Blog
Notes from the engagement
Practical writing on Fractional CTO work, AI architecture decisions, and how to lead engineering teams at startup scale. Posts are in English; page navigation is translated.
EU AI Act for founders: a 2026 readiness checklist
The EU AI Act is in active rollout. Here is what is in force already, what kicks in on 2 August 2026, what classifies as high-risk, and the practical readiness checklist for product teams.
GDPR + LLMs: a practical guide for product teams
How to build LLM-powered products in the EU without breaking GDPR. A practical walkthrough of the articles that bite, the patterns that work, and the patterns that look fine but are not.
How to hire a Fractional CTO: questions, red flags, and contracts
A founder's checklist for evaluating Fractional CTO candidates — where to source them, what to ask, what should make you walk away, and what a clean contracting setup looks like.
Why you should NOT hire a Fractional CTO
A contrarian counterpoint to the rest of the writing on this site. The model is not right for every founder, every stage, or every product. Here are the cases where hiring one is the wrong move.
When to hire a Fractional CTO — and when not to
Five clear signals you need one, three signals you do not, and the most common founder mistakes in evaluating the model.
How a Fractional CTO manages an engineering team part-time
Engineering teams need decisions, unblockers, and direction. A Fractional CTO is gone 80% of the time. Here is how the model works in practice — and where it breaks down.
How to choose between OpenAI, Claude, Mistral, and Llama for your product
Four model families, four very different trade-offs. A practical framework for choosing — based on data residency, cost, capability, ecosystem, and what fails first.
MVP in 4-8 weeks: realistic vs unrealistic expectations
A working MVP in 4-8 weeks is achievable for a focused subset of products and impossible for the rest. Here is what fits in the window, what does not, and how to scope a build that actually ships.
Fractional vs Part-time vs Interim vs Full-time CTO — what is the difference?
The four CTO models look similar from outside but solve different problems. Here is the practical difference, and a decision framework based on your company stage.
What is a Fractional CTO and when do you need one?
A Fractional CTO is senior technical leadership for startups that need it before they can justify a full-time hire. Here is what the role actually does, who hires one, and when the model works.
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