CTO as a service: a part-time senior tech partner for your business

What CTO as a service is

Every business that runs on software needs someone to make the big technology decisions: what to build first, whether the system will cope as you grow, who to hire. In a large company, that's the CTO's job.

Most growing businesses don't need a full-time CTO yet, and hiring the wrong one is costly. With CTO as a service, you get the same experienced advice for agreed hours, on a regular schedule, and pay only for the help you need.

Is a fractional CTO right for your business?

It usually helps in situations like these:

• Nobody on your team is technical, but your business depends on software.
• You're about to spend real money on software and want someone on your side to check the plan first.
• Your technical co-founder is overloaded, and every decision waits for them.
• The person who ran your technology has left, and you need someone senior until you hire the next one.
• You're about to raise money or hire your first developers, and want the basics set up properly.

What you get

The service has four parts. Take one, or combine them; we agree the mix in writing before we start.

• A part-time CTO: a senior engineer joins your team meeting every week, helps set clear goals, writes the important decisions down, and answers questions in between.
• A second opinion: an independent check of your software and plans, with a written report on what to keep, what to change and in what order.
• Help with hiring: job descriptions, how much experience each role really needs, and interviews that test the real skills of your first developers.
• A technology check for investors and buyers (also called technical due diligence): an independent, written review of a company's software and how it's run, before you invest or buy.

Every big decision, written down

The costliest tech mistakes are hard to undo: the wrong system, a supplier you can't leave, building the wrong thing first. We write each big decision on one page, in plain language: what we decided, what else we considered, and why. A year from now, anyone who asks "why did we do it this way?" can read the answer.

Who you'll work with

Since 2013, Phoned-Tech has been building software from Maalot-Tarshiha, Israel. Our small team of 7+ senior engineers has launched 40+ live systems, and four out of five clients come back for a second project. A senior engineer is with you from the first call to handover.

How it works, step by step

Typical times for each step:

• A free 30-minute call: tell us about your business and what's worrying you. You get a short written summary, even if you don't hire us.
• Getting to know your business (about a week): we look at what you have and talk to the people who build and run it. Then you get a written plan and a clear quote.
• First decisions (1 to 2 weeks): a short written list of what to keep, what to change and what to do first.
• Weekly check-ins: a regular meeting with you and your team. If something needs building, our engineers can build it and show you real progress every week.
• Launch, and after: anything that goes live is registered in your company's name. Then you choose: ongoing support from us, or a handover to your own CTO.

What it costs and how pricing works

There's no price list. A one-off second opinion and a weekly part-time CTO are very different amounts of work. After the free call and the first step, you get a written plan and a clear quote, before the work itself starts.

Usually we charge per two-week round of work, each with a written list of tasks. A clearly defined, closed job can have one fixed price. If you later want us to build what we recommended, that's a separate quote, and you're free to choose another team.

After launch: you own everything, and we're still here

Everything is in your company's name: the code, the cloud account and your web address (domain). Outside engineers, including us, only hold the keys they need to do the work. We leave clear written notes, so your team or a future CTO can take over without starting again.

Over time, you should need a part-time CTO less and less. When you're ready to hire your own, we help define the role and hand everything over. If you'd rather keep us, our optional support plan keeps your systems running, updated and improving.

When we're not the right fit

A part-time CTO works best as a bridge until you hire your own. Look elsewhere if:

• You need a co-founder. If your whole product is a new invention, the person leading its technology should usually be full-time and own part of the company.
• You already have a strong CTO and just need more hands. Our custom software development service fits better.
• You mainly want an impressive name to put on your investor slides.
• Only the lowest price matters. Every project with us has a senior engineer from start to handover; a junior team will usually quote lower.