Lessons learned: 6 years as CTO at Taster

The context: why this interview?

At Bluecoders, we work alongside startups and scale-ups on tech hiring. But it's not just about finding developers — it's about understanding what makes a team work, or not.

That's why we're launching this interview series: to give a voice to people who actually live the day-to-day of building tech teams. No fluff, no LinkedIn punchlines. Just the real thing.

Who is Dayvid?

Dayvid has an atypical, deliberate path: an apprenticeship to dive straight into the real world, founding his first company, then a stint at Artefact where he discovered data and consulting.

He then joined Taster, a foodtech startup that invented a new model at the time: fully digital restaurants, designed for delivery and click & collect.

Their promise: offer a true delivery-native experience (products designed for it, consistent quality, speed) while letting partner restaurateurs put their kitchens to better use through a franchise model.

Why was this a tech challenge?

To scale this model, Taster had to automate the whole chain: order forecasting, ingredient management, integration with Deliveroo and Uber Eats, kitchen tooling, B2C apps. Without a solid technical team, all of that stayed duct-taped together.

"When I arrived, there was almost nothing. Their forecasting algorithm was a guy doing copy-paste all week."

Building a tech team from zero

When he arrives at Taster, Dayvid has one conviction: success will come from a very senior, tight-knit team that can do everything.

"I hired four very senior profiles, almost all with a consulting background. That wasn't random: they knew how to explain things, understand a need, adapt, and ramp up fast. And above all, they could do everything, because we couldn't have rigid labels at five people."

With a clear vision:

"I had already shown investors a 6-12 month plan: the roles, the projects, and their business impact. That's what mattered most to convince them and unlock the budget."

When a team makes the difference

One of the best examples of tech's business impact at Taster?

The Click & Collect project.

Initially deemed too expensive and shelved, Dayvid and his team decided to relaunch it pirate-style during a hackathon. In a week, they built a stripped-down first version: an iPad ordering kiosk wired to their menu manager, with no heavy infrastructure cost.

"Before, a customer who came in person still had to order via Deliveroo or Uber Eats, pay fees, wait. With our kiosk, it's €200 to deploy, and it removes all the friction."

Result: 5 to 10% of revenue generated through Click & Collect two years later, and a real selling point to convince street-front restaurants.

"It transformed the model. Instead of only chasing hidden dark kitchens, we could win over visible restaurants."

Managing through the highs… and the lows

It wasn't all linear. After a strong growth phase, Taster ran into the combined effects of the economic downturn and increased pressure on profitability.

"We had to shrink the team. From a human standpoint, that's the hardest part. You're telling people who just arrived that you can't keep them. You have to justify, explain. And the ones who stay see that the company isn't as solid as they thought. You have to rebuild trust."

Dayvid says this is when he understood what the CTO role really means: it isn't just about hiring, scaling, or picking the right stack. It's owning heavy, sometimes very unpopular decisions, and taking responsibility for keeping the team together through them.

"It's easy to shine when everything's going well. It's in moments like these that you learn what being a CTO really is."

To get through it, he had to rethink everything: be more transparent about the company's situation, explain why projects were being killed, give renewed meaning to what was still a priority.

"You have to accept saying: 'We're going slower. We're doing fewer things. But we're doing them better.' And the team has to understand why. That means talking a lot more, listening, explaining, and also accepting that you'll lose people."

He also points out the mental weight:

"You sleep badly, you turn things over in your head all the time. But you don't have a choice. Your responsibility is to make these decisions so the company survives. Even if it's deeply thankless in the moment."

For him, that period was the most formative of his entire experience:

"Hiring fast is exhilarating. Cutting and owning it is hard. But that's when you really become a manager."

Hiring the right profiles

Looking back, Dayvid acknowledges he'd do some things differently.

"I think we shifted to junior hires too early. It's an investment that makes sense, but the timing has to be right. Before that, you have to build a very senior, very autonomous core team."

He explains that a team that's too junior demands daily oversight and extra iterations — and that time isn't always available when the roadmap accelerates or financial pressure tightens.

"When you have to scale fast and ship, you need people who already know how to do it. And when you have less budget, that's even more true. You need to count on them to think and execute without you reviewing everything afterward."

He also describes the field reality of sourcing:

"Hiring isn't tossing CVs around. I'd do 100 interviews in a month. But I knew exactly what I was looking for. I looked at curiosity, the ability to explain things, the human fit. And above all, I sold the vision. Why it was interesting, why it mattered."

For him, that's the key:

"If you want to hire top profiles, you don't sell a role. You sell a project."

The takeaways

1️⃣ Stay close to the business

"It's not your toy. You're building to solve real problems. You have to listen to product, to the field."

2️⃣ Don't plan too far ahead

"Beyond six months, you're making things up. You have to be ready to adapt the roadmap."

3️⃣ Surround yourself with different people, think collectively

"I wasn't alone. I had an informal advisory circle, my right hands. They thought differently. That keeps you from making bad decisions."

Conclusion: what does it mean to be a CTO?

"It's not just coding or making decisions. It's arbitrating. Taking risks. Giving meaning. And knowing how to say no."

That's why we're launching this interview series. Not to lecture anyone. But to share these lessons learned, and help other companies ask themselves the right questions.