Fractional CTO for Marketplace Startups
Build a marketplace that balances both sides from day one
Marketplaces fail when you solve for supply but ignore demand, or build features sellers need but buyers never see. You need both sides working, fast.
I help you launch marketplaces that create value immediately — not in theory, in practice.
What I do
Understand your chicken-and-egg problem Every marketplace is different. Uber needed drivers first. Airbnb needed listings. I help you figure out which side to activate, how to sequence your build, and what your MVP actually needs.
Build the critical loops Transaction flows. Search and matching. Trust and safety. Payment handling. I’ve built these systems multiple times. You get architecture that works for 100 users and scales to 10,000.
Ship fast, learn faster A working marketplace in 6-8 weeks where both sides can transact. Real transactions mean real insights. We iterate based on what’s actually happening, not what you think will happen.
Who I work with
Pre-seed and seed-stage marketplace founders who need to prove unit economics and liquidity before scaling.
Often you’re domain experts who understand your market deeply but need help translating that into a technical product. Or you’ve built a basic version but it’s breaking as you try to grow.
How we work together
Usually 2-3 days per week for 4-6 months. I define your technical requirements, design your core transaction architecture, and build the first version with you. Then we optimize based on real usage patterns.
Recent work
Launched a services marketplace in 7 weeks with payment integration, booking system, and basic matching. They processed their first 50 transactions and learned their pricing model needed to change — before spending 6 months building the wrong thing.
Redesigned a rental marketplace’s matching algorithm to account for location and availability, increasing successful matches by 40%.
Let’s talk
If you need to get both sides of your marketplace transacting quickly, or your current platform can’t handle the complexity of balancing supply and demand, let’s talk.