A scale-up without a CTO, with decisions that won't wait

The situation

Classic scale-up moment. The team shipped, revenue was in the first millions, and the founder had her hands full with customers and investors. But three open questions kept draining focus: a data-warehouse choice, a security architecture needed for enterprise deals, and the stack question of whether a piece should come out of the monolith.

Every month another decision slipped to next month. Engineers were meanwhile making implicit choices that would come back as tech debt in two years.

What we did

Not an interim CTO role, nobody had asked for that. We stepped in as an external technical sparring partner for three months:

- Stack review: five days, seven-page final report with opinion + alternatives + risks per choice. - One architecture decision per month, worked out in a document the team could accept, push back on, or nuance. - Hire calibration: we sat in on two senior engineering interviews, mainly to help the team sharpen what they were really looking for.

Fixed end date up front. No extension without reason.

What it delivered

After three months:

- Three technical decisions closed and implemented, with reasoning the team accepted. - One senior engineer hired who now holds the technical-lead role, and we were no longer needed. - A written architecture baseline new engineers can read in 90 minutes before opening their first PR. - The founder spends Wednesdays on customers again, not on stack debates.

Day rate from €950; fixed-scope projects priced up front.

What this wasn't

No attempt to replace your team. Not "we'll just code it for you", you'll do that better yourselves. Not a multi-year retainer with no exit. We don't want you as a client longer than needed, good advice plus execution by your own team is the best outcome for us.