Fractional CTO Services for Startups
How I Work With Founders
Building software is the easy part. Knowing what to build, when to build it, and avoiding the decisions that will cost you six months later – that’s where most early-stage companies get hurt.
I work with non-technical founders who are navigating the gap between a product vision and something real, scalable, and investor-ready. Whether you have a napkin sketch, a vibecoded prototype, or a product that’s starting to crack under growth, I can help you move faster and with more confidence.
My model is simple: a monthly retainer that keeps me in your corner as your on-call technical partner, with the option to commission specific deliverables on top when you need to ship something concrete.
The Retainer – Your CTO on-call
£1,000 - £2,500 / month
Most non-technical founders don’t need a full-time CTO. But they do need someone they can call when a developer goes rogue, when an investor asks a technical question they can’t answer, or when a critical architectural decision needs to be made before it becomes a six-figure mistake.
That’s what the retainer is for.
Think of it as having a senior technical co-founder in your back pocket – without the equity conversation. You get:
- A trusted technical voice available throughout the month via async messaging and scheduled calls
- Architectural guidance and honest input on build decisions before they’re locked in
- Review of any code, proposal, or technical document – whether it comes from a freelancer, an agency, or your own AI experiments
- Representation in investor, stakeholder, or hiring conversations where technical credibility matters
- Continuous alignment between your technology choices and where the business is actually going
The retainer is the foundation of how I work. It means I get to know your product deeply, which makes everything else faster, cheaper, and better scoped.
Additional Services
Once you are a retainer client you get access to other services which are priced according to your needs. Here a few pre-made packages, just to give you an idea
MVP Build – £5,000 - £15,000
You have a clear idea of what you want to build and you need it done properly – not a throwaway prototype, but a foundation you can hire engineers into, demo to investors, and iterate on without rewriting everything in six months.
I’ll take your vision through scoping, architecture, and delivery. The output is clean, documented, production-ready software with a handover package that any competent developer can pick up.
Price varies with scope and complexity. All projects start with a paid scoping session (credited against the build fee) to define what’s in and what’s out before a single line of code is written.
Vibecoded App Rescue – £1,500 - £4,000
You shipped something fast using AI tools or a no-code platform, it works well enough, and now you’re hitting walls – bugs you can’t trace, developers who won’t touch it, or investors asking uncomfortable questions about technical foundations.
I’ll audit your codebase or setup, map the structural problems clearly, and deliver either a detailed remediation plan or a full refactor depending on what makes sense. The goal is to give you a clear picture of where you stand and a path forward you can act on.
Technical Specification and Architecture Document – £1,000 - £2,500
Raising a round, bringing on a technical co-founder, or handing off to a development agency? You’ll need a document that articulates what you’re building, how it works under the hood, and why the technical choices were made.
I’ll produce a professional architecture and specification document – the kind that signals to investors and developers alike that the technical side of your business is in capable hands.
Getting Started
The best starting point is a conversation. If you’re unsure whether what you need maps to any of the above, that’s fine – tell me where you are and where you’re trying to get to, and we’ll figure out the right shape together. Not sure which package fits? The free call is the right place to start