Senior technical leadership for founders, heads of engineering, or operators who need someone in the co-pilot seat without hiring a full time CTO. The work happens at the boundary of strategy and execution where most leaders need a thinking partner, not another contractor.
Founders who have a technical product but no senior technical leadership in house yet. Operators who hired a head of engineering and need a thinking partner outside the reporting line. Boards that want a check on the technical narrative before a fundraise. Companies between $500K and $20M ARR are the most common fit.
Short engagement to sit inside the team and produce a written architecture and risk audit. Either side walks if the fit is wrong, no extension obligation.
Steady working rhythm starts in week 5. Most months are quiet operational support; a few weeks each quarter compress around hiring, architecture, or board work.
Every three months we look back at outcomes, look forward at scope, and decide whether to renew, adjust the scope, or close cleanly.
When the engagement winds down, the last six to eight weeks include a handover plan to whoever picks up the seat next. Documentation, hiring brief, transition support.
Strategic technical leadership compounds. Three months is enough to diagnose; six months is the floor at which decisions made on the retainer actually play out and can be measured. Below that, both sides spend more time onboarding than building.
That is the point of the 4 week pilot. Either side walks at the end if the working pattern is wrong, no obligation. The retainer is shaped to the company, not the other way around, but bad chemistry shows up in the first month and is not worth pushing through.
The retainer attends one recurring meeting per week beyond the 1:1, by request. More than that and the engagement starts looking like part-time employment, which is a different shape entirely.
Occasional spikes for evaluation: yes. Production code authorship: no. If a project needs the studio to ship code, the Build engagement is the right shape and is priced separately.
The studio holds at most two CTO retainers at any time. There is no industry exclusivity by default, but a non-compete around a specific competitor can be added to the SOW for an uplift.
The first call is 30 minutes. Bring the system, the team shape, and the next two quarters of pressure. We will figure out fit together.
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