Definition
A fractional CTO is an experienced technology leader who runs a company's engineering function part-time and on a continuing basis: architecture, hiring, roadmap and the team, for a few days a month rather than five days a week.
This page defines the role, because founders buy it without a shared definition. It ends by saying plainly that it is not what this practice sells.
The role
Ownership is what separates the role from every cheaper thing it gets confused with.
The technical decisions. Architecture, build versus buy, the stack, and the calls that are expensive to reverse.
The team. Hiring, levelling, who leads what, and whether the shape of the team still fits the company.
Delivery. The roadmap, what ships when, and why it keeps slipping if it does.
The technical story. What an investor, a board or an auditor is told, and whether it survives contact with the code.
Fit
It fits when you need a CTO's judgment continuously but cannot yet justify the full-time hire, and there is enough engineering underway to be worth governing.
It does not fit when what you need is one question answered by a date. That is fixed-scope consulting, and it is cheaper and faster.
It does not fit when the constraint is hands rather than judgment. That is a dev shop, or a hire.
It does not fit when there is no code yet. There is nothing to run.
Also known as
Founders search for one arrangement under all of these. They describe the same role.
Where this practice sits
Togethrust is my full-time work, and the practice alongside it is held to 10 to 15 hours a week, one company at a time. That is not enough to run an engineering function, so this is not a fractional CTO practice and it does not take fractional mandates.
What it is instead: a 15-hour, fixed-scope 360° Tech Audit, one per quarter, and paid advisory sessions booked one at a time. How the five models compare.
That is what the diagnostic call is for. Thirty minutes, no pitch. If a fractional CTO is what you need, I will tell you so.
One company at a time • One 360° audit slot per quarter
Book a free diagnostic call →Or write to me at khaled.souf@gmail.com