Fractional CTO
Senior technical judgment, without the seven-figure hire.
- Timeline
- Three-month minimum, reviewed quarterly.
- Investment
- Retainers from $9,000/month.
- Format
- A recurring weekly commitment, typically one to two days, with defined decision rights agreed on in writing at the start.
The case for it
There is a stage where a company needs a CTO's judgment far more often than it needs a CTO's salary. Architecture choices are getting locked in. Engineers are being hired without anyone qualified to assess them. Vendors are quoting numbers nobody can sanity-check. Delivery dates slip and no one can say why.
We take the seat: in your leadership meetings, in your architecture reviews, and accountable for delivery, with an explicit mandate to make ourselves unnecessary. Every engagement includes a written plan for what your permanent technical leadership should look like and how to get there.
You are probably here because
- A non-technical founder or CEO is making technical calls alone.
- The engineering team has no one senior enough to push back on them.
- Delivery predictability has degraded and nobody can name the cause.
- You are about to sign a platform contract or a hire you cannot easily unwind.
What you receive
Artifacts, not impressions.
Everything below is a concrete thing that exists at the end of the engagement and belongs to you.
- 01
Technical due diligence
An honest read on architecture, delivery practice, security posture, key-person risk, and technical debt, with severity and cost attached.
- 02
Leadership in the room
Standing presence in leadership and architecture forums. Decisions get made with someone accountable for the consequences.
- 03
Hiring and vendor rigour
Role definitions, technical interviews we run with you, and vendor evaluations where the tradeoffs are written down.
- 04
Succession plan
The specification for your permanent technical leadership, and a handover that does not leave a hole when we step out.
The outcome
Technical decisions made on evidence, a delivery cadence you can forecast against, and a clear path off the engagement.
Next discipline
Strategic Vision & Advisory
Decide what the company is actually building, and why it wins.
Start here
Ready to scope Fractional CTO?
Write a few paragraphs about the business and what is in the way. We will reply with a real assessment of whether this is the right work, including if the answer is no.