You don't necessarily need a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for an initial Minimum Viable Product (MVP), but it depends on your technical skills and the complexity of your product. If you're technical, building quickly and iterating before considering hiring can be beneficial. However, if you're non-technical, no-code solutions or outsourcing development might be more suitable options initially. As your product scales, technical leadership becomes essential for architectural, security, and performance improvements. You should consider bringing in a CTO when your MVP is scaling, requires deep technical expertise, or managing outsourced development becomes overwhelming.