Fractional CTO · For startups
A CTO's judgement, and the team that ships.
Most fractional CTOs give you a part-time advisor. We give you the technical leadership and the design-and-engineering team that actually builds, embedded as your technical co-founder, on terms where we win only when you do.
The gap most fractional CTOs leave
A typical fractional CTO steers your existing engineers on strategy and governance, genuinely useful if you already have a team to steer. Early-stage startups usually don't. You need the architecture decisions and the people who implement them, from the same partner, moving fast.
Our CTO Partnership covers both: system architecture, the technology roadmap, hiring, AI strategy, and patent-ready IP where it matters, plus an in-house team that ships production software. Leadership and execution, one partner.
Equity-aligned, so incentives match
A vendor optimizes for the invoice; a partner optimizes for the outcome. Our CTO Partnership runs on a monthly retainer plus revenue share or an equity kicker, with a minimum six-month engagement. That structure is what keeps us in the room for the hard calls, which is exactly when a technical partner earns their keep.
We are remote-first for US founders, overlap US hours, and invoice in USD.
Case study
VDOlocal, owning the stack as CTO Partner
We run this exact model with VDOlocal: Sitio Labs owns the complete technology stack, platform, mobile, AI, and infrastructure, with five patents filed across the work. It is a co-founding relationship, not a services contract, and it is live in production.
Read how the partnership works →Fair questions.
How is this different from hiring an individual fractional CTO?
You get a studio, not just a person: CTO-level judgement plus the design and engineering team to execute on it. When a decision is made, the same roof ships it.
What does a fractional CTO partnership cost?
A monthly retainer plus revenue share or an equity kicker, scoped to your stage, with a six-month minimum. The variable component is deliberate, it makes us a partner, not a vendor. We invoice in USD.
Will you work with our existing engineers?
Yes. Often the fastest win is giving an existing team clear architecture and honest priorities. We lead, mentor, and fill the gaps, we don't demand a rebuild to justify ourselves.
Your startup deserves a real technical partner.
Tell us where the product stands today. We'll give you a straight architectural read, even if the honest answer is that you don't need us yet.