How is this different from hiring a CTO?

A full-time CTO costs a salary and equity you may not be able to spend yet. I give you senior ownership of the technical decisions for a fraction of that, and I help you hire the person who replaces me when the company is ready.

How many days per month do I need?

Most early-stage teams need two to four days a month for decisions, reviews and hiring. Teams in a build phase sometimes need more for a few months. We agree a number and review it quarterly.

Yes, when it is the fastest way to unblock the team or to make an architecture decision real. I do not replace your engineers; I make them more effective.

Can you help with our next funding round?

Yes. I prepare the technical narrative, the diligence material and the answers investors will ask for, and I join the technical calls if you want me to.

Technical leadership

Fractional CTO for the stage before you can hire one. Product and architecture decisions, hiring and building the engineering team, the technical story for your next round.

Book a 30-minute call

Who this is for

Founders with a product to build and no senior engineer to own the technical decisions yet
Technical founders who need a second senior head for architecture, hiring and the investor story
Teams between pre-seed and seed that cannot justify a full-time CTO salary

What we do

Make the product and architecture decisions that are hard to undo, in the open and with written reasons
Turn the roadmap into something a small team can actually ship in the runway you have
Write job descriptions, run technical interviews and build the first engineering hires into a team
Choose what to build, what to buy and what to skip entirely
Prepare the technical narrative, diligence material and answers for your next round
Work hands-on in the codebase and tooling when that is the fastest way to unblock the team

What you get

A senior engineer who owns the technical decisions and is accountable for them
An architecture and roadmap that fit your team and runway, written down
Hiring support from job description to offer, and onboarding for the first hires
Investor-ready technical documentation and a founder who can defend it

How it runs

Format: Retainer with a fixed number of days per month, or embedded in the team for a defined period.
Typical length: Three to twelve months, reviewed quarterly.
What I need from you: Access to the codebase, the roadmap and the people; one founder as my counterpart; honesty about the constraints.

Where I've done this

This is the work I am doing now for an early-stage robotics startup: product and architecture decisions, hands-on on the robot stack and operator platform, and hiring and building the engineering team. Before that I co-founded VoltVogel and ran its technology and operations, led engineering and compliance at Bearcover, and I am co-founder and CTO of SoilFlux.

Questions founders ask

How is this different from hiring a CTO?: A full-time CTO costs a salary and equity you may not be able to spend yet. I give you senior ownership of the technical decisions for a fraction of that, and I help you hire the person who replaces me when the company is ready.
How many days per month do I need?: Most early-stage teams need two to four days a month for decisions, reviews and hiring. Teams in a build phase sometimes need more for a few months. We agree a number and review it quarterly.
Do you write code?: Yes, when it is the fastest way to unblock the team or to make an architecture decision real. I do not replace your engineers; I make them more effective.
Can you help with our next funding round?: Yes. I prepare the technical narrative, the diligence material and the answers investors will ask for, and I join the technical calls if you want me to.

Start a conversation

Tell me what you're building and what's in the way. I reply within one business day, usually with a first thought, not a sales pitch.

Book a 30-minute call Email me