Fractional CTO
Senior Technical Leadership Without the Full-Time Hire
Part-time CTO services for startups that need experienced technical judgment on architecture, hiring, and strategy. 4–12 hours per week, starting at $6k/month.
I advise because I still build. My recommendations come from what I'm shipping this week, not what I shipped five years ago.
The Problem
You're making architecture decisions that your team will live with for years. You're evaluating vendors, choosing infrastructure, hiring engineers, and setting technical direction. And you're doing it alone, or with a team that's too close to the codebase to see the bigger picture.
Without senior technical leadership, risk accumulates silently. The database choice that seemed fine at 10k users breaks at 100k. The "quick" integration becomes a six-month rewrite. The first three engineering hires don't have the experience to push back on decisions that need pushing back on.
Hiring a full-time CTO takes 3–6 months. It costs $200k–$350k per year before equity. And at your stage, you might not need 40 hours a week of technical leadership. You need 4–12 hours of the right judgment at the right moments.
Where risk compounds without senior technical oversight
These decisions are cheap to get right early and expensive to fix later.
How It Works
Month 1: Assessment & First Wins
Deep dive into your codebase, architecture, team structure, and roadmap. I identify the highest-risk decisions on your plate and the quickest wins available. You get a written technical assessment with prioritized recommendations within the first two weeks. We start acting on it immediately.
Ongoing: Regular Syncs & Async Access
Weekly or biweekly strategy sessions depending on your engagement level. Between calls, I'm available async for architecture questions, PR reviews, hiring decisions, and anything that can't wait. You're not scheduling a meeting to get unblocked. You're sending a message and getting a response.
Architecture Reviews & Technical Direction
Before your team commits to a major technical decision, I review it. Database migrations, service boundaries, third-party integrations, AI feature architecture. The goal is catching expensive mistakes before they ship, not after.
Advisory vs. Active Engagement
Advisory means I'm your strategic partner: weekly syncs, async availability, architecture reviews, hiring input. Active means I'm embedded deeper: attending standups, reviewing PRs regularly, participating in sprint planning, and helping shape engineering culture. Most clients start advisory and adjust based on what they need.
What You Get
Deliverables
- Technical assessment & priority map
A written review of your architecture, infrastructure, and technical debt. Prioritized by risk and effort so you know what to fix first and what can wait.
- Architecture decision records
Every major technical decision documented with context, alternatives considered, and rationale. Your future CTO (or future self) will thank you.
- Technical strategy & roadmap input
Alignment between product goals and technical execution. I help you sequence work so your engineering effort compounds instead of fragmenting.
- Hiring support & team structure
Job descriptions, interview process design, candidate evaluation, and team structure recommendations. I've hired and managed 50+ engineers. I know what to look for and what to avoid.
- Risk identification & mitigation
Proactive identification of technical risks before they become expensive problems. Scalability limits, security gaps, compliance requirements, vendor lock-in.
- Regular syncs & async availability
Scheduled strategy sessions plus async access for decisions that can't wait until the next meeting. Slack, email, or whatever your team uses.
- AI strategy & integration guidance
Practical guidance on where AI fits into your product and workflow. Not "add AI to everything" consulting. Honest assessment of what will move the needle and what's noise.
- Investor & board-level technical communication
Help translating technical decisions into language that resonates with investors and non-technical stakeholders. I've been in those rooms.
Pricing
Investment
Advisory
$6k–$10k/month
4–6 hours/week
- • Weekly strategy sessions
- • Async availability for critical decisions
- • Architecture reviews on major decisions
- • Hiring input and candidate evaluation
Active
$10k–$18k/month
8–12 hours/week
- • Everything in Advisory
- • Regular PR reviews and code feedback
- • Sprint planning and standup participation
- • Engineering culture and process development
- • Investor/board technical communication
Typical commitment: 3+ months. Most clients stay 6–12 months.
Cost comparison
You get the senior judgment without the overhead. When you're ready for a full-time hire, I help you find and evaluate the right person.
Who This Is For
- Seed to Series A startups without a full-time CTO who need senior technical judgment now, not in three months
- Technical founders who are strong engineers but want a second opinion on architecture, hiring, and strategy
- Teams making architectural bets they'll live with for years and want someone who's made those bets before
- Non-technical founders who need someone to translate business goals into technical execution
Who This Is Not For
- Teams looking for extra engineering hands to grind tickets. I advise, I don't write your features.
- Companies that need someone full-time and on-site. If you need 40 hours a week, you need a full-time hire.
- Organizations looking for a title on a pitch deck without real engagement. This works because I'm involved, not because my name is on a slide.
What Clients Say
"He quickly understood where we were with AI tooling and gave us immediately actionable advice, not generic frameworks. He identified gaps we hadn't considered, walked us through how he architects agent loops in production, and helped us think through our product-level agent strategy without over-engineering it."
"I found his videos especially clear-headed. I booked a couple of private sessions to discuss OpenClaw, and to my delight, he was equally clear-headed in person."
Frequently Asked Questions
Why not just hire a full-time CTO?
At seed to Series A, most teams need 4–12 hours per week of senior technical judgment, not 40 hours of presence. A full-time CTO hire takes 3–6 months to find, costs $200k–$350k per year before equity, and might not be the right call for your stage. I provide the thinking; your team does the building. When you're ready for a full-time hire, I help you find the right person and transition smoothly.
How do you stay current if you're also consulting?
I'm a full-time Senior Software Engineer at August Health, building clinical software for senior living. I use Claude Code daily, ship AI features in production, and work with real codebases under real constraints every day. Consulting is limited to 1–2 engagements at a time specifically so I stay current. My advice comes from what I'm doing this week, not what I remember from three years ago.
What's the difference between Advisory and Active?
Advisory (4–6 hrs/week) is strategic: weekly syncs, async availability, architecture reviews, and hiring input. You bring decisions to me and I help you make them. Active (8–12 hrs/week) is embedded: I'm in your standups, reviewing PRs, participating in sprint planning, and helping shape engineering culture day to day. Most clients start with Advisory and adjust based on what they actually need.
How quickly can we start?
Typically 1–2 weeks from our intro call. The first month includes a structured assessment of your technical landscape, so we hit the ground running. Compare that to 3–6 months for a full-time CTO search.
What's your background?
15+ years building production software. I was CTO at Buoy Software where I grew the engineering team from 0 to 50+ engineers and shipped FDA-cleared medical device software in a regulated healthcare environment. I chose to return to hands-on building because I believe the best advisors are practitioners. I'm currently a Senior SWE at August Health, building clinical software and shipping AI features in production.
What happens when we outgrow fractional?
That's a good outcome. When you're ready for a full-time CTO, I help write the job description, design the interview process, evaluate candidates, and ensure a clean transition. The architecture decision records and technical documentation we build together become the onboarding package for your new hire.
Let's talk about what you're building.
Book a free 30-minute intro call. We'll talk through your technical challenges, and I'll tell you honestly whether fractional CTO is the right fit or if something else makes more sense.