Advisory and Fractional CTO

Advisory and Fractional CTO

I sit as the senior technical seat for a small number of early stage founders. Different from the AI pipeline retainer: this is the full technical leadership chair. Architecture, hiring, vendor calls, code review on critical paths, and stand ins on investor or partner calls when you need a senior to back you up.

What this is

A monthly fractional CTO engagement for one founder or one early stage product. Includes weekly check ins, architecture and code review on critical paths, hiring help (jobs spec, interviews, technical screen), vendor and partner technical calls, and on call availability for hard decisions.

Who it is for

  • Solo non technical founders who need a real CTO without a 250k salary
  • Two founder teams (one technical, one not) where the technical co founder needs a peer to think with
  • Pre seed and seed companies that have shipped a v1 and need to scale the team and stack

What you get

  • Weekly 60 minute check in
  • Async Slack Connect or email access (24 hour response on weekdays)
  • Architecture review on critical paths
  • Code review for senior engineering hires (PR review or pairing)
  • Hiring support: spec, JD review, technical interviews, scorecards
  • Vendor and partner calls (you bring me in for technical credibility)
  • Investor support: technical due diligence prep, demo polish, technical narrative

How it works

  1. Discovery call (60 minutes, free) to confirm fit
  2. Onboarding sprint (2 weeks): I review current stack, code, team, and roadmap, deliver an audit
  3. Weekly cadence with monthly roadmap review
  4. Quarterly board memo with state of the technology and risk register

Founder proof

I run SkynetLabs as a one founder operation with a small bench of contractors and a fleet of agents. I architect, build, hire, fire, and ship. I have shipped the WP REST control system that kills theme ZIP uploads with HMAC plus replay auth. I built citelift.app, the SM Dashboard, the FB Clone Engine, and a stable of pre launch products. I have run actual technical due diligence calls. I do not advise on theory. I have shipped what I am asking your team to ship.

Pricing

Founder rate is 5,000 USD per month for solo founders or pre seed teams. Seed stage with 5 to 15 engineers, 8,000 USD per month. Series A and beyond, custom. 6 month minimum, then month to month with 60 days notice. Equity blends considered for the right stage and traction.

FAQ

Will you write code?
Sometimes. The fractional CTO chair is leadership and review, not heads down build. If you need build hours, that is a separate engagement (n8n sprint, agent build, MVP sprint). I will write code on critical paths or to unblock a hire.

How many fractional CTO clients do you take at once?
Two maximum. The seat is too involved to spread thin.

What if I already have a technical co founder?
Then you might not need a fractional CTO. You might need an advisor. The retainer or strategy call is probably the better fit.

Can you do investor calls?
Yes. Technical due diligence calls, partner integration calls, and one to one investor sessions where they want to talk to your CTO. Included inside reasonable scope.

Equity?
Sometimes. Pre seed and seed companies can blend cash and equity. Pure equity rare.

Apply for the seat

Email me at hello@waseemnasir.com with your stage, current team, and what you need from a fractional CTO. I reply inside 48 hours. Discovery call follows if it is a fit.

Who we work with

The operators who get the most out of working with us share a small set of traits. They have a clear revenue goal for the next ninety days, they have at least one workflow or page that is currently costing them time or pipeline, and they want a written next-step note out of the discovery call regardless of whether we end up working together. If that sounds like your business, the rest of this page should read like a fit check.

Local proof from a comparable engagement

We will be honest about which builds map to your context. The closest comparable engagement we can point to is the SM Dashboard, live OAuth dashboard we ship across LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. We can also reference Wellness DNA, pre-launch DNA wellness brand we built a five-variant Next.js demo for, and the Upwork wellness funnel, six-page editorial funnel we delivered for an Upwork brand. Each is a documented build with screenshots, code, and a deployed URL we can walk through during the call. None of the metrics on this page are invented, and none of the case studies are stock content.

Frequently asked questions, expanded

What does a typical engagement timeline look like?

Discovery and audit in week one, build and integration in weeks two and three, launch and a thirty-day measurement plan in week four. We share Loom updates twice a week and a written summary at the end of every milestone, so you always know exactly where the project sits and what the next decision point is.

Do you work fixed-price or hourly?

Fixed-price for almost everything. We size the work during scoping, write a one-page brief, and quote a single number that covers the build plus one revision round. Hourly is reserved for ongoing retainers and for ambiguous research engagements where the unknowns are too large to scope in a single sitting.

What do you need from us before kickoff?

Read access to the relevant accounts, one decision-maker on the Slack channel, and a thirty-minute kickoff call where we walk through the brief and confirm the success criteria. Most clients have everything we need inside seventy-two hours of signing.

Will you sign an NDA?

Yes. We sign mutual NDAs as a matter of course before any discovery call where you plan to share private revenue numbers, customer data, or product roadmap detail. The same template covers staff augmentation and white-label retainers.

What happens if the engagement runs long?

We absorb the cost up to the agreed scope. Scope changes from your side trigger a written change order with a fixed delta. We do not surprise-bill, and we do not run the clock on rework.

Further reading: see Harvard Business Review on operational productivity for the underlying technical context behind this engagement.

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