Technical direction & decision-making
Every software decision your business faces — build vs. buy, which platform to use, whether to hire a developer or an agency — gets a clear, informed opinion from someone accountable for the outcome.
Fractional CTO
Someone who speaks
business and technology.
Most growing businesses aren't ready for a full-time CTO — but they still face technical decisions that can cost them years and hundreds of thousands of dollars if they get them wrong. A Fractional CTO gives you experienced technical leadership, embedded in your business, for a fraction of what a full-time hire would cost.
From $1,500Per month
Month-to-monthNo lock-in
Starts in 1–2 wksNot 6 months
What a Fractional CTO actually does
Not a consultant. A partner with skin in the game.
The difference is accountability. We don't hand you a report and leave — we sit in your meetings, review what your team builds, and own the outcome of the technical decisions we help you make.
Developer and agency oversight
You hired a developer or an agency and you're not sure if they're doing the right things. We review their work, ask the hard questions, and make sure you're getting what you're paying for.
Tech roadmap you can actually follow
A plain-language plan for what your business needs to build or fix over the next 6–12 months — why, in what order, and roughly what it will cost. Not a technical document. A business plan for your software.
Hiring and onboarding your first tech staff
Writing job descriptions, reviewing candidates, and making sure the person you hire is right for your business — not just impressive on paper. We've done this before.
Protecting you from bad decisions
The $40,000 platform migration that wasn't necessary. The agency that quoted six months for a six-week project. The developer who built the wrong thing for two years. We catch these before they happen.
Making sense of your software costs
Subscription tools, hosting bills, contractor invoices — we review what you're spending on technology and tell you what's worth keeping, what's overpriced, and what you should cut.
Be clear on what this is
What “fractional” doesn't mean here.
The word “fractional” gets used for a lot of things that are really just part-time advisory with a better job title. We want to be direct about what this engagement is — and what it isn't — before you decide.
Ask us anything about how this worksNot this
A consultant who writes reports then disappears
This
A partner in your weekly team meeting who owns technical outcomes
Not this
Someone who shows up once a quarter
This
Someone your team can message when a tech decision needs to be made this week
Not this
A vendor who executes whatever you ask
This
Someone who tells you when what you're asking for is the wrong call
Not this
Generic advice that could apply to any company
This
Specific guidance based on your industry, your team, and your actual constraints
Engagement tiers
Three levels of involvement.
Start at whatever level fits your business right now. Most clients start at Advisory or Active and adjust as the relationship develops.
Advisory
$1,500/mo
2 hrs / weekRegular check-ins and async support for business owners who need a reliable technical voice without deep involvement. Good for ongoing guidance and sanity-checking decisions.
- Weekly 45-minute check-in call
- Async Q&A via email or Slack
- Tech vendor and quote reviews
- Software buying decisions
- Monthly priorities review
Most popular
Active
$3,000/mo
4 hrs / weekOur most common engagement. Real involvement in your team's work — attending meetings, reviewing what your developers or agencies are building, and setting technical direction week by week.
- Everything in Advisory
- Attend your team meetings (2x/week)
- Developer and agency work reviews
- Hiring support — job descriptions and interviews
- Technical roadmap development
- Incident response availability
Embedded
$5,000/mo
8 hrs / weekFor growing businesses that need a de facto technical leader. Deep, consistent involvement across team management, architecture decisions, vendor relationships, and day-to-day technical direction.
- Everything in Active
- Daily async touchpoints
- Full technical roadmap ownership
- Vendor contract and negotiation support
- Hands-on architecture reviews
- Team structure and process design
All engagements are month-to-month. Stay because it's working, not because you're locked in.
The honest comparison
Fractional vs. full-time CTO.
A full-time CTO makes sense when you have 15+ engineers and a genuine need for full-time technical leadership. For most SMEs, that's not the stage you're at — and this is what the math looks like in the meantime.
Fractional CTO (us)
Full-time CTO hire
Annual cost
From $18,000/year
$180,000–$280,000/year in salary alone
Time to start
Within 1–2 weeks
3–6 months to find, interview, and onboard
Commitment
Month-to-month, cancel anytime
Multi-year expectation, severance exposure
Experience
Pattern-matched across multiple businesses and industries
Experience typically from one type of company
Right for
Businesses that need CTO-level thinking without a full-time hire
Companies with 20+ engineers and full-time technical leadership needs
Who it's for
For businesses navigating tech decisions without a technical leader.
Business owners who hired their first developer
You made the hire, but now you have no idea if they're doing the right things, making good decisions, or building something that will hold up. A Fractional CTO gives you the oversight to know.
Companies managing an agency relationship
You're spending $5,000–$15,000 a month on a dev agency and you need someone in your corner — reviewing their work, holding them accountable, and making sure they're solving your problem, not the easiest version of it.
Non-technical founders scaling a software product
Your business runs on software you didn't build and can't fully evaluate. Every tech decision feels like a guess. A Fractional CTO translates between your business goals and the technical work required to get there.
Established businesses modernizing their tech
You've been running on the same system for years and you know it needs to change — but you don't have the technical background to evaluate options, manage vendors, or know what a realistic timeline looks like.
Let's talk
What technical decision are you sitting on?
Tell us what's on your plate and we'll be straight with you about which tier makes sense and whether we're the right fit. Most engagements are up and running within two weeks.
hello@toshlabs.com
Based in Vancouver, BC · Serving businesses across Canada and the US