Senior technical judgment before you give up equity
CTO Advisory at $4,500 a month. Weekly strategy calls, architecture decisions, contractor vetting, and investor Q&A coverage. 14-day money-back if the fit is wrong.
Who this is for
Non-technical founder pre-MVP, considering a technical cofounder but not ready to trade 20-30 percent of the company for it.
The pain today
- I need someone to translate my idea into a real build plan.
- I cannot tell if the freelancers bidding on the work are any good.
- Investors ask who the technical lead is, and I have no good answer.
- A technical cofounder wants equity I am not ready to commit.
The outcome you get
- A written build plan with scope, timeline, and cost range inside two weeks.
- Vetting of every contractor or freelancer I consider before I sign.
- Investor-Q&A coverage: I sit in the technical section of pitch calls.
- An upgrade path to the $8,500 Fractional CTO tier when the round closes.
CTO Advisory vs full-time CTO vs technical cofounder
A technical cofounder costs 20-30 percent of the company and takes months to find. A full-time CTO costs $200,000 a year and you cannot hire one pre-funding. CTO Advisory at $4,500 a month buys senior technical judgment on a weekly cadence, an architect who vets every build decision, and investor coverage, without equity and without the 90-day hiring cycle. It is the right fit for a founder between idea and seed, or between seed and Series A, who needs the title filled but does not need 40 hours a week of engineering management.
What gets decided in week one
Week one is not a slow ramp. I deliver a written build plan by the end of week two that covers: the stack, the first-version scope, the timeline range, the cost range, and the hiring plan. We also set investor Q&A talking points for the technical section of the pitch. By the end of the first month, most founders have a clear yes/no on whether to build, whether to pause, or whether to change scope. The advisory is not a sounding board. It is a decision engine.
Tech stack choice by business model
Pre-MVP stack choice matters more than most founders think. A marketplace picks different primitives than a B2B SaaS. A content product picks different primitives than an internal tool. I map the stack to the business model, not to the latest fashion. Most of my clients end up on Next.js and Laravel or NestJS, PostgreSQL or MongoDB, Redis, AWS or Vercel. The goal is a stack that survives the first round and the second round without a rewrite. I have seen three rewrites cost a startup their Series A window.
When to upgrade to the $8,500 tier
Most idea-stage founders start on Advisory. The upgrade to full Fractional CTO at $8,500 a month usually happens at one of three triggers: the first engineering hire lands (and now needs a manager), the seed round closes (and the tech section of the deck needs an owner), or the product enters a build sprint that needs 15-20 hours a week of hands-on architecture. No pressure to upgrade. The Advisory tier works for many founders for six to twelve months straight.
Recent proof
A comparable engagement, delivered and documented.
Built and shipped an investor-ready MVP from scratch
Built the entire technological base and delivered MVP in just 3 weeks, enabling a successful rapid launch and investor demo.
Frequently asked questions
The questions prospects ask before they book.
- How many hours a week do I get?
- CTO Advisory is a weekly strategy call plus async Slack or email coverage. Roughly 4-6 hours a week of my focused attention. The full Fractional CTO tier at $8,500 is 15-20 hours a week.
- Can you sit in investor calls?
- Yes. I join the technical Q&A section of pitch calls on request. Most Advisory clients book me for two to three investor calls a month during active rounds.
- What if I need hands-on coding?
- Advisory is strategy, not coding. If the build needs senior engineering hours, I pair the Advisory with an Applications retainer ($3,499 or $4,500 a month) or we upgrade to the full Fractional CTO tier.
- Can I pause if I run out of runway?
- Yes. Month-to-month, cancel anytime. 14-day money-back in the first two weeks.
- Do you help with hiring?
- Yes. I vet every contractor or engineer you consider. I write the job description, screen CVs, and sit in on technical interviews. No recruiter fees.
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