A CTO advisor for the decisions you cannot unwind
CTO Advisory at $4,500 a month. Weekly calls, architecture reviews, hiring help. Month-to-month. 14-day money-back.
Who this is for
Solo non-technical founder scaling past $20,000 MRR, needs senior technical counsel.
The pain today
- Every architecture decision lands on the founder's desk with no escalation path.
- The first senior engineer hire decision is make-or-break.
- Vendor choices over $500/mo carry multi-year lock-in risk.
- No one to call when the infrastructure bill jumps 40 percent.
The outcome you get
- Weekly strategy calls on the decisions that matter most.
- Senior counsel on the first engineering hire.
- Vendor evaluation before you commit.
- Month-to-month with cancel-anytime terms.
Solo founder decision load
Solo founders past $20K MRR hit the decision-load wall. Every technical choice lands on one desk: stack upgrades, infra scaling, vendor selection, hiring, security. The founder is not an expert in every domain and cannot be. Bad decisions compound: a wrong stack choice costs 6 months. A wrong first hire costs 12 months. A wrong vendor costs $20,000-$80,000 over the lock-in. CTO Advisory at $4,500 a month is the insurance: a senior CTO-level voice on every decision that costs more than $10,000 to unwind. The retainer usually pays for itself on the first big decision it prevents going wrong.
What to escalate
Solo founders need a clear list of what to escalate to the advisor. Stack changes. Infrastructure migrations. Vendor commitments over $1,000 a month. Security posture changes. Senior engineering hires. M&A discussions. Investor conversations with technical content. Anything else the founder handles solo. The list is written into the engagement SOW so there is no ambiguity. Most solo founders send me 3-6 escalations a month, which matches the 4-6 hour weekly cadence of the Advisory.
Hiring the first engineer
The first engineering hire is the single highest-leverage call a solo founder makes. A right hire doubles shipping velocity. A wrong hire costs 6-12 months and $150,000. I help write the JD, screen CVs, run technical panels, and help close. No recruiter fees. The success rate on first-engineer hires run through the Advisory is high because the filtering is tight: culture fit, technical depth, founder rapport, all evaluated with a senior voice.
Vendor neutrality
Solo founders get pitched by every SaaS and every AI vendor. The Advisory is where the pitches get evaluated before the commit. I am vendor-neutral: no affiliate deals, no kickbacks. I evaluate on fit, price, and exit cost. About 40 percent of the vendors I review get a pass recommendation, 30 percent get a modification (pick a cheaper tier, negotiate a shorter contract), and 30 percent get a rejection in favor of a better alternative or a build. The vendor filter alone pays for the Advisory.
Recent proof
A comparable engagement, delivered and documented.
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Frequently asked questions
The questions prospects ask before they book.
- At what MRR does Advisory make sense for a solo founder?
- $20K MRR and above. At $4,500/mo the retainer is about 20 percent of $20K MRR, which is the upper end of sustainable. Below $20K MRR, wait.
- How many hours a week?
- Weekly call plus async, roughly 4-6 focused hours. Full Fractional at $8,500/mo is 15-20 hours.
- Can you code when needed?
- For code reviews and architecture prototypes, yes. Production feature work needs a paired Applications retainer.
- Do you take equity?
- No. Fee-only.
- Can I cancel if MRR drops?
- Yes. Cancel end of month, restart when revenue recovers.
Ready to start?
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