CTO-as-a-Service · Monthly retainer
A senior CTO function from $2,000 a month. Cancel any time.
Weekly technical consultation, AI + human PR review, monthly written report, Slack support. Three plans. The output of a fractional CTO, at one-third the typical price.
Common situations
"We do not need a full-time CTO. We need a senior cross-check, monthly."
CTO-as-a-Service is for the moment when "no CTO" stops being acceptable, but "full-time CTO" is overkill or out of budget.
No CTO. Every technical decision lands in the founder's lap — and the founder is not the technical co-founder.
You need senior judgement on call, not a full-time hire.Engineers say "this is fine." You have no way to verify. PR reviews have become a formality.
The cost of "fine, but it actually was not fine" is much higher than $2,000.Tech debt is piling up. You do not know where to start, or whether starting is worth it.
A monthly written report makes the invisible visible — and the board-friendly.Before → After
What changes in the first 3 months.
Most of the change happens in month 1. Month 2–3 is steady operations; you find out whether the retainer is paying for itself.
- Only some engineers use AI; the rest are unsure.
- "This PR is fine" cannot be verified by anyone senior.
- Tech debt is anecdotal — no inventory, no priorities.
- Board updates contain no technical content because no one writes it.
- Weekly 30-min to 1-hour consult — instant senior decisions.
- Every PR reviewed (AI + selectively human). Code quality maintained.
- Tech debt inventoried, prioritised, and on a reduction plan.
- Monthly written report — distribute to the board without paraphrasing.
3 plans
Start with Lite. Upgrade when you outgrow it.
All three plans share the same senior CTOs — the difference is depth, response time, and how much of the work humans do directly versus AI handling it.
Pre-Seed → Seed. Lean teams.
- Weekly consult: 30 min × 2/mo
- PR review: AI auto only
- Monthly report: AI generated
- Slack support: —
- Tech trend brief: —
- Architecture review: —
- Hiring support: —
- Incident response: —
- Contract: Monthly
Seed → Series A. Active product team.
- Weekly consult: 30 min × 4/mo
- PR review: AI + human (up to 10 PRs/mo)
- Monthly report: AI + engineer details
- Slack support: Within 24h
- Tech trend brief: Monthly
- Architecture review: Quarterly
- Hiring support: JD creation
- Incident response: Advice only
- Contract: 3 months, then monthly
Series A+. Multiple product squads.
- Weekly consult: 1 hour × 4/mo
- PR review: All PRs human-reviewed
- Monthly report: AI + board-ready materials
- Slack support: Within 4h + emergency
- Tech trend brief: 2×/mo + custom research
- Architecture review: Monthly
- Hiring support: JD + interviews + tech tests
- Incident response: Hands-on (2×/mo max)
- Contract: 6 months, then monthly
Why $2K — not $10K
The unit economics of fractional CTO, rebuilt around AI.
Other fractionals charge $5–15K because of how a human's time scales. We charge $2–5K because AI does 80% of the review work, and the human does the judgement-heavy 20%.
The human reviews what matters
Style, common bugs, type errors, lint, basic logic — AI handles them in seconds. The human CTO reads only what AI flags as architecturally significant, or what you escalate.
The CTO running your retainer runs ours too
Same people who operate Tsunagu, Dr. Unco, and L-career — three production products with real users — and who are building Fortress right now. Not a retired CTO doing advisory work between hobbies.
Team coverage, not single-person
If one CTO is unavailable, another picks up. No "my consultant is on vacation" gaps. AI handles continuity for the routine; humans rotate for the judgement.
If you came from a One-Day CTO, the fee comes off month one.
One-Day CTO is designed to flow into this retainer. If you booked one, the full $500 (or $1,000) is deducted from your first month's invoice. No vouchers, no expiry.
What you can rely on
Five rules that govern every CTO-aaS retainer.
Operational rules — same on every retainer, regardless of plan.
NDA before tech
NDA and DPA signed before the free consultation. Repository access, architecture details, board materials — all under written confidentiality.
Senior CTO assigned
You are assigned a named senior CTO from our team. A second senior is named as backup. No bait-and-switch.
Cancel any time (Lite)
Lite is month-to-month. No notice period, no exit fees, no auto-renewal. Standard and Premium honour the minimum term, then revert to month-to-month.
Written monthly report
Every retainer includes a written monthly report. Distribute to the board without rewriting. Premium plans include board-ready materials.
Co-existence with internal hires
We are designed to hand over to an in-house CTO when you hire one. Documentation, decisions, and the retainer's history are all designed for handover.
FAQ
Five questions before you sign on.
Specific case not here? Add it to the form's free-text field. Reply within one business day.
Can I cancel any time?
How is $2,000 different from a fractional CTO at $10,000?
Does the One-Day CTO fee really roll in?
What if I outgrow Lite?
Who actually does the PR review?
Book a free consultation
30 minutes with a senior CTO. Decide after.
A free 30-minute consultation to scope the retainer, recommend a plan, and answer questions. If we are not the right fit, we will say so.
- NDA signed before any technical discussion — including the free consult.
- The CTO scoping the retainer is the CTO running it.
- If a full-time hire is better for you, we will say so.
- $2K–$5K / mo
- Cancel any time (Lite)
- NDA before tech
- One-Day CTO credit
Book a free CTO consultation
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