Is this for you?
- You're a technical founder but a first-time CTO, and you want a sounding board with a longer memory than the last Hacker News thread.
- You're a non-technical founder and the tech conversation keeps stalling because there's nobody senior in the room.
- Hiring has slipped — JDs are stale, interviews are inconsistent, and two engineers have joined that shouldn't have.
- You're about to make a vendor or architecture decision that'll be expensive to reverse.
- You need someone in the DD conversations when investors start asking real technical questions.
What you get
- Weekly 1:1 with founder(s).
- Async availability via Slack or email between calls.
- Architecture reviews and decision support.
- Hiring support — JDs, screening, technical interviews, calibration.
- Vendor and tooling evaluation.
- Investor and technical DD support when you're raising.
Scope
What's in
- Strategic technical direction
- Hiring and interviewing
- Architecture and vendor decisions
- Investor and technical DD support
What's out
- Day-to-day IC work
- Writing production code
- Being on-call
- Running standups
Process
Intake call
30 min, freeMutual fit check. Not every team needs this, and I'll tell you if I don't think we're a match.
Month 1 — onboarding
Weeks 1–4Stakeholder conversations, initial architecture read, current-state assessment. Weekly founder 1:1 starts immediately.
Months 2–3 — steady rhythm
Weeks 5–12Hiring, decisions, reviews, whatever's actively in front of you. Async availability in between.
Renewal or wind-down
End of month 3Continue, extend for another quarter, or hand off cleanly with documentation for whoever comes next.
Pricing
Invoiced monthly, net 15. Three-month minimum. No setup fee. If the intake call shows we're not a fit, no engagement, no charge.
One fixed price. No surprises, no “starting at” language. If we agree on scope and you pay the deposit, the engagement is locked in.
Questions
Can you go beyond 5 hours a week?
Sometimes, for short bursts. If it's a sustained need, you probably need a full-time CTO and I'll tell you so.
Do you write code?
Only to illustrate or unblock, not as the work. If you need a senior IC, that's a different engagement.
Will you do our technical due diligence for investors?
Yes — that's included in the retainer during active raises.
What happens after 3 months?
Continue month-to-month, extend for another quarter, or wind down. Your call.
How many fractional CTO clients do you take?
Three concurrent, maximum. Quality over volume.
About
26+ years of full-stack experience across PHP, JavaScript, and Python. I ship production systems for teams that need senior technical work they can trust, from the founding engineer's perspective.
More about the studioReady to start?
Book an intro call. If we're not a fit, I'll tell you on the call.