Hello! I have been getting a lot of requests to be a fractional CTO and needed advice on how the model works? Any Fractional CTOs here, do you usually charge $$ or take equity (how much should I be thinking?) or both? I’ll be working with seed, series A and B funded startups. Thanks!
Related business and our model is similar and has been successful- selling a short, defined fixed deliverable (like your audit) that is primarily discovery on my end as a lead in.
Pros of this is the small financial commitment for them (compared to a full contract/project), allows me to get paid to deeply diagnose the problems, allows us both to make sure we’d like to work together, and provides them something of actual value even if they don’t decide to go forward.
Yes, I agree - the take away is that the document has value, hopefully tremendous value in understanding where they stand. Most CEOs not being technical need someone they can trust to provide a true assessment and give them an ‘unbiased’ report on the state of their business. Especially the fast growth startups where everything seems to be falling apart and they just can’t seem to get a real solution. Often times I’ll report the staff is shorthanded for what’s necessary to maintain a business at their pace… I try to do my best to stay on the good side of the existing teams and not crap on them directly. Being in tech for over 25 years and getting shit on by outside parties is too common from people trying to make a quick buck. I like to think I bring an ethical approach to doing what’s best for the business.
Also - getting access to their actual order system helps me fully understand the risk / opportunity of the situation.