Fractional CTO — a technology leader part time.

When management has no technical counterpart.

For a company of 20—200 employees a full-time technology leader is rarely justified — the volume of work is not there yet, but the weight of the decisions already is, and a mistake costs tens of thousands. The result is that technology decisions are made either by a manager without a technical background, or by a vendor with interests of their own. A Fractional CTO fills exactly that gap.

This service is the right fit if:

• there is a five-figure proposal on the table and nobody independent who can say whether the price and timeline are realistic;
• conversations with an existing vendor contain claims you cannot evaluate, and therefore cannot push back on;
• the company has one or two IT people who lack a counterpart on strategic questions;
• the board or owner is asking for a technology plan that matches the business plan, rather than a wish list;
• decisions about AI adoption, data residency or security requirements are due, and the wrong call here is hard to reverse.

When it is not the right fit. For a company with one clear project and a defined end date, a retainer costs more than a one-off IT and AI audit. Nor is it a substitute for a development team — a Fractional CTO decides and oversees, but does not perform the day-to-day build.

Four things usually missing from the management table.

An independent view on proposals, prices and deadlines

Every proposal received is read from your side rather than the seller's: whether the proposed solution addresses your actual problem, whether the price matches the scope of work, which timelines are optimistic, and what the proposal does not say. The output is one page with a recommendation and the questions to put to the vendor.

A technology strategy that matches the business plan

Not a list of tools but a sequence: what to do this year, what next year, what not to do at all. Each item justified in business terms — which problem it solves and how you will notice. The strategy is revisited quarterly, because a technology plan left untouched for a year usually no longer fits the company.

Oversight of vendors and the in-house team

Regular checking that work is progressing as promised and that invoices match what was delivered. In practice this also means technical conversations with the vendor on your behalf — which is what saves the most time and money.

Plain explanations for management and the board

Technical questions explained in language you can make a decision in. Where useful, we also attend a board meeting and answer questions directly.

Regular, predictable involvement.

First month — understanding the situation

We start with an overview: which systems exist, who maintains them, which contracts and subscriptions are running, where the biggest risks are. This is not a full audit, but enough that subsequent advice is not generic. At the end of the first month you receive a risk and opportunity list.

The monthly rhythm

• One regular 60—90 minute session with management.
• Vendor and proposal review as needed.
• A short written summary at month end: what was decided, what is moving, what is stuck.
• Availability between sessions — urgent questions answered within one working day.

Quarterly review

Every three months, a wider conversation: whether the technology plan still matches the business plan, what to change, and whether the retainer size is right. That conversation is also where we say if the retainer is no longer needed — which happens less often than you might expect, but it happens.

When part time is the right choice.

The honest version: a Fractional CTO is the right choice until it is not. As a company grows there comes a point where somebody on site every day is needed. At that point our job is to help find and hand over to them — not to extend the retainer.

Long-term technical accountability.

Dispo, a B2B travel platform and destination management company, has worked with the same technical partner responsible for architecture since 2019. In practice that means decisions taken about once a year that shape everything after them: how to build multi-currency handling, how to split the system into three separate working environments for agents, suppliers and affiliates, when to add a payment solution and when not to. That is exactly the layer of decisions a Fractional CTO retainer covers at a smaller scale.

The full case study is currently published in Latvian only; ask for it on the call and we will walk through it in English.

A fixed monthly retainer.

The retainer is a fixed monthly sum for an agreed number of hours. Unused hours carry over once; that is deliberate — advisory work is uneven, but an unlimited carry-over would turn the retainer into prepayment for work that never happens.

Prices exclude VAT. The contract runs one month at a time, renewing automatically, with the option not to renew and no explanation required. The minimum initial period is three months — the first month goes on understanding the situation, and judging whether the retainer pays off is simply not possible before that.

Questions about the retainer.