CTO-level judgment, when it actually counts
No need for a full-time CTO — that runs €150k+ a year — but you do want someone to make the irreversible technical calls with you, give your team direction, and keep your AI strategy sharp? We provide fractional CTOs who are still in the code. Not advice from a distance, but a technical leader in the decision with you.
Most fractional CTOs wrote their last line of code years ago. We read your codebase, assess your architecture, and make decisions we could build ourselves.
What do you build, what do you buy, and what's a demo that never reaches production? We build AI systems every day — so we know the difference, and keep you away from expensive toys.
Tech stack, architecture, build-vs-buy, your first senior hire. The choices you'll still feel a year from now, made with someone who sees the consequences before you commit.
Developers who ship need someone guarding the course. We provide technical direction, mentor your engineers, and keep everything pulling in the same direction.
Real-world projects where we applied Fractional CTO to deliver results.
A solo founder built a working app with AI tools, but got stuck when it needed to go to production. How we went from prototype to scalable SaaS together.
An operations manager built an automation herself that worked fantastically, until it didn't. How we went from fragile flow to reliable system.
A recruitment agency wanted to use AI for CV screening, but ran into legal and ethical objections. How we built a solution that did pass the compliance check.
If this sounds familiar: you don’t need a full-time CTO. You need CTO-level judgment — right when it matters most.
Anyone can write a roadmap deck. Every consultant has an opinion on your tech stack. Advice is cheap — which is exactly why it feels so safe to buy.
But the real work is in the decisions you can’t undo, made by someone who understands your system well enough to carry the consequences. This is what trips companies up at the CTO level:
Replatforming, committing to an architecture, picking a major platform you're locked into for years. Easy to get wrong, expensive to undo. You want someone who sees the consequences before you sign, not after.
A CTO who hasn't touched a codebase in years advises on feel and memory. The very details where things break in practice are the ones they no longer see. Judgment without hands-on is just guesswork in a suit.
"We need to do something with AI" without knowing what's a demo and what reaches production. The result: months building something that never ships, or missing a real opportunity out of fear. Telling them apart takes someone who builds them.
Developers working hard, but no one guarding the course. Everyone ships, but the whole thing stalls: duplicated work, no standards, and technical debt no one prioritizes because no one has the overview.
In a funding round or acquisition, the technical debt no one flagged surfaces. At that moment, with a deal on the table, it's too late to fix calmly — and it drags down your valuation.
Choosing your first senior engineer or tech lead wrong costs you a year: choices that linger, a team shaped the wrong way. Without someone who asks the right questions in the interview, you're guessing.
We don’t deliver an advisor who drops by now and then. We deliver a technical leader who helps make the call — and could build it themselves. The difference between a polished report and a decision you’d bet your company on is almost never the strategy on paper. It’s whether the person making it truly understands the system.
Most fractional CTOs last sat in the code ten years ago. We’re still in it this week. That’s exactly why our advice holds up: we know the details where things break, and when we say something is possible with AI, it’s because we’ve built it ourselves. No slides — decisions we put our name to.
Jeroen , 010 Coding Collective
A large part of those decisions is now about AI: build it, buy it, or leave it. If you want to zoom in on that, we have a dedicated service for it — AI strategy & consulting. When such a system then has to run reliably in production, read AI agents and automation. And if you’re unsure whether a vibe-coded prototype can be the basis, a vibe coding audit is often the first step.
Ongoing CTO-level leadership, for a fixed number of hours per week. We help make the strategic technical decisions and carry the responsibility.
The question now on every boardroom table: what do we do with AI? Your fractional CTO separates the hype from what reaches production, because we build the systems ourselves.
A thorough review of your technical stack, team and processes. Essential for a funding round or acquisition — or simply to know where you stand.
Sometimes you don't need an ongoing CTO, but a second opinion at the right moment. For the decision you don't want to make alone.
What we recommend, we run ourselves. The AI systems we advise you on, we build too — the site you’re reading right now runs on one we built for ourselves.
A decision you don't want to get wrong, a team that lacks direction, or an AI question that keeps nagging? We put your situation on the table and give honest technical advice.
Best for: founders and tech leads with a strategic technical question
A thorough review of your codebase, team and processes. Ideal for a funding round, an acquisition, or when you want to know in black and white where you stand.
Best for: startups pre-funding and M&A processes
Ongoing CTO-level leadership for a fixed number of hours per week. We help make the strategic technical decisions — and can build them ourselves.
Best for: scale-ups without the budget or need for a full-time CTO
* Pricing is indicative and depends on specific project requirements and scope.
We always start with a free consultation. In ninety minutes we put your situation and your biggest technical question on the table, and tell you honestly what we’d do. Then we decide the shape together: a one-off review, a sparring engagement, or ongoing fractional CTO leadership. No obligations.
Our team has extensive experience with the technologies behind Fractional CTO. Discover which team members are specialized in this area.
From AI prototypes that need to be production-ready to strategic advice, code audits, or ongoing development support. We're happy to think along about the best approach, no strings attached.
In 1.5 hours we discuss your project, challenges and goals. Honest advice from senior developers, no sales pitch.