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Leadership

Fractional & Virtual CTO

Get senior technical leadership without hiring a full-time CTO. A Vibidsoft fractional CTO works with your founders and team on the decisions that shape your product: what to build, which technology to use, how to use AI, which vendors to trust and how to grow an engineering team.

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  • 12+ years building software
  • 450+ projects delivered
  • Outcome-based pricing

It suits startups before or after funding, non-technical founders, companies whose CTO has left, and businesses that rely on an outside agency and want an independent technical voice on their side.

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Fractional CTO

What a fractional CTO does for you

Technology strategy and roadmap

A clear plan for the next 6–12 months: what to build first, what to buy instead of build, and what to postpone, tied to your business goals.

Architecture and technology choices

Stack, hosting, data and security decisions made once and written down, so the product can grow without a costly rewrite.

AI roadmap

Where AI will genuinely help your product or operations, what it will cost to run, and how to ship it safely with evaluations and guardrails.

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Vendor, agency and code reviews

An independent review of proposals, estimates and existing code, so you know what you are paying for and where the risks are.

Team building and hiring

Role definitions, interview questions, technical tests and help choosing between hiring, an agency or an outcome pod.

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Investor and due-diligence support

Technical documents, architecture overviews and answers for investors, acquirers and enterprise customers' security questionnaires.

Fractional CTO

How the engagement works

  1. STEP 01

    Technology assessment

    A fixed-price review of your product, code, hosting, team and plans, with a written report and a prioritised roadmap. The fee is credited if you continue.

    Fixed price, fee credited
  2. STEP 02

    Agree the outcomes

    What your fractional CTO will deliver each month, for example an architecture decision record, a hiring plan, a vendor shortlist or a launch readiness review.

    Monthly outcomes in writing
  3. STEP 03

    Regular cadence

    Weekly sessions with founders and the team, decision notes after each one, and availability on Slack, Teams or email between sessions.

    Weekly sessions + async support
  4. STEP 04

    Review every month

    Adjust the focus as your company grows, hand over to a permanent CTO when you hire one, or add an outcome pod to build the roadmap.

    Scale up, hand over or build

Fractional CTO

Who it is for

  • Good fit

    Non-technical founders

    Need a trusted technical partner before choosing a team or an agency.

    You get: A clear technical plan and the right team for it
  • Good fit

    Startups between rounds

    Need senior judgement but not yet a full-time CTO salary.

    You get: A roadmap and technical answers investors can trust
  • Good fit

    Companies that lost their CTO

    Need continuity, documentation and a steady hand during hiring.

    You get: Documented systems and a smooth handover to your next CTO
  • Good fit

    Businesses with an outsourced product

    Want independent oversight of quality, cost and security.

    You get: Independent reviews of code quality, cost and security

Not sure it fits your situation? Ask us in a free 30-minute call

FAQ

Fractional CTO questions, answered.

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What is a fractional CTO?
A fractional CTO is a senior technology leader who works with your company part of the time instead of as a full-time employee. Vibidsoft's fractional CTOs set technology strategy, make architecture and vendor decisions, plan AI adoption and help build the team, so you get CTO-level judgement at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.
What is the difference between a fractional CTO and a virtual CTO?
They are usually the same thing: senior technical leadership delivered part-time and largely remotely. Vibidsoft uses both terms for one service, with regular sessions, written decisions and availability between sessions.
How much does a fractional CTO cost?
Vibidsoft starts with a fixed-price technology assessment from $1,500, which gives you a written report and roadmap. The ongoing fractional CTO engagement is a fixed monthly fee for agreed monthly outcomes, quoted by scope. We never bill by the hour.
When does a startup need a CTO?
As soon as technology decisions start to carry real cost or risk: choosing a stack or an agency, preparing for investment, scaling past an MVP or handling customer data. A fractional CTO covers this stage until the company can justify a full-time CTO.
Can a fractional CTO review our current agency or developers?
Yes. An independent review of code quality, architecture, security, estimates and delivery practices is one of the most common reasons companies engage Vibidsoft's fractional CTO service. You get a written report with clear, prioritised recommendations.
Will the fractional CTO also build the product?
They can, but they do not have to. Many clients keep their existing team or agency and use the fractional CTO for oversight. Others add a Vibidsoft outcome pod to build the roadmap under the same technical lead.
Can a fractional CTO help us hire a full-time CTO or engineers?
Yes. We define the roles, write technical tests, take part in interviews and hand over documentation, decisions and access cleanly when your permanent CTO or team starts.
Who owns the decisions and documents?
You do. Architecture decisions, roadmaps, reviews and documentation are written for your company and belong to you, and Vibidsoft signs an NDA as standard.

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