01 Services / T1

Strategic & Advisory

I work as a fractional CTO for startup founders — seed to Series A — and for scale-ups that need the right technical decisions made in the right room, without the full-time salary.

Most technical failures aren't engineering problems — they're decision problems. A fractional CTO gives you senior judgment in the room at the moments that count, without the 6-month hiring process or the full-time salary. Right-sized for your stage; available the week after we agree scope.

FROM €2K/MO · FOUNDERS RAISING, FUNDED STARTUPS, SCALE-UPS

What's included
Fractional CTO engagements
You get senior CTO-level input without the full-time salary. I join your leadership team on a defined weekly cadence — attending standups, reviewing architecture decisions, and representing technical reality to investors and the board.
Startup tech strategy — seed through Series A
From the first architecture decision to the data room for Series A, I help you build a technical narrative investors believe and a codebase your future hires can inherit without needing a month of therapy.
Technical audits & due diligence
A structured review of your codebase, infrastructure, and engineering process — delivered as a written report with prioritised findings. Used by founders pre-fundraise, acquirers pre-LOI, and CTOs inheriting an unknown system.
Architecture reviews
I read your system — diagrams, code, deployment config, incident history — and tell you what will break when traffic doubles, where the hidden costs are, and which decisions are still reversible.
Code review & quality
Not just style; I review for correctness, security posture, test coverage, and long-term maintainability. Delivered as async comments or a synchronous walk-through, depending on urgency.
Technology strategy & roadmaps
A 6-18 month technical roadmap aligned to your business milestones — with honest estimates, dependency maps, and a clear "build vs buy vs wait" position on every major decision.
Example engagements
How we price

Monthly retainer · scoped to your situation

From €2k/month (~2 days/week) up to full-week engagements. No annual lock-in — month-to-month once the initial 90-day onboarding period is complete. Starts with a free 30-minute diagnosis call. No pitch deck, no proposal theatre.

Not included

Hands-on engineering time, tool or SaaS subscriptions, third-party vendor costs.

FAQ
How much of your time do I get?

Engagements run from ~2 days/week (€2k/month) to a full week. The right cadence depends on your stage and the density of decisions in front of you. We agree a weekly hours baseline and adjust quarterly.

Do you replace our existing CTO?

No. I work alongside your CTO as a sounding board and escalation path, or I fill the role temporarily while you search for a permanent hire. If you don't have a CTO and aren't ready to hire one, I can be that function.

What's the minimum commitment?

An initial 90-day onboarding period, then month-to-month. Most engagements run 6–18 months. I'm not interested in 2-week "strategy sprints" — the value comes from being in the room consistently.

Will you write code, or only advise?

Primarily advise — architecture decisions, code reviews, engineering process, vendor selection, and board-level technical narrative. If a proof-of-concept needs hands-on code to unblock a decision, I'll write it. If you need sustained engineering output, that's T2.

What if we're pre-product-market-fit?

That's often when fractional CTO input is most valuable. The decisions you make at seed stage — architecture, stack, team shape, build-vs-buy — are the hardest to undo at Series A. Getting them right early is cheaper than refactoring under growth pressure.

How does this compare to hiring a full-time CTO?

A full-time CTO costs €120k–€200k+ in salary, takes 3–6 months to hire, and needs time to ramp up. A fractional engagement starts in days, costs a fraction of that, and you can scale it up or down. For companies that aren't ready for a full-time executive hire, it's the right shape.

T1 · Strategic & Advisory

Book a 30-minute diagnosis call. I'll read your situation like a log file and tell you honestly whether fractional CTO is the right shape for where you are right now.

No commitment to start
→ Free first call
→ Written scope before any invoice
→ Month-to-month once live
+386 40 828 474 · Blejska Dobrava, SI