FRACTIONAL CTO

The tech leadership you do not have to hire.

Senior judgment on architecture, hiring, vendors and the road ahead, a few hours a week. It comes from people who run production for a living, so it has to survive production.

DECISIONS THIS COVERSOUR SIDE OF IT

Build or buy: a written call
Rewrite or resist: usually resist
Which stack, which cloud: with the bill modeled
The first senior hires: spec, interview, offer
Cloud and agency contracts: the traps lawyers miss
The data room: ready before the round

SOUND FAMILIAR?

The agency says it is done. You have no way to check.
Your best engineer is great at code and new to leading.
The next round comes with technical questions you cannot answer alone.

This is what a CTO is for. Most companies just do not need one full time yet.

WHAT THIS COVERS

FIVE PLACES JUDGMENT PAYS

Architecture

The calls with long shadows: build or buy, which stack, which cloud, when to rewrite, and when to resist the rewrite everyone wants.

Hiring

Job specs that attract seniors, interviews that filter, offers that close. You stop hiring on faith.

Vendors and contracts

Someone on your side of the table who speaks the language. We read cloud and agency agreements for the traps a lawyer is not hunting: the egress clause, the renewal cliff, who ends up owning the code.

The investor room

Data rooms, the technical narrative, and standing next to you when the hard questions come.

Your team

Mentoring for the engineer who is one push away from senior. Advice they will take, because it comes from someone who ships.

WHO YOU GET

Fractional does not mean anonymous. This engagement is led by the founder, the same name that is on the door. The judgment you are buying has a name on it. Meet him on the about page.

HOW IT RUNS

PICK THE SHAPE, NOT A PACKAGE

No packages here either. The shape follows the decision in front of you.

Month to month from the first month. This one has no onboarding to amortize, so no quarter is asked.

STANDING: Fixed hours and a seat in planning.
MISSION: A job with an end: survive the diligence, make the first three hires, pick the platform.
AS NEEDED: A number to call when a decision is heavy.

Either way it is a fixed monthly amount, agreed before we start.

THE OBVIOUS QUESTION

We also sell hands. So will every answer be hire our team?

No. When the honest answer includes us, we say that part out loud and name the alternative in the same breath. When it does not, you will hear that too. The retainer is priced to stand on its own.

It is advice, not a funnel.

FOR FUNDS

Technical due diligence

A read on a target's technology in one to two weeks: architecture, scalability, security posture, team and bus factor, the cost curve, and what the first year of ownership will actually require. Written for partners, defensible in the room.

And because we prepare companies for the other side of this table, we know exactly where to look.

Talk to us about a target

QUESTIONS WE GET

ASK US ANYTHING ELSE ON THE CALL

Is this the same as your managed service?: No. Managed is hands and heads on your infrastructure. This is judgment across all of your technology: product architecture, people, vendors, the road ahead. They pair well, and they work apart.
Do we need to be a Mikula client already?: No. This stands alone. Plenty of clients have one without the other.
We are not technical. Will we understand you?: Yes. Half this job is translation. You will leave every call knowing what was decided and why, in plain language.
What happens when we need a full time CTO?: The best outcome there is. We help you write the search, run the interviews and hand over properly. At 300,000 USD a year and up in total compensation, that hire deserves it. Some clients keep us around after, most do not need to.
How much does it cost?: A fixed monthly amount, agreed before we start, sized to the shape you pick. It does not change mid month.

Tell us the decision that is keeping you up.

One call, no deck needed. If the honest answer is that you do not need a CTO yet, fractional or otherwise, we will say so.

Book a call Or use the contact form