The founder is the decision bottleneck
Technical choices keep coming back to you, while product, customers, and fundraising also need your attention. Establish decision ownership and a practical roadmap.
Fractional CTO
Fractional CTO for growing software companies.
Get experienced technical leadership when product commitments, architecture decisions, and team needs compete for attention. I work with founders and engineering leaders to clarify priorities and turn them into an executable plan, without immediately adding a full-time executive.
When fractional CTO support is useful
This work fits software companies that need ongoing technical judgment tied to business decisions.
The team is growing faster than its practices
Delivery is harder to predict, reviews are inconsistent, or responsibilities are unclear. Improve the operating rhythm around the people you already have.
A major change needs senior direction
A platform migration, rebuild, new product, or leadership transition needs someone to weigh the tradeoffs and keep the business and engineering plan aligned.
What we can work on together
The engagement is shaped around the decisions and responsibilities your company needs covered.
Technical priorities and roadmap
Connect product goals to technical work. Make dependencies, risks, sequencing, and ownership explicit so the team knows what matters next.
Explore technology strategyArchitecture and delivery
Review the system constraints behind slow delivery or reliability problems. Choose improvements the team can implement while continuing to ship.
Explore architecture consultingEngineering leadership
Support hiring decisions, team structure, planning, and communication with founders and other stakeholders. Define how decisions get made and when to escalate.
Start with the decisions that cannot wait
Agree the scope, involvement, and success measures before setting a recurring working rhythm.
1. Understand the company
Review product priorities, the team, current architecture, delivery practices, and the decisions coming up. Identify which risks deserve attention now.
2. Set a practical plan
Create a prioritized roadmap and a clear division of responsibility. Document major tradeoffs so decisions can be understood and revisited.
3. Work with the team
Participate in the agreed leadership and delivery cadence. Review progress using relevant signals such as delivery predictability, incidents, and unresolved decisions.
Experience behind the advice
My background includes platform engineering, startup product development, and leading teams through change.
Engineering leadership
Seven years as Director of Engineering, modernizing a legacy platform and leading a distributed team of more than 20 across offshore and onshore engineering.
Read the SaaS leadership summaryFounder and product perspective
Co-founded a mobile engagement startup and led engineering and product after an acquisition, with deployments in professional sports arenas and major resort properties.
Read the live-event platform summaryComplex platforms
Led a platform team responsible for telephony, voice recognition, and developer infrastructure at an early-stage speech technology company.
See platform leadership experienceQuestions about fractional CTO services
The distinction is the responsibility you need covered, not just the job title.
Fractional CTO or an architecture review?
An architecture review focuses on a bounded technical decision or system. Fractional CTO work provides ongoing leadership across priorities, people, and technology. Either can be a starting point.
Can you work with our existing engineering lead?
Yes. We can define complementary responsibilities, such as executive communication, technical strategy, or support for a major transition, while keeping day-to-day ownership clear.
Is interim CTO support different?
Interim support addresses a leadership gap or transition. The expected involvement, decision authority, and handoff should be agreed explicitly; availability and scope are discussed before commitment.
What does your team need to decide next?
Share your company stage, engineering team size, and the technical or delivery issue that needs leadership. We can work out whether ongoing support or a focused engagement fits.