Services
Fractional CTO for teams shipping with AI.
Senior technical leadership without the full-time cost. Fixed scope, fixed price, and judgment earned the hard way — not theater.
$ whoami → $140M+ CAD exit · ex-CTPO, Humi · two decades shipping
Four fractional CTO engagement tracks
pick the one that matches your situationLead fractional CTO retainer
Ongoing senior ownership of your technical decisions: architecture, AI and vendor strategy, hiring, and honest review of the code — including the code your agents wrote.
Light Advisory Embedded AgentOps
- Light Advisory
- Strategy calls, architecture reviews and ad-hoc guidance — for teams with strong execution that need senior judgment on tap.
- Embedded
- Deeper involvement: regular architecture and code reviews, hiring support, agent workflow design, and a hand in the decisions that matter.
- AgentOps
- Ongoing optimization of agent workflows, guardrails, evaluations, cost and latency monitoring — added to either retainer.
Build fixed-scope project
Install proper agent workflows, or ship a production-ready MVP — with senior review on every merge and quality measured in metrics, not vibes.
AI Engineering Pilot Zero to Launch
- AI Engineering Pilot
- Six weeks installing agent workflows, guardrails, evaluations and before/after metrics, plus a rollout plan you can follow.
- Zero to Launch
- Four weeks to ship a production-ready MVP with a sustainable architecture from day one.
Fix audit & rescue
Make sense of AI-built code — security, scaling, maintainability — and get a path forward without a full rewrite. Reports written for a diligence process, when you need them.
Code Health Check Vibecode Rescue Due Diligence
- Code Health Check
- A two-week diagnostic of an AI-generated codebase: quality, security and maintainability risks, with the quick wins ranked.
- Vibecode Rescue
- Four weeks auditing and stabilizing code built fast with agents. Fix what's critical, without a full rewrite.
- Due Diligence
- An assessment for investment or acquisition: what's real, where the risk sits, and what production quality will actually cost.
Plan strategy workshop
Cut through the AI hype with leadership and engineering in the same room. Leave with a 90-day plan you can actually execute.
AI Strategy Workshop AI-Native Roadmap
- AI Strategy Workshop
- One or two days to cut through the hype and build a plan for your team, your product and your constraints.
- AI-Native Roadmap
- A prioritized roadmap separating what agents can build from what still needs human ownership.
Track 03 isn't a description of how I'd work — it's public. I score shipped products against an 11-dimension rubric and publish the results, findings and all.
Not sure which fits? That's what the fit call is for. Retainers are month-to-month with 30-day notice; projects are fixed-scope and fixed-price. A full-time CTO at this level is a $300K+ all-in commitment before equity — most teams need the judgment, not the headcount.
How engagements are priced and run
Fixed, not hourly
Every engagement is fixed-scope and fixed-price. You know the number before we start.
Fit over fees
I only take work where I can change the outcome. If we're not a fit, I'll tell you on the call.
No theater
Clear kickoff, a written update every week, documented deliverables. Leadership that reduces risk instead of adding ceremony.
Why me
Two decades turning hard technical bets into shipped products — and a $140M+ CAD exit. Now I help teams ship with AI agents: guardrails that work, code you can maintain, and roadmaps grounded in what AI can and can't do. More on my background.
Fractional CTO FAQ
What does a fractional CTO actually do?
Owns the technical decisions a founder would otherwise make alone: architecture, AI and vendor strategy, hiring input, and honest review of the code — including the code your agents wrote. Senior ownership on a part-time commitment.
How much does a fractional CTO cost?
Retainers are month-to-month with 30 days' notice. Projects are fixed-scope and fixed-price, quoted after the fit call once the scope is clear. For comparison, a full-time CTO at this level is a $300K+ all-in commitment before equity.
Can you audit code written by AI agents?
Yes — that is the Fix track. A two-week Code Health Check ranks quality, security and maintainability risk. A four-week Vibecode Rescue stabilizes what is critical without a full rewrite. The same 11-dimension rubric runs on the public audits.
How do I know which track is right for me?
Book a short fit call. We'll assess your stage, current AI usage, and biggest pain points, then pick the right starting point together.
Can I start small and expand?
Yes. Most engagements start with a Health Check, Workshop, or Pilot and move into a retainer once the value is obvious.
Do you work with early-stage startups?
I work with teams at or near product-market fit who are serious about building something durable with AI. Pure idea-stage work is usually better served by a technical co-founder or agency.
Do you also write?
Yes — code-first technical content for developer platforms, the kind I've written for AppSignal, Sauce Labs and two dozen other outlets. Pick "Writer for Hire" on the contact form.
Book a fit call
Book a 20-minute fit call to find the right track — or email me directly at allan@allanmacgregor.com with a short description of what you're working on.
Book a fit call