Fractional CTO for Non-Technical Founders
You have an idea for a software product and you haven't built one before. I take the time to understand your business and the people you want to serve, and I explain the technology in language that makes sense to you. Then we build it together, with you in charge of your own business the whole way.
A fractional CTO is a senior technical lead who works with your company part-time, for a fee, without joining full-time or taking equity. I'm one who also writes the code.
Building software is hard, and harder without someone on your side
Being good at your own work doesn't prepare you for this. You're hiring people whose work you can't check, in a vocabulary nobody taught you, and you're expected to make expensive decisions anyway. Plenty of smart, capable people have been exactly here.
These are the versions I hear most often.
You hired an overseas team and it has stalled
The price was right and the first few weeks looked great. Now replies are slow, every fix seems to break something else, and you can't tell how close it is to finished.
What happens after an offshore MVP is "done" →Someone you know offered to build it
A friend, a relative, someone working for a share of the company. It started with real enthusiasm on both sides. A few months in the replies got slower, and now the work has stopped, or they want to be paid before they'll touch it again. They have a family and paid work to get back to, and enthusiasm was the only thing keeping it going.
You've been looking for a technical cofounder
Everyone says you need one. The people with the experience you want aren't taking equity, and the search has used up months you meant to spend on the product.
You probably don't need a technical cofounder yet →You built a prototype with AI and hit a wall
It worked, and that was a real accomplishment. Then each new feature started breaking an old one, and you've realized you need someone who does this for a living.
Your AI prototype stalled. How to hire someone to finish it →If one of those is you, you didn't do anything wrong. The usual ways of getting software built go badly more often than they go well. Many of the first versions people bring me never got past being a first version, and much of the offshore work I'm asked to look at ends up being started over.
What I see missing each time is the same thing: someone who understood the technology and whose job was to look out for you.
You stay in charge. I make sure you can see what's happening.
I start by listening
Before any talk of features, I want to understand your customers, what they would pay for, and how the business makes money. The software exists to serve that.
We decide what to build first, together
You'll arrive with a long list, and that's a good thing. We work out which piece proves the idea soonest, and I explain the reasoning so the choice is yours.
Everything is in your name
The code, the hosting, the domain and the payment account belong to you from the first day. I work inside your accounts as a guest.
I build it, and you watch it take shape
I write the first version myself. You'll have a working link early, so progress is something you can open and try.
I show you how it works, on video
Whenever I finish something you should know about, I record a video of myself clicking through it. I explain what I did, what I chose not to do, and why. You can comment and ask questions right on the video, and if something I say doesn't make sense, that's mine to fix.
We plan for life after launch
Once people are using it, there will be bugs to fix, questions to answer and new features to weigh. We work out who handles what before any of it is urgent.
A guide, working alongside you
It's tempting to hand the technical side to "the tech person" and stop thinking about it. I'd gently talk you out of that. When the product is software, the technical decisions are business decisions, and they should be yours. My job is to make sure you understand each one well enough to make it.
Some people in this business use a client's lack of understanding as leverage. I work the other way. When you can see everything and understand it, we build better software and a better business, and we stay pulling in the same direction.
I'm a builder at heart, and I want an involved, informed partner. You know your customers and your competition far better than I do, so I need you to correct me when I get something wrong.
I've worked as a contractor, paid by the hour to do the task in front of me. That arrangement leaves no room to care where your business is headed. This one does.
A good engagement, for me, is one where you win. You end up with a business you understand and can run, whether or not I'm still involved.
How you can check me
Your accounts are yours from the first day, so you never need my cooperation to reach your own product.
I write about how these projects go wrong, including the ways someone in my position could take advantage of a client. Have a read before we talk.
Running an experiment, or launching a business?
An MVP is an experiment. It's built to answer a question, and it usually isn't expected to turn a profit. The more specific the question, the better it works.
If that's where you are, or you need one well-defined thing like scheduling software for your landscaping company, see MVP development. If you've run the experiment already, or you know your industry well enough to launch, this is the better fit.
This is a good fit if
- You know your industry well and this is your first software product
- You have a working prototype and aren't sure what comes next
- A past project went badly and you'd like someone in your corner this time
- You want to understand your own product well enough to run it
This probably isn't right if
- Price is the main thing you're shopping on
- You'd like to hand off the technical side and not think about it
- You need someone to manage a development team you've already hired
- You want it built exactly as specified, without discussion
$5,000 to $20,000 a month, set up one of two ways
Where you land in that range depends on how much is being built. Custom software can't be predicted perfectly in advance, least of all when it has never existed before, so there are two honest ways to set this up and you choose.
That price covers the thinking and the building, because I do both. I work fast, and clients are often surprised by how much gets done at the lower end of the range. I have a history of launching quickly with software that holds up as the business grows.
A fixed monthly budget
You set an amount that works within your means, and we work inside it each month. Your spending is predictable.
What flexes is time. If the work turns out bigger than expected, it takes more months.
Time and materials
You pay an hourly rate for the work done. New work is still specced and estimated before it starts. This is the most adaptable arrangement.
What flexes is the budget. If the work grows, so does the bill, and you see that coming in the estimate.
Every estimate is a guess, and software rarely stays one thing. You go to fix one bug and find three more behind it. Or, more happily, you're halfway through a feature and see a better version of it, or a customer emails asking for something you want to work in.
A fixed budget absorbs that by taking longer. Time and materials absorbs it by costing more. I can manage either one with you.
Whichever you choose, the work is agreed before it starts and you are the one who says when something is done. I won't build more than you need to make an invoice bigger.
Frequently Asked Questions
A fractional CTO is a senior technical lead who works with your company part-time, for a fee, without joining full-time or taking equity. The usual version sets technical direction and oversees developers someone else hired. I do the first part and I also build the first version myself, so there is no gap between the advice and the work.
You probably do if your product is software, you plan to run it as a business, and nobody on your side can judge the technical work you're paying for. You probably don't if you need one well-defined thing built, which is an MVP project, or if you already have a technical lead you trust.
Mine runs $5,000 to $20,000 a month, depending on how much is being built. That covers the thinking and the building, because I do both. Clients are often surprised by how much gets done at the lower end of that range. You can set it up as a fixed monthly budget or as time and materials.
A developer builds what they're asked to build. I start with your customers and how the business makes money, help you decide what is worth building, and explain each decision in plain language. I also write the code, so the advice and the build come from the same person.
A cofounder is paid in equity and is meant to be permanent, and the search for a good one often takes months. A fractional CTO is paid a fee and can start now, and you keep your equity. If you haven't found a true partner and need to move, start here. I wrote more about this in You Probably Don't Need a Technical Cofounder (Yet).
Every account is in your name from the first day, so you can ask anyone you trust to look at the code whenever you like. Progress is always a working link you can open and try. And each piece of work is agreed with you before it starts, so you can compare what was promised with what you got.
I record a video every time I finish something you should know about. You watch me click through it while I explain what changed, why I did it that way, and what it fixes. You can comment and ask questions on the video itself. To manage your software you have to know how it works, and it is far easier to show you than to describe it in an email.
An MVP is an experiment. It is built to answer a specific question, and it usually isn't expected to turn a profit. This is for launching and running a business. If you need one well-defined thing built, or you want a starting place to test an idea, start with an MVP. If you've already run the experiment, or you know your industry well enough to launch, this is the better fit.
Choose a fixed monthly budget if a predictable cost matters most and your timeline can flex. Choose time and materials if you want the best product you can get and your budget can flex. Either way the work is agreed before it starts, and you decide when something is done.
Tell me what you're trying to build
Send me the idea, the prototype if you have one, and what's worrying you. I'll tell you what I'd do next, whether or not it involves me.
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