I run architecture, hiring, and sprint planning for Amsterdam founders who need technical leadership now and can't wait six months for a full-time exec.
- Audit
- Architect
- Scale
monthly retainer
Who this is for
Amsterdam founder (seed to Series A) who needs senior technical leadership before a full-time CTO hire makes sense. Dutch senior talent is tight and expat senior hires are expensive.
The pain today
- Dutch senior talent is tight and expat senior hires are expensive.
- Investors keep asking who owns architecture and security at your Amsterdam 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 Amsterdam startups
Dutch senior talent is tight and expat senior hires are expensive. A fractional engagement at $5,499/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.
Fractional CTO on standup and Slack, working the hours the engagement needs
How I work with Amsterdam customers
CET overlap, afternoon block daily. Daily standup, weekly architecture review, monthly board prep. US-LLC to NL BV B2B contract, no local labor-law risk, USD or EUR invoicing. 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.
3s → 300ms: API response time.
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, 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 $9,499/mo. If you need less, CTO Advisory at $5,499/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
Cuez is a live broadcast production tool used by TV teams on air across Europe. I inherited a backend API averaging 3 seconds per response and cut it to 300ms, while reducing infrastructure costs by 40% and leaving the system stable under real production load.
Read the case studyFrequently asked questions
The questions prospects ask before they book.
CET overlap, afternoon block daily.
Yes. Quarterly travel is folded into the retainer for most metros; additional visits bill travel at cost.
US-LLC to NL BV B2B contract, no local labor-law risk, USD or EUR invoicing.
English-native daily communication. Dutch teams are comfortable working in English.
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.