CTO-level judgment. Without the hire.
Senior CTO judgment without a full-time hire. A named advisor reads your stack early and delivers board-ready output in a scoped engagement.
Senior judgment with accountability attached.
A fractional CTO is part-time senior technical leadership with CTO-level accountability, without a full-time executive hire.
It differs from an interim CTO and from pure consulting. A fractional CTO stays accountable for decisions and what happens next, not just recommendations.
The role is strategic and operational: platform and tooling decisions, vendor evaluation, board reporting, and keeping the technical plan tied to business goals.
Three situations where a fractional CTO changes the outcome.
Most EU SMEs reach one of these three moments before they have a technical leader in place. Each one is recoverable, but only if the right judgment enters the room before the decision is made.
Making platform decisions without a senior technical voice
Decisions are being made by demos and sales decks, not senior technical judgment. Risk rises when no one can price long-term impact.
A raise or acquisition is opening the data room
Fundraising exposes architecture, cloud cost, GDPR posture, and key-person risk. You need senior leadership before the data room opens.
Tech debt is outpacing delivery
Delivery slows because debt compounds faster than it gets reduced. Without someone owning the technical direction, every release gets harder.
Set expectations before you start the search.
Not this
- A project manager who tracks sprint velocity
- A senior developer who writes production code
- A vendor or implementation partner with a preferred stack
- A consultant who delivers a deck and disappears
- An interim hire who needs a desk and a contract
This. with names on it
- Architecture review against your 18-month roadmap
- Vendor and tooling evaluation with no commercial affiliations
- Board-ready reporting written for non-technical founders
- Hiring brief when you are ready to recruit a full-time CTO
- Security and GDPR posture assessment before a raise
- Build vs buy recommendation as a written memo
Questions to ask before you sign.
The fractional CTO market has no barrier to entry. Anyone can call themselves one. These questions separate operators from label-wearers.
Three things we do differently.
One person. Direct line
You talk to the same advisor from the first call through delivery. No account layer. No handoff once the retainer starts.
We read the codebase before the kickoff call
Our advisory starts from evidence, not assumptions. We review your systems, your docs, and your vendor contracts before we give an opinion on anything.
Fixed-fee where the scope holds
Most engagements run 2–6 weeks with clear deliverables and exit criteria. We do not run open-ended retainers that expand without accountability.
- €2.1M Vendor contract avoided, single audit engagement
- EU mid-market company, SaaS platform decision
- 2–6 Weeks from kickoff to board-ready written output
- Scope held to decisions, not discovery theatre
- 0 Affiliate relationships with vendors we evaluate
- Conflict posture documented in every memo
Related services and industry context.
Fractional CTO advisory is one part of our Tech Strategy & Consulting service line. Related engagements include tech audits, vendor due diligence, and technical due diligence for investors.
If you are pre-raise, see how we work with startups and scale-ups. If you are evaluating a target company or a portfolio, see our investor and portfolio work.
For AI operating design, chatbot workflows, and automation systems connected to day-to-day teams, see Some Tech Work in AI.
Bring the operational risk.You get a clear diagnosis and a concrete next step.
We are the right fit if you want a team that pushes back when it matters.
Company evidenceon the site.
Engagements with commercial outcomes on Work. Team bios and operating model on About. Nothing to download. Review it before you commit to a call. Open to review. Commit when ready.