How is this different from hiring a contractor?

A contractor executes a scope you define. I am there to tell you when the scope is wrong. That only works if I am senior enough to be believed and independent enough to say it.

Do you write code, or only advise?

Both, and the balance is yours to set. The Advisory tier is mostly judgment. The Hands-on tier means I am in the codebase every week. Most companies start advisory and move up when they hit something that needs building.

What if I need a full-time CTO eventually?

Then part of my job is hiring my replacement and handing over cleanly. I would rather run that search with you than be quietly kept on past the point of usefulness.

Services

Fractional CTO

A part-time head of engineering: technical decisions, hiring, and code review, without the full-time salary.

Book 20 minutes See the other services

Who this is for

You have engineers but nobody senior enough to set technical direction
You are about to raise, and the technical diligence would not go well today
You are paying for a platform decision you cannot evaluate
Your last technical hire did not work out and you are not sure why

What the work looks like

Every route drawn, one of them taken. The alternatives stay on the page so you can overrule the call knowingly.

How it works

Read
Assess
Roadmap
Ongoing

A first month spent reading: the code, the infrastructure, the backlog, and the way decisions currently get made
A written technical assessment you can hand to a board or an investor
A roadmap with the tradeoffs made explicit, so you can overrule me knowingly
Then the ongoing work: architecture calls, code review, hiring, and vendor decisions

What it costs

The bands that apply to this work, with what each one includes and what pushes it up or down. Nothing here is a number you have to book a call to hear.

Fractional CTO

Senior engineering leadership, at the number of days you actually need.

$3.5K / $6.5K / $9K per month

What it includes

Architecture and technical roadmap you can defend to a board
Hiring: scorecards, interviews and leveling for the engineers you bring on
Code review and standards for the team you already have
Vendor selection and build-versus-buy calls

What moves the number

Days per month, and how much of that is hands-on-keyboard rather than advisory
Whether you need me in front of your board or your customers
Hiring load: interviewing and leveling engineers takes real hours

Month to month, no minimum term. Stop it the month it stops being worth the money.

Questions people actually ask

How is this different from hiring a contractor?: A contractor executes a scope you define. I am there to tell you when the scope is wrong. That only works if I am senior enough to be believed and independent enough to say it.
Do you write code, or only advise?: Both, and the balance is yours to set. The Advisory tier is mostly judgment. The Hands-on tier means I am in the codebase every week. Most companies start advisory and move up when they hit something that needs building.
What if I need a full-time CTO eventually?: Then part of my job is hiring my replacement and handing over cleanly. I would rather run that search with you than be quietly kept on past the point of usefulness.

Sound like your situation?

Twenty minutes, no deck, and a straight answer at the end about whether this is the right piece of work for you. If it is not, I would rather say so now than at proposal stage.

Book 20 minutes See every band