A technology executive, for the part of the week you need one.
You need someone senior making technology decisions now, but not a full-time executive salary yet. A fractional CTO gives you the judgment, the leadership and the voice in the room, for a set amount of time each month.
What you get
Technical direction
A technology plan that matches your business plan, and the architecture decisions that are expensive to get wrong.
Vendors and developers, managed
Outside developers and vendors held to what they promised, contracts read with a technical eye, and costs kept honest.
Your first engineering team
Job descriptions, interviews and onboarding for your first hires, and someone to lead them until you have a full-time leader.
A voice with investors and your board
Clear answers in technical due diligence, security questionnaires handled, and technology explained in business terms.
Security and cloud costs under control
Sensible security practices from the start, and cloud bills that grow with your business, not ahead of it.
A plan for when you outgrow us
When it's time for a full-time CTO, we help you hire them and hand over everything we've built and decided.
How an engagement works
Clear time, clear authority and no surprises, written down before we start.
- A set amount of time each month. A monthly retainer covers an agreed number of days, with meeting times and response times written down.
- You make the decisions. We advise and lead; your company decides. We commit your company to nothing without your written say-so.
- Independent advice, disclosed. If we ever recommend something of ours or our sister company's, we say so in writing first.
- Your work is yours. Plans, documents and decisions made for you belong to you once paid for.
- Month to month. Either of us can end it on 30 days' notice, with a proper handover.
Questions about a fractional CTO
What does a fractional CTO actually do?
Everything a technology executive does, for part of the week: sets technical direction, makes architecture and vendor decisions, manages outside developers, hires and leads your first engineers, and represents technology to your board, customers and investors.
How is this different from consulting?
Consulting answers a question. A fractional CTO owns your technology direction over time, sits in your leadership conversations and is accountable for the outcome, with a set amount of time every month.
Will you push us toward your own products?
No. We recommend what's right for you, and whenever an option is ours or our sister company's, such as Porto, we tell you so in writing before you decide. You always make the final decision.
Can you be our CTO on paper, for investors?
You can describe us as your fractional CTO. Becoming a formal officer of your company is a separate decision with legal duties on both sides, so it needs its own written agreement and insurance.
What happens when we hire a full-time CTO?
That's the goal. We help you hire them, hand over everything we've built and decided, and step back, on as little as 30 days' notice.
Need a technology leader before you can hire one?
Tell us where your company is, and we'll tell you honestly whether a fractional CTO is the right step.
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