A CTO for a few days a month
Technical leadership a few days a month, for teams that need someone accountable for architecture, engineering and the hard decisions, without a full-time hire they cannot yet justify.
For companies that need technical leadership but not a full-time CTO, usually after a first project together.
When you need this
- You have developers, maybe good ones, but nobody who owns the technical direction and says no when a plan does not add up.
- The founders make technical decisions by gut feeling and would like to make them with someone who has carried the consequences of those decisions before.
- An investor or a large customer asks who is responsible for the technology, and the honest answer right now is nobody.
What the role includes
- Architecture and technology decisions, including the build-or-buy questions that keep getting postponed
- Hiring, onboarding and leading developers, and knowing when the team needs the next hire and when it does not
- A delivery process the team can keep up: reviews, testing, releases, and the automation that makes them routine
- Infrastructure and operations that grow with the customer base
- The product side of engineering: pushing back on features, shaping the experience, keeping the roadmap honest
- The technical voice in conversations with investors, partners and enterprise customers
Who decides what
The line between my decisions and yours is agreed in writing before the first month. This is the usual split.
I decide
- Architecture and technology choices
- Delivery process, reviews, releases
- Infrastructure and operations
- Technical answers to investors and customers
We decide together
- Hiring plan and who to hire
- Build or buy for anything substantial
- Roadmap order and trade-offs
- When the company needs a full-time CTO
The founders decide
- What the product is and who it is for
- Budget and runway
- Pricing, customers, fundraising
- Whether I stay
How it works
A first call
Where the company stands, what the team looks like, what keeps you up at night. Half an hour, no preparation.
A first project
An architecture review or a piece of real work, so both sides see how we work together before anyone commits to a monthly arrangement.
An agreed cadence
A fixed number of days per month, defined responsibilities, and a clear line between what I decide and what the founders decide.
A quarterly check
Every three months we look at whether the setup still fits. When the company is ready for a full-time CTO, I help find and hand over to one.
What it costs
A fixed number of days per month at a monthly rate, agreed per engagement. Notice periods are short, because the role only works as long as it keeps earning its place. I take on a small number of these roles at a time so that each one gets real attention. Numbers on request.
Questions people ask first
- What does a fractional CTO do?
- A fractional CTO takes on the responsibilities of a chief technology officer for a company that does not need one full time: technical direction, architecture, the engineering team, the delivery process, and the technical voice towards investors and customers. The difference to an advisor is accountability. Decisions are made, not just recommended.
- How many days a month?
- Usually between two and six days a month, depending on the size of the team and what is going on. A team of two needs a different cadence than a team of eight in the middle of a hiring round. We set the number together and adjust it every quarter.
- What does it cost?
- A monthly rate for an agreed number of days. I quote it after the first project, when both of us know what the role needs.
- Fractional, interim or part-time CTO: what is the difference?
- An interim CTO fills a gap full time for a limited period, often while a company searches for a permanent one. A part-time CTO is an employee with reduced hours. A fractional CTO is external, works for a small number of companies in parallel, and stays as long as the arrangement makes sense, typically for months or years rather than weeks.
- What if we only need a technical advisor?
- Then that is what we set up. A technical advisor meets the founders every few weeks, answers questions between meetings and sits in on the decisions that matter, without owning the team or the delivery. It is lighter than a fractional CTO and often the right first step. Both are priced per engagement, not in equity.
- Do you also write code?
- Yes, when it is the fastest way to move something forward or to understand a problem properly. I do not spend the whole engagement coding, because the role is about direction and the team. But a CTO who has not opened the codebase in months is not doing the job.
- Why usually after a first project?
- Because the role depends on trust in both directions. An architecture review or a few weeks of real work show how we communicate, how I make decisions and whether the team wants to work with me. Starting a monthly arrangement without that is possible, but I recommend against it.