The Fractional CTO 26 years in the making

It’s been more than 20 years since this photo was taken — which was the last time I ran my own startup — so this feels like a big moment:

Today I’m happy to announce that I am now offering my services as a Fractional CTO.

So what is a Fractional CTO? Think of it as a CTO-as-a-Service. On-demand technology leadership without the cost and commitment of a full-time hire.

I have 25+ years software engineering and leadership experience, working with startups, small and medium businesses, enterprise, and government. I've worked on every project under the sun, from simple mobile apps through to resilient, high-volume e-commerce platforms handling tens of thousands of transactions a minute.

A Fractional CTO can help you if:

🤝 You’ve engaged a third party development partner (either local or remote) — I can make sure they’re building you the right thing, the right way.

🏠 You want to build in-house software capabilities — I can help hire, manage, and get your team set up for success.

🏚️ Your team is struggling to deliver — I can help re-orient your team and get them delivering valuable software to your customers quickly and safely.

☕ You’ve got an idea for an app, platform, or site and just want to ask some questions — I'm available for a coffee right now.

So that’s a bit about what I can do for you, but what about the how? What is it like to work with me? After all, engaging a Fractional CTO requires a fair bit of trust, so here’s a bit about me and how I work:

😂 Humour is a big part of my personality — work makes up 1/3 of our lives, so why not make it fun? Coming into established teams as an outsider is hard, but if you can make people laugh you can drop their guard pretty quickly and earn their trust.

🤦 I’ve made a tonne of mistakes — I’ve dropped production databases, picked the wrong technology because it was new and exciting only to find myself backed into a corner 3 months later, not spoken up when I could see a bad decision being made — but I believe that real growth can only come from failure. And I’ve grown a lot!

💡 Simplicity is at the heart of everything I do — I don’t like to complicate things. I use simple language, and offer simple solutions to complex problems. So often I’ve seen technology professionals over-complicate things in order to justify themselves or their positions. If you come to me with a problem that can be solved with a $20 a month SaaS platform, I’ll suggest that rather than charge you $60k to build one.

💸 I love fixed costs — I like to know what I’m getting for my money in my personal life, so why would I be any different in my professional life? No hourly or day rates here, my costs are fixed and based on the outcomes you want.

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 I can’t do everything — but after a quarter century in the business I’ve built up a large professional network, with some of the best and brightest minds in product, marketing, sales, and of course software. If you’ve got a problem that I can’t solve, I can probably recommend someone who can.