The Blog
Hard-won lessons from co-founding 6+ startups across 3 continents, on co-founder dynamics, product decisions, hiring engineers, and going from 0 to paying customers. On-site and Medium, all in one place. Back to the blog.
A fractional CTO gives you the same seniority for two or three days a week, no equity, and an exit. A full-time CTO gives you forty hours and total ownership, at roughly $260,000 a year plus equity. Here is the honest decision rule, from someone who has been both.
·9 min read
If a technical co-founder is building the entire product and you are pre-revenue, the defensible range is 40 to 50 percent of the founder pool. Here is what actually moves that number, why vesting matters more than the split, and the three patterns that turn a fair deal into resentment.
·10 min read
A fractional AI officer owns your model strategy, your inference economics, and your AI security posture, part-time. A fractional CTO owns your whole engineering org, AI included. Here's the honest difference, from someone who runs a production multi-LLM platform and holds an M.Tech in cybersecurity.
·8 min read
Most fractional CTO retainers fail quietly: hours get billed, nothing ships, and nobody can say why. Here is how I structure mine so that does not happen, including the one clause I refuse to put in a contract.
·9 min read
An MVP costs anywhere from $5,000 to $150,000+ in 2026 depending on who builds it and how the scope is controlled. Here are the real market numbers, the hidden costs nobody quotes, and why I price MVPs per screen so founders know the total before a single screen is built.
·9 min read
A fractional CTO is a senior technology executive who leads your engineering part-time, typically 2 to 3 days a week, for a fraction of a full-time CTO's cost. Here's what the role actually involves, what it doesn't, and how to tell if you need one. Written by someone who does this for a living.
·8 min read
Investors doing technical diligence on an AI startup now ask about model dependency, eval rigour, inference economics, and prompt injection, not just team background and burn rate. Here is what actually gets checked, from someone who has prepared for it and sat on the other side of the call.
·10 min read
Every technical person who looked at this problem walked away. It needed Linux, MERN, DevOps, Python, AI, security, and custom protocols in one head. Here's how we built it, went from processing thousands to 500,000 assessments in an hour, the one wrong AWS line that almost sank the launch, and why competitors now keep calling.
·9 min read
Every fractional CTO's website tells you why to hire one. Almost none of them tell you when not to. I have been on both sides of this decision six times as a founder and I am not going to sell you a retainer you don't need. Here is the honest version.
·10 min read
Most advice on finding a technical co-founder is written by people who have never been one. I've said yes six times and no far more often. Here's what actually makes engineers commit, what founders get wrong, and when you shouldn't look for one at all.
·12 min read
Most of the founders who ask me this do not need me yet, and I tell them so on the call. Here is the checklist I actually use: the signs you need a fractional CTO now, the signs you need something cheaper, and the signs you need something more expensive.
·8 min read
Most CTO interview question lists are written by recruiters who have never hired one. I have hired technical leaders for six companies I co-founded and been the candidate on the other side of this table more times than that. Here are the questions that actually separate a strong CTO from someone who interviews well.
·11 min read
Everyone wants the success story. The failures taught me more. Here's an honest look at the startups I co-founded that didn't make it - and the simple mistakes I kept repeating.
·8 min read
The skills that make you a great engineer can quietly undermine you as a founder. Here's the trap most technical founders fall into - and how to get out of it.
·7 min read
