Sound familiar?
The situations that bring founders to us
A fractional CTO is almost never a planned hire. It usually follows one of these four moments.
No one owns technical decisions
Architecture choices get made by whoever shouts loudest, deferred until a crisis, or delegated to a developer who shouldn't be making them alone.
Fundraise approaching, no CTO
Investors expect a credible technical leader in the room. You have developers, but nobody who can represent your technology function at board level.
Your senior engineer is being asked to be CTO
They're your best developer. You're now expecting them to run the engineering function without a roadmap, mentoring or a clear path for making that transition work.
Tech debt accumulating with no oversight
No architecture oversight means every team makes independent decisions. The system gets more fragile with every sprint and nobody has a plan to fix it.
What we cover
Six areas a fractional CTO owns
Each engagement is scoped to what you actually need — not a fixed package. These are the areas we take ownership of.
Technical strategy & roadmap
Annual engineering roadmap, technology decisions log, build vs. buy guidance and quarterly priority reviews — aligned to where the business is going, not just what engineering wants to build.
- 12-month roadmap with milestones
- Technology decisions log with rationale
Architecture governance
Code review oversight, design review process, ADR framework and technical standards that keep your codebase consistent and maintainable as the team grows and velocity increases.
- ADR process & design review cadence
- Technical standards & code quality bar
Engineering team leadership
Sprint governance, team rituals, performance feedback for senior engineers and hiring bar definition — building an engineering culture that doesn't depend on you to function.
- Hiring bar, job specs & interview framework
- Engineering culture & team rituals
Board & investor representation
Technology updates for board meetings, investor Q&A support and the technical narrative for fundraise decks — so you have a credible technical voice in every investor conversation.
- Board-ready technology update slides
- Investor Q&A support & technical narrative
Due diligence preparation
Codebase audit, security posture review, risk register and architecture documentation to pass investor or acquirer technical reviews without surprises on either side.
- Investor-ready tech audit report
- Risk register with remediation priorities
CTO coaching & succession
Structured mentoring for a senior engineer transitioning into a CTO role — with a handover plan built from day one so the transition to a full-time CTO is planned, not reactive.
- Bi-weekly 1-to-1 coaching sessions
- Clear handover plan & capability roadmap
Engagement models
Scoped to your stage and situation
We don't have fixed packages. Every engagement starts with a discovery call, then we propose the model that fits.
Advisory retainer
Strategic check-ins
4–8 hours per month. Monthly strategy sessions, async decision support and roadmap review — for early-stage startups that need senior technical direction without day-to-day involvement.
Best for: pre-seed, bootstrapped, or post-launch settling
Embedded fractional
Active CTO leadership
1–3 days per week. Team leadership, architecture oversight, board representation and sprint governance — for startups approaching Series A or actively growing their engineering function.
Best for: seed to Series A, active team growth
Project-based
Milestone-focused
Scoped to a specific moment — a fundraise, a major architectural decision, a CTO transition, or a technical due diligence preparation. Defined output, clear handover, fixed timeline.
Best for: specific events, transitions, or one-off assessments
Who it's for
The right stage for a fractional CTO
A fractional CTO isn't right for every company. Here's where it tends to create the most value.
Pre-seed & Seed
You or a developer is making all the technical decisions. The team is small but growing and you need someone to establish the engineering foundation — architecture, process and quality bar — before bad habits compound.
Series A approaching
You need credible technical leadership for the fundraise. Investors will scrutinise your architecture, security posture and team — you need someone who can represent that function and answer the hard questions.
Series A & beyond
Once your engineering team exceeds 12–15 people or engineering is the core product risk, a full-time CTO is usually the right call. A fractional engagement can still work as a bridge while you hire.
Free Tool
Not sure what's slowing your engineering team down?
From TechTekGo
Further reading from our Engineering Leadership editorial series.
Free 30-minute discovery call
Not sure if a fractional CTO is the right move?
Tell us where you are and what's not working. We'll tell you honestly whether a fractional CTO fits — and if it does, what the right engagement model looks like for your stage.