Technical strategy and architecture
Clear decisions about platforms, architecture, data, integrations, and what to build versus buy, written down so the team can act on them.
Service
Fractional CTO: senior technical judgment, with hands-on delivery.
Strategy, leadership, and hands-on delivery for founders and teams that need judgment as well as execution — without hiring a full-time CTO before the business is ready for one.
Who it's for
When this is the right fit.
- Founders with a product vision who need a senior counterpart to turn it into technical priorities and daily decisions.
- Teams whose plans are not becoming working systems, and who need someone to set standards and remove blockers.
- Companies facing an architecture, platform, or build-versus-buy decision that is expensive to get wrong.
- Organizations between technical leaders, where delivery needs to stay stable while the team regroups.
What you get
What the work covers.
An operating counterpart for the founder
Someone who understands the vision, challenges assumptions, and translates direction into priorities and decisions — so the founder can concentrate on the work only the founder can do.
Engineering standards and delivery discipline
Review practices, release processes, testing, and documentation that make delivery dependable rather than heroic.
Hands-on execution where it matters
Close enough to implementation to know whether the strategy actually works, and able to build the pieces that are blocking progress.
How it works
From first conversation to written scope.
Talk it through
Send a note or book a 30-minute call. A finished specification is not required.
Short written scope
I write a short scope based on our conversation: the problem, the approach, and what done looks like.
Project or ongoing
A fixed-scope project or an ongoing arrangement, depending on need — alongside your team, independently, or both.
Proof
Where this comes from.
Electronic Arts
Wrote EA Tiburon’s first internal web development guide while delivering first-of-their-kind web-to-console features for NASCAR 09 and NCAA Football 10.
Kizzang
Helped stabilize delivery and team momentum when the CTO departed, over three and a half years of mobile game delivery.
Lloyd-Allan Corp.
Co-founded and grew a company from systems integration into hardware manufacturing, through to a 1999 exit.
Questions
Frequently asked questions.
What does a fractional CTO do?
A fractional CTO provides the technical leadership a company needs — strategy, architecture decisions, engineering standards, and accountability for delivery — on a part-time or scoped basis instead of as a full-time hire. In my case that includes hands-on building, not only advice.
When does a founder need a fractional CTO?
Usually when technical decisions start carrying real cost: choosing an architecture or platform, turning a prototype into a product, rescuing a project that has lost momentum, managing contractors or a small team, or preparing for a full-time technical hire.
What is the difference between product strategy and implementation support?
Strategy decides what to build and why; implementation turns that into working, operated software. Many problems come from the gap between the two. I work across both, so decisions are tested against what can actually be built and run.
How does an engagement start?
Send a note through the contact form or book a 30-minute call. You do not need a finished specification. After we talk, I write a short scope based on the conversation so we agree on the problem, the approach, and what done looks like before work begins.
Is it a fixed project or an ongoing arrangement?
Either, depending on what the situation needs. Some work is a fixed-scope project, such as building an MVP. Other work is an ongoing fractional CTO relationship. The written scope makes the choice explicit.
Do you work with an existing engineering team?
Yes. I can work alongside an existing team, build independently, or do both — for example, setting direction and standards for a team while personally delivering the parts that are blocking progress.
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You do not need a finished specification to begin.
Describe the idea, persistent problem, or product that has lost momentum. Include a timeline or budget range only if you already know them.