Fractional CTO Services

Part-Time Technical Leadership for Startups

A Fractional CTO is an experienced Chief Technology Officer who works with your company part-time (1-2 days per week), providing strategic technical leadership without the $150,000-300,000 annual cost of a full-time CTO plus 1-5% equity.

Quick Answer:

Fractional CTO services cost $5,000-12,000 per month with a 3-month minimum engagement. You get strategic technology planning, team leadership, architecture decisions, and board-level communication for 8-20 hours per month.

Key Difference:

A Fractional CTO is a full member of your leadership team with ongoing accountability for results, unlike a consultant who provides one-time advice without implementation responsibility.

Fractional CTO Pricing & Packages

Standard Package (1 day/week)

$5,000-8,000/month

Time commitment: 8-10 hours per month

Best for: Seed startups, 5-15 people

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    Strategic guidance

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    2-3 meetings/month

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    Slack support (24hr response)

Extended Package (2 days/week)

$10,000-12,000/month

Time commitment: 16-20 hours per month

Best for: Series A startups, 15-30 people

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    Active leadership

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    4-6 meetings/month

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    Priority support (4hr response)

Minimum Contract: 3 months

Total investment: $15,000-36,000

What's Included in All Packages

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    Technology strategy and roadmap development (6-12 months)

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    Weekly sync calls with CEO/Product leadership

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    Team leadership and mentoring (1-on-1s with tech leads)

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    Architecture and technical decisions

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    Board meeting participation and investor presentations

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    Monthly progress reports and presentations

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    Unlimited email/Slack support (within response time SLA)

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    Emergency availability for critical technical issues

What Does a Fractional CTO Do?

Technology Strategy & Planning

  • Create and maintain 6-12 month technology roadmap
  • Prioritize technical initiatives by business impact and ROI
  • Technology selection for new projects and features
  • Build vs. buy decision-making with cost-benefit analysis
  • Competitive technology analysis and differentiation strategy

Development Management

  • Sprint planning participation and technical prioritization
  • Feature feasibility assessment and effort estimation
  • Code quality & standards establishment
  • Technical debt management and prioritization
  • Process improvement and optimization

Team Leadership & Development

  • Weekly or bi-weekly 1-on-1s with tech leads
  • Career development planning and growth paths
  • Technical skill development guidance
  • Hiring support and interview participation
  • Performance management and metrics

Architecture & Technical Excellence

  • System architecture design for new products
  • Scalability planning for 10x-100x growth
  • Technical problem solving and root cause analysis
  • Security & compliance architecture
  • Database architecture and optimization

Business Communication & Stakeholder Management

Board & Investor Relations

  • Quarterly board presentations
  • Technology section of investor pitch decks
  • Technical due diligence support
  • Technology risk communication

CEO & Executive Team

  • Weekly sync calls with CEO
  • Executive meeting participation
  • Technology budget planning
  • Strategic alignment discussions

Product Team Collaboration

  • Product-engineering alignment
  • Technical feasibility input
  • Feature scoping and estimation
  • Go-to-market technical requirements

How Fractional CTO Services Work

Typical Engagement Model

Week 1 Structure (Standard Package - 1 day/week):

Monday Schedule:

  • 9:00 AM: Weekly sync call with CEO (30 min)
  • 10:00 AM: Sprint planning meeting (1-2 hours)
  • 1:00 PM: 1-on-1 with Tech Lead (30 min)
  • 2:00 PM: Architecture review session (1 hour)
  • 3:30 PM: Code review and technical decisions (1-2 hours)

Async throughout week:

  • Slack/email responses to technical questions
  • Code review comments
  • Document reviews
  • Strategic planning

Friday:

4:00 PM: Weekly written update to CEO and stakeholders

Communication Channels

Real-Time Communication:

  • Slack or Teams for daily questions and decisions
  • Response time SLA: 24 hours (Standard), 4 hours (Extended)
  • Emergency phone/SMS for critical production issues
  • Video calls for complex discussions

Scheduled Meetings:

  • Weekly CEO sync calls
  • Bi-weekly team meetings
  • Monthly progress presentations
  • Quarterly strategic planning sessions