Fractional CTO for post-seed startupsYour startup grew faster
than its processes.
I bring structure to product, engineering, QA and cloud — and build the team that will keep it running without me.
Sound familiar?
You've closed your seed round and the product is live, with real users. But nobody is technically accountable for it.
Your MVP was written by AI (or an agency)
“It works, but I don’t know if it will hold up — or if it’s secure.”
The product was built with Lovable, Bolt or Cursor, or by an outside vendor. Now users are growing, and every change feels risky.
You have developers, but nobody deciding
“We ship slowly, and every release breaks something.”
The team is there, but architecture, priorities and quality are left to chance — or all end up on your desk.
The team is growing, the processes aren’t
“I’m the bottleneck.”
Across engineering, product and QA you’re ten or fifteen people, but you still work like when you were three. Nobody knows who decides what.
What I fix
Four areas, one responsibility: the chain that turns an idea into shipped software that stays up. I'm not your PM, QA or DevOps engineer: I set up these functions and help you hire the people who will run them.
Product
A roadmap driven by criteria, not by whichever customer pushes hardest.
- Prioritisation criteria for incoming requests
- Lightweight discovery
- A roadmap shared with the business
- Defining and hiring your first PM
Engineering & team
A team that decides and delivers without everything going through you.
- Clear roles and ownership
- Rituals and code review
- Faster onboarding
- Hiring and growing an in-house tech lead
QA & delivery
Frequent releases that nobody is afraid of.
- Test strategy
- CI/CD and release process
- A shared definition of done
- When a dedicated QA is actually worth it
Cloud, security & operations
Infrastructure you understand, control, and that doesn’t depend on a single person.
- Monitoring and alerting
- Cloud cost control
- Incident management
- Baseline security
Done before at Iterpro
- Team grown from 2 to 10
- −85% regression bugs
- 200+ customers
- Exit in 2025
How it works
Intro call
30 min · free
We look at your situation together and see if there's a fit. No pitch: if I'm not the right person, I'll tell you.
Health Check
2 weeks · from €3,900 + VAT
I review code, cloud, processes and team, and talk to your people. You get a written scorecard across the four areas, with risks and a 90-day plan.
More about the Health CheckOngoing support
1–2 days a week
We put the plan into practice with your team, then I help you hire whoever takes over. The goal is for you to stop needing me.
The Health Check stands on its own: no obligation to continue.
Already have a team and need a sparring partner?
There's also advisory: one call a week plus async support on architecture, hiring, vendors and investor questions. It starts straight from the intro call, no Health Check needed.
About
The best decision beats the best code.
I co-founded Iterpro and took it from the first commit to a 10-person team, 200+ customers and an acquisition in 2025. I’ve lived the jump from MVP to a product that holds up — from the inside.
Read moreWho this isn’t for
- I don't build your MVP from scratch for you.
- I'm not an hourly developer for fixing bugs.
- I don't work with teams that haven't validated the idea yet or have no budget.
- I don't write reports that end up in a drawer: every assessment is there to drive decisions.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Fractional CTO?
A Fractional CTO is a senior CTO who works part-time for one or more companies, rather than full-time for a single one. They take on the same responsibility as an in-house CTO — architecture, team, processes, technical roadmap — with a commitment sized to what's actually needed, without the fixed cost of a full-time hire.
When does it make sense to hire a Fractional CTO instead of a full-time one?
Typically after the seed round: the product is live, but the volume of technical decisions doesn't yet justify a full-time CTO — or you haven't found the right one yet. A Fractional CTO brings order now and prepares the ground for the right hire when the time comes.
What is the Health Check?
A two-week, evidence-based review of product, engineering, QA and cloud: code, infrastructure, backlog, pipelines and interviews with the team. You get a written scorecard with the maturity level of each area, the main risks and a 90-day plan. It is the first step of every engagement, but it is valuable on its own too.
More about the Health CheckHow much does it cost?
The Health Check starts at €3,900 + VAT. Ongoing support is defined afterwards, based on how many days a week are needed: I propose it together with the Health Check results, so we talk about price knowing what actually needs doing. Advisory has a fixed monthly fee, agreed on the intro call.
More about the Health CheckI just need someone to challenge my decisions, not a CTO inside the team. Is that possible?
Yes, through advisory: one call a week plus async support, for founders who already have a team that executes but want a senior view on architecture, hiring, vendors or investor questions. The Health Check isn't required here — I only recommend it if the intro call surfaces structural issues.
My MVP was built with AI tools (Lovable, Bolt, Cursor…). Can you help?
Yes — it's one of the most common situations. AI-generated code often works well at first, but hides security, architecture and maintainability issues that surface as users and the team grow. The Health Check tells you what to keep, what to fix and what to rewrite — without starting over unless you really need to.
More about the Health CheckHow much time do you dedicate?
During ongoing support, typically 1–2 days a week. With advisory, 1–2 hours a week plus async support — which is also the natural next step after ongoing support, once the structure holds.
Do I need to commit long-term?
No. The Health Check is a standalone engagement with no obligation to continue. If we decide to keep going, both ongoing support and advisory have a three-month minimum — the time it takes to see results — and then continues month to month. The explicit goal is to make myself unnecessary.
Do you only work in person, or remotely too?
The work is mostly remote, with availability for in-person meetings across Northern Italy when useful. Geographic distance is rarely an issue for this kind of engagement.
Let's start with a conversation
Book a free 30-minute call, or write to me if you'd rather share context first.
No pitch, no pressure — just a conversation to see if it's worth working together.
Book a free 30-minute call