Fractional CTO
A fractional CTO for founders who can't hire one yet.
I own your technical direction — architecture, stack, and your first hires — on a weekly cadence, so you can raise, sell, and build with a technical partner in your corner.
Get in touch →The problem
Every early technical decision compounds. The stack, the architecture, the first hire — get them wrong and you pay for it for years.
Hiring engineers when you can't evaluate engineers is a coin flip with your runway.
Investors and customers ask technical questions, and "I'll check with the team" isn't the answer you want to give.
What you get
Weekly strategy
A standing weekly session to set technical direction, plus decision support between them when something can't wait.
Architecture & stack ownership
I make — and own — the calls that compound: architecture, stack, build-vs-buy, and the trade-offs behind each.
Your first engineering hires
Sourcing, technical evaluation, and onboarding for the engineers you'll build the company on.
The technical voice in the room
For investors, due diligence, and customers — a credible CTO answer when it counts.
How it works
- Cadence
- Weekly strategy sessions + decision support
- Term
- 6-month engagements, renewable
- Scope
- Leadership, architecture, hiring
LEAD is leadership only — I don't write your production code. When you need the thing actually built, that's BUILD.
Why me
I led the platform team behind ALPHA10X — owning team dynamics and performance at scale, not just shipping features.
Today I'm Principal Software Engineer at AriasTechSolutions, where I set technical direction across the stack.
Best when
- —You're a non-technical (or time-poor) founder who needs a CTO's judgment, not a full-time CTO's salary
- —You're pre-first-engineering-hire and every early decision compounds
Not a fit if
- —You need someone writing production code day-to-day — that's BUILD
- —You already have senior technical leadership in place
FAQ
What is a fractional CTO?
A fractional CTO is an experienced technical leader who owns your technology function part-time. You get a CTO's judgment on architecture, stack, and hiring without a full-time executive salary or equity package.
How is this different from a consultant or advisor?
An advisor gives input to a team that already has direction. As your fractional CTO I am the direction — I own the technical decisions and their outcomes, on a standing weekly cadence, until you're ready to hire full-time.
How are you engaged?
Six-month engagements, renewable, on a weekly strategy cadence with decision support in between. I take a limited number of these at a time so each founder gets real attention.
Do you write production code?
Not in a LEAD engagement — that's leadership, architecture, and hiring. When you need software actually built end-to-end, that's a separate BUILD engagement.
What stage is this for?
Pre-seed to seed founders making their first weighty technical decisions and first engineering hires, who need a technical partner before a full-time CTO makes sense.
Need a technical partner in your corner?
Get in touch →I take a limited number of LEAD engagements at a time.