Fractional CTO

CTO-level engineering leadership on a part-time basis, embedded in your team.

I've been doing this since 2021, leading engineering orgs through acquisitions, scaling challenges, and technical inflection points for PE firms, search funds, and growth-stage companies across Canada and the US.

Who This Is For

• Startups (Seed through Series B) with a growing engineering team and no senior technical leader
• PE portfolio companies that need to stabilize the tech function post-acquisition
• Growth-stage companies where shipping has slowed and nobody can explain why

What I Own

• Technical strategy: architecture decisions, build vs. buy, technology selection, roadmap alignment
• Delivery: release process, sprint cadence, deployment pipeline, unblocking the team
• Team building: hiring process, interview loops, onboarding, coaching engineering leads
• Technical debt: inventory, prioritization, and a plan that actually gets executed
• Vendor & tooling: evaluation, negotiation, integration decisions, including AI tooling adoption
• Board & investor communication: translating engineering reality for non-technical stakeholders
• Builder enablement: as AI tools let non-engineers ship code, someone has to design the system that keeps that safe and productive

Engagement Phases

Phase 1: Assess (Weeks 1-3)

Don't change anything before understanding the system. Embedded observation, 1:1 interviews, codebase review. Often begins as an engineering assessment.

Phase 2: Stabilize & Build (Months 1-3)

Own the technical function. Fix delivery process, make deferred architecture decisions, address key-person dependencies, coach engineering leads.

Phase 3: Transition (Months 3-6)

The goal is internal ownership, not permanent dependency. Three paths: hire a full-time CTO (I write the spec, run the search, onboard them), build internal leadership (progressive delegation until you don't need me), or convert to lightweight advisory (4-8 hrs/month).

"Jason finds the signal in the noise. He joined RVezy at a pivotal moment, led critical platform investments, and built the engineering strategy we still use today. Smart, direct, and someone you want on your side."

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional CTO do?

Everything a full-time CTO does: engineering strategy, team building, delivery leadership, technical debt management, and board communication. The difference is part-time engagement, typically embedded in your team a few days per week.

How long does a fractional CTO engagement last?

Typically 3-6 months. Some engagements start intensive and taper as the team builds internal leadership capacity.

When should a startup hire a fractional CTO instead of a full-time CTO?

When you need senior technical leadership but can't justify or afford a full-time executive hire. Common for Seed through Series B companies with a growing engineering team and no senior technical leader.

Why ThreeNorth?

Five years of fractional CTO work across PE portfolio companies, startups, and post-acquisition integrations. I've done this enough times to know where things break, and how to keep them from breaking.