A fractional CTO for your pre-seed or seed EU startup
Pre-seed founders often need 10 hours a week of CTO-grade judgment, not a full engagement. I scope for that.
Who this is for
EU Startups founder (seed to Series A) who needs senior technical leadership before a full-time CTO hire makes sense. Scheinselbständigkeit (DE), Article L.8221-6 (FR), and similar contractor-compliance rules make local freelance CTO hires risky; local senior talent is expensive. Specifically for pre-seed and seed-stage EU startups with limited runway.
The pain today
- Scheinselbständigkeit (DE), Article L.8221-6 (FR), and similar contractor-compliance rules make local freelance CTO hires risky; local senior talent is expensive.
- Investors keep asking who owns architecture and security at your EU Startups company
- Your technical founder is reviewing every PR alone and context-switching constantly
- Hiring a full-time CTO will take six months and you need direction now
The outcome you get
- Fractional CTO on standup and Slack, working the hours the engagement needs
- Architecture, hiring plan, and security posture documented in the first 30 days
- Monthly roadmap and sprint cadence your board can read
- Clean handoff plan for when a full-time hire lands
Why fractional works for EU Startups startups
Scheinselbständigkeit (DE), Article L.8221-6 (FR), and similar contractor-compliance rules make local freelance CTO hires risky; local senior talent is expensive. A fractional engagement at $4,500/mo (CTO Advisory) gives you the same architecture judgment, hiring help, and board-level communication without the full-time cost and without the long search. I have worked inside funded teams at bolttech (a $1B+ unicorn) and at GigEasy (Barclays and Bain Capital backed, MVP shipped in 3 weeks), so I know what investors expect on a technical diligence call and what your senior engineers need from a CTO peer. When the time is right for a permanent hire, I help you interview for it.
How I work with EU Startups clients
I work the hours the engagement needs. Async-first with a recurring sync at whatever time works for your team — no fixed office schedule. Daily standup, weekly architecture review, monthly board prep. All engagements contract through my US LLC. Payment structure is negotiated per engagement. Most of the work is async on Slack with two or three live calls per week for hiring, architecture, and investor updates. Quarterly in-person visits are folded into the retainer for local metros; more frequent travel is available at cost. You own all documentation, runbooks, and architecture specs as work made for hire on payment.
What 20 hours a week actually covers
In a typical week I run architecture review, pair with your senior engineer on the hardest tickets, help you hire or fire, own vendor decisions across cloud and observability and data, write or review specs for new features, and sit in on investor updates. I do not write every line of code. I keep your team moving and your board calm. If you need more hands I ramp to the full Fractional tier at $8,500/mo. If you need less, CTO Advisory at $4,500/mo covers strategic review and hiring without daily ops. Every tier is month-to-month with a 14-day money-back guarantee and zero equity.
Recent proof
A comparable engagement, delivered and documented.
Rescued a slow API that was blocking user growth
Refactored the backend architecture, making the system far more responsive and scalable for the growing user base.
Frequently asked questions
The questions prospects ask before they book.
- Do you really cover EU Startups working hours, or is this an offshore stretch?
- I work the hours the engagement needs. Async-first with a recurring sync at whatever time works for your team — no fixed office schedule.
- Can you travel in person for board meetings?
- Yes. Quarterly travel is folded into the retainer for most metros; additional visits bill travel at cost.
- How are contracts and payment structured?
- All engagements contract through my US LLC. Payment structure is negotiated per engagement.
- What language do we communicate in?
- English-primary delivery. Portuguese, conversational Spanish, and reading French where useful.
- Do you take equity instead of cash?
- No. Monthly cash retainer only. It keeps incentives clean and means you can cancel any time without cap-table paperwork. Month-to-month with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
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