Fractional CTO · Manchester
A fractional CTO, without the full-time hire.
Senior technical leadership for startups and small businesses around Manchester: someone to make the technical decisions with you, check the work, and plan what comes next. On a monthly subscription you can cancel, or a scoped engagement.
Based in Hale, near Manchester. We work remotely across the UK and travel nationwide when it helps.
When it's time
Signs you need senior technical leadership.
- You are choosing a tech stack, an agency or a freelancer, and cannot judge the options.
- Someone is building your product and you have no way to tell whether the work is good.
- Investors or customers are asking technical questions you cannot answer yet.
- You have hired your first developers and nobody senior is reviewing what they ship.
- You built a prototype with AI tools and need a plan to take it further.
- Costs for hosting, tools or AI services are climbing and nobody can say why.
What we take on
The technical side of the business, with you.
Decisions and architecture
Which stack, which host, build or buy, and what it will cost to run. Decisions made with you and explained, so your team understands them.
Checking the work
Reviews of what your developers, agency or freelancer deliver: what is solid, what is fragile, and what to fix first.
A plan and a roadmap
What to build now, what to leave for later, and the order that gets you to launch or to your next round.
Investor and customer questions
Help preparing clear answers to technical questions from investors, partners and larger customers.
Your first engineering hires
Help working out which roles you actually need, and what good looks like in them.
AI, sensibly
Where AI will genuinely help your product or operations, and where it will only add cost and risk.
Talk it through first.
In a free 30-minute call we will look at where you are and tell you whether you need a fractional CTO at all, or something lighter.
Ways to buy it
Pick the shape that fits.
Mentoring
A named senior engineer, two calls a week, reviews as you go and a launch check. The lightest way to get senior technical judgement as a solo or early founder. See mentoring.
Engineering cover
For businesses whose people build tools and apps: office hours, a review queue, a monthly build review, and standards for the team. See cover.
Consultancy
A few days a month of hands-on technical leadership, or a one-off piece of work such as a codebase review or a technology choice. See consultancy.
Bought as a service, not a hire: no recruitment, no equity, and nothing on your headcount. Subscriptions pause or cancel any time. See all pricing.
Questions
What does a fractional CTO do?
They give a business senior technical leadership part time: making technology decisions, checking the quality of what is built, planning the roadmap, and representing the technical side with investors, customers and suppliers.
How much does a fractional CTO cost?
Rates vary widely, and are often day rates or monthly retainers. Ours are published: mentoring for founders from £480 a month inc VAT, engineering cover for teams from £1,500 a month + VAT, and consultancy quoted for bespoke work.
Should I find a technical co-founder instead?
If you find the right person, a co-founder brings a long-term commitment a subscription cannot. Many founders use senior support to build and test the idea first, so they know exactly what to look for in a co-founder, or find they do not need one yet.
Can you work with our existing developers or agency?
Yes. Reviewing and steering work done by others is one of the most useful things senior technical leadership can do, and a common reason people bring us in.
Do you only work with Manchester businesses?
No. We work with clients across the UK remotely, and travel nationwide when meeting in person helps.