protopia
"Talk title coming soon"
Tap for bioJennifer Cwagenberg
The Talk
Full talk description coming soon.
Bio
Jennifer leads engineering at Protopia. Her career spans security, cloud infrastructure, and data leadership across Toyota's Product Cybersecurity Group, N-able, and Match.com.
Kelvin Pho
Co-founder & CTO, Mia Labs
"Phone Agents at Scale: Learnings from Millions of AI Conversations"
Tap for bioKelvin Pho
The Talk
From 32 AI conversations a month at launch to more than 675,000 — a near-straight line on a log scale. Kelvin shares what actually broke along the way, and why the AI was the easy part.
Bio
Kelvin Pho is co-founder and CTO of Mia Labs, building AI voice agents for automotive dealerships and the first approved AI provider in GM's Dealer Digital Solution program for AI and Conversational Intelligence. He spent 15 years in fintech beforehand, scaling Self Financial's engineering team from 2 to 100 engineers across five funding rounds.
Tracie Hlavka
VP of Engineering, Possible Finance
"The Last Typing Pool"
Tap for bioTracie Hlavka
The Talk
What automating her first job taught Tracie about automating her current one. Thirty years after bringing word processing to a room of typists, she leads an AI-first engineering org in regulated fintech where breaking things isn't an option.
Bio
Tracie Hlavka is VP of Engineering at Possible Finance, a Seattle-based fintech expanding access to credit for underserved customers. Over a 20+ year career she has led engineering at Blue Nile, Porch, and Flyhomes, scaling teams through hypergrowth, acquisitions, downturns, and two IPOs.
More speakers to be announced soon — keynote still to be confirmed.
Sponsors
Get in front of 100 senior tech leaders in an intimate, beachfront setting.
Our 2026 sponsors
Interested in being a sponsor?
Choose a tier and email us to claim your spot.
Sapphire
Be in the conversations that matter.
One spot left
- 2 conference passes (+ discount code for additional attendees)
- Table space in the lobby
- Logo on event website
- Recognition in welcome & closing announcements
- Swag in the welcome bags
- 30-second promo video played during the conference + logo on recordings
Sponsorship add-ons
Stack any of these on top of an Emerald or Sapphire package.
Happy Hour
Front and centre on Thursday night — mingle with every attendee in a relaxed setting.
Lunch (Thu or Fri)
Prime brand placement as the community gathers mid-day to refuel and connect.
Trivia Night
One of the most memorable, laughter-filled sessions of 0111 — high energy, full room.
Wednesday Happy Hour or Experience
Kick off the conference with attendees the night before things officially begin.
The Venue
0111 2026 is officially returning to the Catamaran Resort Hotel & Spa on Mission Bay. Beachfront rooms, bayfront sunsets, and the kind of laid-back setting that makes honest conversation easy.
Get a feel for it
Past 0111 Moments
See what the community, the talks, and the beach vibe actually feel like.
Presented by
CTOs face daily high-stakes hurdles. 7CTOs is an exclusive tech leader membership providing expert support, coaching, and community to help CTOs lead, grow, and thrive. Built by CTOs, for CTOs.