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 $$ or take equity (how much should I be thinking?) or both? I’ll be working with seed, series A and B funded startups. Thanks!
I charge $$$$. Almost always hourly as I’ve never figured out the retainer model. I am about to do my first fixed price “audit”, so we will see how that goes.
On occasion I take both cash and equity depending on the company, funding etc. I know one frac CTO who insists on both and never lowers his rate either.
I’ve had equity pay out exactly once over the years. With cash, I can buy all kinds of equity in companies that actually have liquidity.