Background
Fractional CTO

A CTO on retainer, not on payroll.

You get a senior technologist in your leadership conversations for a fraction of a full-time hire. We set the technical direction, make the build-versus-buy and platform calls, manage your developers and vendors, write the AI and data policies your board or funders are asking about, and turn plans into budgets you can defend. You always know who is accountable.

This isn’t advice from the sidelines. When a decision has to be carried out, we take responsibility for the execution, with your team, your vendors, or ours.

What the engagement covers

  • Technical direction and architecture for the systems you run
  • Build-versus-buy and platform decisions, with the reasoning written down
  • Managing your developers, agencies, and vendors
  • AI and data policies your board, funders, or auditors can read
  • Budgets and roadmaps you can defend
  • Execution when a decision needs carrying out

Who it’s for

  • Businesses that depend on software but have no technical executive
  • Nonprofits and agencies facing a modernization or AI decision
  • Founders who need senior leadership before a full-time hire makes sense

Current and recent engagements span IoT and telemetry, eCommerce, and ERP modernization for companies in energy, food service, and industrial distribution.

How the engagement works

A monthly retainer with agreed responsibilities, availability, and deliverables, billed in advance. Work outside the retainer is billed hourly at the rate in your agreement, against an estimate you approve before it starts. No surprise invoices.

“Matt is a brilliant Fractional CTO, always finding the most strategic, efficient, scalable and cost-effective way to achieve our goals. He is honest and proactively finds ways to help the business become more efficient.” Leila Belmahi, CEO, Mariner’s Bow

Not sure you need a CTO yet?

Start with a fixed-price assessment. It tells you where you stand, and whether ongoing leadership is the right next step.