What is the difference between a fractional CTO and a technical advisor?

A technical advisor validates a specific decision, gives you a defensible opinion, and leaves; the value is the decision, not an ongoing relationship. A fractional CTO carries a stream of decisions, owns the roadmap and architecture week to week, and is accountable for outcomes, typically at 10 to 20 hours a week. Use an advisor for one question and a fractional CTO when the questions keep coming.

How many hours a week does a fractional CTO work?

Most fractional CTO engagements run between 10 and 20 hours a week, scaled to the company's stage and the decisions in flight. The hours are less important than the accountability: a fractional CTO owns named outcomes and carries continuous context. When the role grows past roughly half-time and becomes a standing management job, that is the signal to hire a full-time CTO instead.

Do you need access to our production systems to help?

No. We work under a signed NDA and scoped, read-only or sandboxed access. To validate architecture, score risk, and prioritize a roadmap we need diagrams, the roadmap, vendor proposals, an incident timeline, and a clear statement of your blockers, not production credentials, admin logins, or live customer data. Anyone who insists on production access before giving an opinion is selling access, not judgment.

When should I hire a full-time CTO instead of a fractional one?

When engineering leadership is a continuous, more-than-half-time job: the team is large enough that managing it is itself the work, decisions arrive faster than a part-time owner can carry them, and the company can fund the salary and equity. A fractional CTO is the right answer before that line and a stopgap after it; a good fractional partner will tell you when you have crossed it and help you hire your replacement.

We are raising soon, do we need a fractional CTO or technical due diligence?

If you are preparing your own system to survive an investor's review, or you are evaluating someone else's build before you invest or acquire, frame the work as technical due diligence: an independent, scored read on architecture, scalability, security, code health, team, and risk. If the question is broader and pre-deal, how to build, scale, and sequence, start with consulting and a fractional engagement and let it find its level.

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