Technical leadership on day one of the next 18 months
Fractional CTO at $8,500 a month. Weekly strategy, hands-on architecture, first engineering hires, investor prep for the next round. 16 years, $1B+ unicorn experience.
Who this is for
Non-technical founder who just closed seed and wants leverage before hiring a full-time CTO. Can't wait 4 months to recruit the permanent leader.
The pain today
- The Series A milestones assume velocity from day 30, not day 120.
- Every engineering decision now locks in for 18 months.
- The team of 2-4 engineers needs a manager who has shipped at scale.
- A full-time CTO is the right long-term answer but the wrong answer for this quarter.
The outcome you get
- Full CTO coverage for the 6-12 months before the permanent hire lands.
- A hiring plan for the first 5-10 engineers with me running the interviews.
- An architecture strategy tuned to the Series A story.
- Clean handover to the permanent CTO when they arrive.
Fractional CTO vs first engineering hire
Seed founders sometimes debate between a fractional CTO and a senior engineer hire. They solve different problems. A senior engineer ships features. A CTO picks which features to ship, hires the next engineers, sets the architecture, and talks to the board. Most seed-stage startups need both. The fractional CTO at $8,500 a month covers the leadership gap while the first senior engineer hire gets hired and onboarded. Once the team is 5+ engineers deep and the permanent CTO is closing, I hand over.
The 12-month plan to Series A
Series A is not a surprise. It is a plan. In the first 30 days I write the 12-month plan with the founder: the revenue milestones, the engineering hires by quarter, the architectural investments, the infra cost curve, the metrics dashboard. We review quarterly. By month 9 the Series A deck tells a story the technical diligence pack backs up line by line. This is the playbook I ran around the GigEasy seed and the path Cuez followed to a live Series A product.
Hiring architects vs generalists
The first 5 engineering hires set the culture. I hire two profiles in the first year: one or two senior generalists who can ship across the stack, and one specialist for the domain that matters most (usually infra or data). I avoid the trap of hiring for the org you think you'll have at Series C. I write the job descriptions, screen the CVs, sit in the technical interviews, and close the offer. The founder makes the final call.
What I personally own vs delegate
In a fractional CTO engagement at $8,500 a month I personally own: the architecture, the hiring pipeline, the Series A technical story, the infra cost model, the security posture, and the board tech updates. I delegate: day-to-day feature implementation (to the engineers), design (to the designer), and QA (to the team or a contractor). The clean separation keeps my 15-20 hours a week focused on leverage, not busywork.
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 does this compare to a full-time CTO?
- A full-time CTO costs $250K+ salary plus 2-4 percent equity and takes 4-6 months to hire. Fractional at $8,500 a month starts in two weeks, no equity. Works for 6-12 months until the permanent hire lands.
- Can you help recruit the permanent CTO?
- Yes. I write the JD, screen candidates, run technical panels, and help close. The handover is clean because the incoming CTO inherits a documented architecture and team.
- Will you be on the cap table?
- No. The retainer is fee-only. No equity, no advisor shares. This keeps the relationship clean and the cap table clean.
- Can you join the board?
- Non-voting observer seat if the board wants it. Not a voting seat at this tier.
- What if Series A slips?
- We extend. Month-to-month, cancel anytime. Many fractional CTO engagements run 9-15 months.
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