Fractional CTO for Early-Stage Founders
Senior engineering judgement on a retainer. Architecture, hiring, vendor calls, code review.
You don't need a full-time CTO yet. You do need someone senior to call BS on the agency proposal, sit in on vendor calls, review pull requests, and tell you when your stack is about to bite you.
From $500/mo
The problem
Solo founders end up making technical decisions they shouldn't have to make alone: which database, which hosting, what to build vs buy, when to refactor, who to hire. Bad calls compound. By the time you can afford a CTO, you're rebuilding what you should have gotten right the first time.
How we work
Monthly retainer. Slack-first. We're available for vendor calls, code reviews, architecture discussions, and 'is this PR safe to merge' questions. You ship faster because you stop second-guessing.
What's included
- Slack/Discord availability during business hours
- Architecture and stack decisions
- Code review on PRs you flag
- Vendor and contractor evaluation
- Hiring help (technical interviews, scope review)
- Monthly written check-in
Who this is for
- Pre-Series-A founder
- Non-technical or single-technical-cofounder team
- Spending money on contractors you can't fully evaluate
Frequently asked questions
- How is this different from your standard Retainer?
- Standard Retainer ($250+/mo) is hands-on engineering work — bug fixes, features, code reviews. Fractional CTO ($500+/mo) is more strategic: architecture decisions, vendor calls, hiring. You can stack both if you need both.
- What hours are you available?
- Slack-first, async-friendly. Synchronous on request for vendor calls or interviews. Same-day response during business hours.
Ready to get started?
Tell us about your project. Fixed quote within 24 hours.