Sound familiar?
Technical leadership gaps that stall startups
The strategic and architectural blockers that hold back teams who have developers but lack senior technical direction.
No technical co-founder or CTO
Fractional CTO leadership fills the gap — providing architectural direction, technology decisions and technical credibility for investors without the full-time headcount cost.
Raising a round — need to pass tech DD
We prepare your codebase, architecture docs and security posture for investor due diligence — and represent your technology function in the DD process.
Tech debt blocking product velocity
Architecture reviews and prioritised modernisation roadmaps that identify what to fix now versus later — balancing speed with stability.
Building an engineering team for the first time
Org design, levelling frameworks, hiring processes and interview scorecards so you hire the right engineers in the right order.
What we offer
Engineering advisory across strategy, architecture, AI and team
Seven advisory capability areas for startups that need senior technical leadership without the full-time hire.
Fractional CTO / VP Engineering
Senior technical leadership on a part-time basis. Architecture governance, roadmap ownership, board representation and engineering team management.
- 1–3 days per week, flexible to your needs
- Board deck support & investor comms
Technical due diligence
Rigorous assessment for fundraising or M&A — covering codebase quality, architecture, security posture, team capability and technical risk.
- Investor-ready tech audit report
- Risk register with remediation priorities
Architecture review & modernisation roadmap
Structured review of your current architecture, tech debt register and a phased modernisation roadmap that balances delivery speed with long-term health.
- System diagram & dependency map
- Prioritised quick wins & 12-month roadmap
Engineering Transformation
Org structure design, role levelling, job descriptions, technical interview scorecards and hiring process setup for early-stage engineering teams.
- Hiring plan & seniority levelling
- Technical interview framework
Technology strategy & vendor selection
Unbiased technology stack decisions, build vs. buy analysis and vendor evaluation — with clear reasoning you can present to the board.
- Stack evaluation & decision matrix
- Vendor RFP support & contract review
CTO coaching & engineering leadership
Mentoring and coaching for first-time technical leads and CTOs — covering people management, engineering culture, stakeholder communication and strategic planning.
- Bi-weekly 1-to-1 coaching sessions
- Engineering culture & process playbooks
AI strategy & tooling advisory
Cut through the AI noise — from selecting the right foundation models and developer tools to defining where AI genuinely accelerates delivery and where it adds risk.
- AI tooling stack & model provider evaluation
- Developer AI adoption: Cursor, Copilot & agent workflows
How we work
A structured advisory approach for growing teams
Clear, repeatable engagement phases — from first assessment to ongoing strategic partnership.
Assess
Technical landscape review — codebase, team, processes, debt and risk — before any recommendations are made.
Advise
Clear recommendations, a prioritised roadmap and quick wins — agreed before we start ongoing work.
Enable
Hands-on implementation support — working alongside your engineers to execute architecture decisions and unblock delivery.
Review
Regular check-ins to review progress against the roadmap, adapt priorities and keep your technical direction aligned with business goals.
What you receive
Concrete outputs at every engagement stage
Advisory that produces tangible artefacts — not just opinions. Every engagement ends with documentation your team can act on.
Technical audit
- System architecture diagram & dependency map
- Risk register with severity ratings
- Prioritised quick wins & recommendations
Strategy & roadmap
- 12-month architecture roadmap with milestones
- Technology decisions log with rationale
- Engineering hiring plan & org chart
Ongoing advisory
- Monthly advisory sessions & async support
- Board / investor technical slides
- Engineering team coaching & retrospectives
Outcome-based pricing
Tell us the outcome.
We'll price to it.
Fixed base fee to engage. Variable fee paid only if the metric lands — we carry that risk.
Outcomes we price to
Baseline and target agreed during scoping. Measured at 60–90 days post-delivery using your own data.
What we work across
Technology-agnostic, deeply experienced across the modern stack
We don't favour any one vendor. Our advisory is grounded in hands-on experience across the patterns and tools your engineering teams actually use.
Architecture patterns
Engineering practices
Code quality & security
SonarQube
Snyk
CodeClimate
Dependabot
Collaboration & documentation
GitHub / GitLab
Linear
Notion
Confluence
Engagement models
Advisory structured to your stage
From a one-off technical audit to an ongoing fractional CTO engagement — scoped and priced clearly upfront.
Fixed price
Technical audit
One-page architecture audit, risk register and prioritised quick wins — delivered within 5 business days of access.
Time-boxed
Due diligence preparation
2–4 weeks to prepare your codebase, documentation and security posture for investor or acquirer technical due diligence.
Monthly retainer
Fractional CTO
Ongoing fractional CTO or VP Engineering engagement — from strategic check-ins to 2–3 days per week embedded with your team.
Not sure whether to build or buy?
Our analyser helps you make the call before committing budget.
Explore more
Related services
From the TechTek Playbook
The principles and framework behind every engagement
Our advisory model is built on documented principles — how we think, how we deliver, and the technology judgements that inform every recommendation.
Let's talk
Book a free 30-minute discovery call
Tell us where you are, what's blocking you technically, and where you want to get to. We'll tell you honestly whether and how we can help.
- No obligation — just a conversation
- Scoping proposal within 48 hours
- Can start within 2 weeks of sign-off
Not ready to book? Browse the Playbook first →