Discover what a fractional CTO is, what services they offer, costs, and why you should hire one. Learn how to hire a fractional CTO and the key qualities to consider.
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Fractional
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Unlock executive level technology leadership without the overhead. Transform your team with pre-vetted, industry leading Chief Technology Officers in as little as 3 days.
Hire a Fractional CTO
Hire a fractional CTO to provide executive technology and development leadership—at a fraction of the cost of a full-time CTO.
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Andrew Winter Uc Berkeley
ClassPass
Bantee
Experienced Fractional COO & Product Leader with expertise in startups, venture capital, and dynamic pricing at ClassPass.
Hire Andrew WinterJosh Raine comcat business
Google
Peace Corps
Ex-Google executive and startup founder with vast experience in operations and strategy, excelling as a fractional COO.
Hire Josh RaineEric Rodriguez Facebook
Dropbox
Unstoppable Domains
Experienced Operations Executive and Salesforce consultant with a track record at Facebook & Dropbox, specializing in fractional roles.
Hire Eric RodriguezCrystal Bray Uber
Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
- PTO Partners
Fractional COO expert in Product & Technology Operations. Ex-Uber and Tailored Brands, excelling in process improvement, strategy and tech.
Hire Crystal BrayCraig Nestler Nomad
Zeelo
Smarsh
Experienced founder/GM skilled in startups, leadership, and fractional COO roles. Expert in Google Sheets, Excel, Asana.
Hire Craig NestlerTim Ryan Nextdoor
Karrot
Clearco
Experienced Fractional COO with a focus on team building and strategy. Proven expertise at Google, Nextdoor, and Clearco.
Hire Tim RyanGarrett Bishop Patterson & Sheridan
Wayfair
Curated
Experienced Fractional COO with skills in eCommerce, AdTech & AI/ML. Specializes in growth product and advanced analytics.
Hire Garrett BishopMichael Gallucci SportsMemorabilia.com
Fanatics Inc
Stealth Venture Labs
Experienced Fractional CMO/COO with expertise in digital commerce, content strategy & execution from startups to Fanatics.
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What is a Fractional CTO?
A fractional CTO (chief technology officer) is a seasoned technology executive who provides the same services as a full-time CTO—but without the full-time salary commitment. Instead, fractional CTOs work with organizations on a part-time or contract basis. So they can tackle specific tech projects, deliver ongoing expertise, and scale their involvement as needed.What does a Fractional CTO do?
Just like full-time CTOs, fractional CTOs can:
Build technology strategies
Fractional CTOs can work closely with business leaders to create and implement new tech strategies, and make sure they’re aligned with overall objectives.
Manage development and IT teams
Whether they’re building teams from scratch or optimizing current processes, they can help developers improve productivity and efficiency.
Integrate new tools
Since fractional CTOs have their fingers on the pulse of emerging tools and platforms, they can recommend and implement new tools—like Generative AI and LLMs—to help companies meet their long-term goals.
Streamline processes
By providing strategic oversight or hands-on leadership, these CTOs can help teams automate tasks, break down silos, and make more informed decisions to speed up their timelines.
Enhance security and compliance
Fractional CTOs can help organizations stay on top of and adhere to security standards and regulations.
Manage vendor relationships
Backed by their executive experience, these CTOs can collaborate and communicate with external partners to build valuable relationships.
Improve quality assurance
They can test and analyze products to ensure they’re free of bugs and ready for market.
Spearhead digital transformation
Fractional CTOs can manage IT operations and optimize tech stacks to help companies remain competitive and agile.
The benefits of hiring a Fractional CTO
Fractional CTOs are ready to provide on-demand leadership and quickly make an impact. By hiring a fractional CTO, you can access:
Cost Savings
Gain executive-level guidance without having to pay annual salaries, benefits, bonuses, stock options, and relocation fees. So you can put more money towards growing your business.
Diverse Experience
Fractional CTOs come with a broad range of experience from working with companies across industries and verticals. And they’re ready to apply that experience to new challenges and opportunities.
Flexibility
Let your fractional CTO know exactly what you need, and bring them on board to start working right away. Looking for different services as your company evolves? Scale services up or down based on your seasonal changes or specific projects.
Fresh perspectives
As external hires, fractional CTOs can spot roadblocks and opportunities that internal teams might miss, bringing a fresh perspective to help solve strategic issues.
How to hire a Fractional CTO
No more juggling job boards and sorting through pools of unqualified applicants. Hiring a fractional CTO is easy with Go Fractional.
Here’s how it works:
Set your goals
Specify the type of candidate you need, including their industry experience, skills, and availability.
Find your match
Search our curated network of thoroughly vetted CTOs. Don’t worry, we’ve already put them through a rigorous screening process to make sure they meet the highest standards.
Hash out the details
Set up an interview or discussion with your top candidates to go over the details and ensure it’s a good fit.
Draft the proposal
We’ll take it from here. Once everyone is on board, Go Fractional will craft a detailed proposal for your fractional CTO, giving you and your stakeholders an opportunity to review it thoroughly.
Get started
Once you’ve reviewed and approved the proposal, we’ll send the contracts. And your fractional CTO can get to work.
We’ve helped hundreds of organizations Go Fractional
I worked with a Fractional Engineer to bring my MAD landscape project to life - we were able to brainstorm, design, and ultimately ship something great. To work with a trusted engineer brought confidence to the project, and positioned FirstMark to be able to scale this project in the future and into other verticals. I would highly recommend working with them if you need fractional talent.
Matt Turck
PartnerFirstMarkGo Fractional provided Mockingbird with a founder-level engineering leader that helped us out of a huge amount of tech debt, streamlining and modernizing our entire e-commerce stack
Ross Berger
VP of OperationsMockingbirdWorking with Go Fractional has been an absolute pleasure. They connected us with high-quality engineering leaders and filled the role within just 12 days of our first call. After six weeks of fractional work, he joined as our permanent VP of Engineering. Go Fractional’s speed and partnership significantly boosted our team’s productivity, and we are thrilled to have filled the position seamlessly without any gaps.
Victoria Ashton
Vice President of PeopleLobGo Fractional provided a detailed audit of our tech stack with a prioritized list of recommendations while redesigning and launching our app to a new single codebase across all platforms
Nick Kenner
CEO & FounderJust SaladHiring a fractional Head of Data Science has been transformative for our company. At just 50% of the cost of a full-time data scientist, we secured a seasoned data leader with over 12 years of experience in top startups. This strategic move has significantly enhanced our data strategy and execution. The expert leadership has instilled confidence in our data capabilities, driving measurable results for our business.
Khadija Ali
Head of Product#paidWorking with a Fractional COO was a great way to level up our operations, guide our existing team, and overall run things in a more streamlined way. We were lucky to work with someone who had seen and built the things we needed to do before, and brought a wealth of knowledge to where we wanted to go.
David Booth
CEOOnDeckPartnering with Go Fractional allowed Enertiv to bring on Nate Wylie as a fractional Head of Talent streamlining the recruitment process - saving us time and cost. Nate implemented a state-of-the-art ATS, developed customized interview kits and scorecards, and reduced the time-to-fill our roles. This swift process successfully placed top-tier talent, including a Solutions Engineer, a Growth Marketer, and an Onboarding Manager. If you’re a business looking to scale rapidly with elite talent - I strongly recommend you check out Go Fractional.
Connell McGill
Founder & CEOEnertivHiring an executive team is critical to get right. Eric as a Fractional Operator played a key role in helping me screen, interview, and generally think through building out our executive team at ChartHop. He brought an outside perspective from someone that has done it before, and I benefited from the additional horsepower.
Ian White
Founder & CEOChartHopIn just 5 months, working only 1 to 2 days a week, Matt Spangler made a significant impact at the Uniswap Foundation. He led customer research and crafted the foundation’s first-ever brand and marketing strategy. He designed the initial 2024 marketing budget, conducted a successful Marketing Director hiring search sourced from his network. Matt also launched an email marketing campaign strategy that achieved outstanding results, producing open and click rates +15% over the standard in our industry.
Raffi Sapire
COOUniswap FoundationWe had a never-ending backlog of tickets and engineers to hire. We were able to go Fractional and started knocking out tickets immediately
Chris Polk
VP of EngineeringPolyworkI worked with a Fractional Engineer to bring my MAD landscape project to life - we were able to brainstorm, design, and ultimately ship something great. To work with a trusted engineer brought confidence to the project, and positioned FirstMark to be able to scale this project in the future and into other verticals. I would highly recommend working with them if you need fractional talent.
Matt Turck
PartnerFirstMarkGo Fractional provided Mockingbird with a founder-level engineering leader that helped us out of a huge amount of tech debt, streamlining and modernizing our entire e-commerce stack
Ross Berger
VP of OperationsMockingbirdWorking with Go Fractional has been an absolute pleasure. They connected us with high-quality engineering leaders and filled the role within just 12 days of our first call. After six weeks of fractional work, he joined as our permanent VP of Engineering. Go Fractional’s speed and partnership significantly boosted our team’s productivity, and we are thrilled to have filled the position seamlessly without any gaps.
Victoria Ashton
Vice President of PeopleLobGo Fractional provided a detailed audit of our tech stack with a prioritized list of recommendations while redesigning and launching our app to a new single codebase across all platforms
Nick Kenner
CEO & FounderJust SaladHiring a fractional Head of Data Science has been transformative for our company. At just 50% of the cost of a full-time data scientist, we secured a seasoned data leader with over 12 years of experience in top startups. This strategic move has significantly enhanced our data strategy and execution. The expert leadership has instilled confidence in our data capabilities, driving measurable results for our business.
Khadija Ali
Head of Product#paidWorking with a Fractional COO was a great way to level up our operations, guide our existing team, and overall run things in a more streamlined way. We were lucky to work with someone who had seen and built the things we needed to do before, and brought a wealth of knowledge to where we wanted to go.
David Booth
CEOOnDeckPartnering with Go Fractional allowed Enertiv to bring on Nate Wylie as a fractional Head of Talent streamlining the recruitment process - saving us time and cost. Nate implemented a state-of-the-art ATS, developed customized interview kits and scorecards, and reduced the time-to-fill our roles. This swift process successfully placed top-tier talent, including a Solutions Engineer, a Growth Marketer, and an Onboarding Manager. If you’re a business looking to scale rapidly with elite talent - I strongly recommend you check out Go Fractional.
Connell McGill
Founder & CEOEnertivHiring an executive team is critical to get right. Eric as a Fractional Operator played a key role in helping me screen, interview, and generally think through building out our executive team at ChartHop. He brought an outside perspective from someone that has done it before, and I benefited from the additional horsepower.
Ian White
Founder & CEOChartHopIn just 5 months, working only 1 to 2 days a week, Matt Spangler made a significant impact at the Uniswap Foundation. He led customer research and crafted the foundation’s first-ever brand and marketing strategy. He designed the initial 2024 marketing budget, conducted a successful Marketing Director hiring search sourced from his network. Matt also launched an email marketing campaign strategy that achieved outstanding results, producing open and click rates +15% over the standard in our industry.
Raffi Sapire
COOUniswap FoundationWe had a never-ending backlog of tickets and engineers to hire. We were able to go Fractional and started knocking out tickets immediately
Chris Polk
VP of EngineeringPolyworkWhat’s the difference between a fractional CTO vs. full-time CTO?
Fractional CTOs and full-time CTO provide similar services, but there’s a big difference in how they deliver those services and engage with each organization.
Specifically, full-time and fractional CTOs differ according to their:
Go Fractional
Agency
Scheduling
Fractional CTOs work on a part-time or contract basis
Full-time CTOs work with one organization at a time
Cost
Fractional CTOs can be hired at a much lower cost
Full-time CTOs are paid salary, benefits, and bonuses
Hiring Process
Fractional CTOs can be hired in just days
Sourcing and hiring a new full-time CTO can take months or even longer
Accessibility
Fractional CTOs can work with multiple organizations at a time and quickly step into their roles as needed
Full-time CTOs may need to be poached and fully onboarded
Flexibility
Fractional CTOs can scale their involvement for each organization’s needs
Full-time CTOs are hired to provide constant oversight and management, even when it may not be needed
When to hire a Fractional CTO
Whether you’re still building your technology operation from scratch or looking for new ways to optimize efficiency, there are many reasons to hire a fractional CTO.
Tell us if any of these sound familiar:
Budget-Friendly Expertise
You're seeking senior-level technical expertise but lack the budget for a full-time CTO.
Seamless Transition
You need to quickly replace a full-time CTO without interrupting your business operations.
DevOps Leadership
You’re building a new DevOps team and need a seasoned leader to help lead and train your talent.
Cybersecurity Strategy
You want to improve your cybersecurity strategy to help mitigate risks and maintain compliance with changing data privacy regulations.
Infrastructure Oversight
You need an executive to manage and oversee your tech infrastructure, ensuring systems are continuously updated and secure.
Tech Integration
You’re ready to implement new technologies, like a payment processing system or AI tool, but need expert guidance to integrate them into your tech stack.
Fractional CTO Hiring Guide
Coming Soon
Fractional CTO Salary
Further Reading
What Is a Fractional CTO? 6 Key Benefits + How to Hire One 13 Crucial Steps to Hire a CTO: Costs, Challenges Discover a 13-step roadmap to hire the perfect CTO, understand costs and challenges, and learn why a fractional CTO might be your best choice.
Hiring a Fractional CTO or Engineer vs a Full Time Employee Discover Gotta Go Fast, a platform matching startups with high-quality fractional engineers. Scale your team's impact and save on costs compared to traditional hiring. Find out how Gotta Go Fast engineers can provide immediate value to your startup.
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