7 Mac Apps Every Startup CTO Should Have in 2026

Being a startup CTO means wearing every hat — writing code, reviewing PRs, managing infrastructure, talking to customers, and somehow keeping your own sanity intact. Your Mac is your command center, and the apps you run on it can make or break your day. Here are 7 Mac apps I think every startup CTO should have installed in 2026. 1. Raycast Free (Pro $8/mo) raycast.com Raycast replaced Spotlight for me and never looked back. It's a launcher, clipboard manager, snippet expander, and window manager rolled into one. The extensions ecosystem is wild — I have quick actions for GitHub, Linear, Slack, and Notion all accessible from a single keyboard shortcut. If you're constantly switching between tools (and as a CTO, you are), Raycast shaves minutes off every hour. 2. Warp Free for individuals warp.dev Warp is a terminal built for the modern era. It has IDE-like features — command palette, block-based output, AI command suggestions — that make it feel less like a relic from the 80s. I like th