What I do

From idea to growth.

One path in four stages, and you can start at any of them. Each stage gets its own estimate, and a ceiling I won’t cross without asking you.

01 Shape 02 Build 03 Launch 04 Grow

Along the way:

Security & SOC 2 AI in product and team Agency oversight First engineering leader

Investing or acquiring? Technical due diligence →

01 · ShapeWhat should we build first, and is it worth it?

Two to three weeks

We work out what to build first, who it’s for and what it should cost, before you spend on a team. If you already have a product and a team, the first two weeks are spent inside it: in the planning meetings, in the code and in one-to-one conversations, so the plan starts from what’s really there.

Cost. Usually less than a month of a senior engineer, against an estimate and a ceiling.

What you get

Customer conversations, run with you, that settle who the first version is for.
A first-version scope, with every trade-off laid out: what it saves, what it costs and what it does to the date.
The products, platforms and partners worth buying rather than building, chosen before the money is spent.
A budget and a date the rest of the company can plan around.
The product story for your investors.

02 · BuildCan we get something real in customers’ hands?

Weeks to a few months

I build the first version with you, using AI coding agents, either myself or alongside your team if you have one. You see working software every week, and the code and the accounts are in your name from the first day.

Cost. Its own estimate and ceiling, agreed before we start. You’ll have the number in the written scope.

What you get

A first version real customers can use.
A working demo every week, in an environment you can open yourself.
Code, cloud accounts, domains and documentation in your name from day one.
The team to carry it on (hired, contracted or both), with the process in place before they start.

03 · LaunchHow do we get to the first paying customers?

Around the launch

I own the product side of the launch and work hand in hand with whoever sells and markets it: who the product is for, what ships first, design partners and beta, input on pricing, and the numbers that show it’s working. I don’t run sales, demand generation or campaigns.

Cost. Its own estimate and ceiling, scoped around the launch date.

What you get

Design partners and a beta, run so what you learn reaches the product.
Input on pricing and packaging, grounded in what the product costs to run.
Launch readiness: what support looks like on day one, security answers ready for the first questionnaire, and what sales can safely promise.
The numbers that show it’s working, agreed before launch day.
One plan, written with the heads of sales, marketing and finance, so everyone works to the same dates.

04 · GrowHow do we keep shipping as we grow?

Ongoing · the fractional CTO seat

An advisor tells you what to do. In this stage I do it: I run product and technology with you, carry out the changes we agree on, and take engineering off your desk so your week goes back to customers.

Cost. Billed for the work, against a monthly estimate and a ceiling. Nothing renews unless you decide it should.

What you get

The roadmap, and the reasons behind it, in terms the business uses.
The team: the first hires and the first engineering leader, whether the engineers are on your payroll or a partner’s.
A delivery rhythm, so the dates engineering gives are dates the business can plan against.
The numbers: delivery, reliability and what the product costs to build and run, with every proposed improvement priced.
AI in the product and in how the team works.
The reasons: you hear why before any decision takes effect.

How long it runs. As long as you need a CTO and I’m the right one. If you outgrow part time, we decide together what comes next. That can be me, full time. Or it’s a leader we hire together: I write the role, run the interviews with you and stay long enough to hand over properly, because the hire isn’t the outcome. The leader working out is.

Along the way

Handled as part of the path.

Each of these runs on its own, or inside the stage it serves.

Security & SOC 2

Get through the security review, from questionnaire to SOC 2.

Enterprise buyers ask two different questions depending on how far along you are. Sometimes it’s a questionnaire you need to answer credibly this quarter. Sometimes it’s a Type 2 report procurement won’t move without. They’re the same road at two distances, and the first conversation is usually about which one you actually need.

Part of LaunchGrow

About three weeks

If you need to answer the questionnaire

MFA, access control, backups, secrets management, a vendor and data inventory, an incident plan and the core policies, implemented with your team rather than handed over as documents. Plus a completed answer to the questionnaire in front of you, written so it holds up the next time one arrives.

Three to six months to audit-ready

If you need SOC 2 Type 2

Scope and gap analysis, the policies, controls assigned to named owners, the compliance platform and auditor chosen and onboarded, and an evidence routine running with someone on your payroll owning it. I took a company from nothing to Type 2 in under eight months.

AI in product and team

Make AI show up in the numbers.

Two conversations, often in the same company: a team with AI tools and no extra speed, or AI features in the product that nobody can cost or check. I’ve owned AI features in production at Seamless.AI and Datassential, and I build with AI coding agents every day.

Part of BuildGrow

Agency oversight

Know what your agency is actually building.

If an agency or an offshore team is doing the build, I sit on your side of it: the contract read before the next statement of work, the architecture signed off rather than assumed, and the weekly delivery meeting attended by someone who can tell when an answer is evasive. It runs against an estimate and a ceiling, for as long as the build does.

Free: twelve questions to ask your development agency →

Part of BuildGrow

First engineering leader

Hire your first VP or Head of Engineering.

Six to ten weeks, from defining the role to their first ninety days: a real compensation range, an interview loop with scorecards, me in the final interview, and help closing. If the leader is already on your team, the same plan pointed inward.

Part of Grow

For investors and acquirers

Technical due diligence.

One to two weeks on a target’s codebase, architecture, security, team and delivery risk. A written report that separates the problems that matter from the ones that only look alarming, a risk register with what remediation actually costs, and a hundred-day plan for after the close.

Questions people ask first.

What does it cost?

Each stage gets its own estimate and a ceiling I won’t cross without asking you. Shape usually costs less than a month of a senior engineer. For Build, the number depends on what we’re building, and you’ll have it in writing before we start.

What does a fractional CTO actually do?

Owns product and technology alongside the CEO, part time, for the part of the job you need: what to build, how it gets built, the team that builds it, and the security and delivery decisions that are expensive to reverse. With me it also means building the first version.

Do you build software?

Yes. I build first versions with AI coding agents, myself or alongside your engineers when you have them. I don’t sell engineering hours, and there’s no team of mine behind me to sell.

Do you handle go-to-market?

The product side of it: who the product is for, what ships first, input on pricing and packaging, design partners and beta, launch readiness, and the numbers that show it’s working. I work hand in hand with whoever sells and markets it. I don’t run sales, demand generation or campaigns.

What if I already have a team?

Then I build with them rather than around them, and work alongside your engineering lead on the things they haven’t done before: a first launch, a first audit, a first big hire. The same goes for an outside development firm or an offshore team.

How do I reach you?

Directly, whenever you need me. There’s no account manager and no team in between.

How much of my time will it take?

Less than engineering takes now. A weekly demo and a short check-in is usually enough.

Could this become a full-time role?

Yes, if it’s right for both of us. If you grow into needing a full-time CTO and we’re working well together, we’ll talk about it then. We’d decide it together rather than assume it on day one.

Do you work remotely?

Remote for most of the work. I am in Maryland, so being in the room is easy for clients nearby, and I travel when a week on site is what moves things forward.

Not sure where you’d start?

Tell me what you’re building and I’ll tell you the three things I’d do first, whether or not we work together.

Tell me what you’re building

A 30-minute call. Nothing to prepare.