Mario T.

Fractional CTO | Tech Lead | MVP | Hiring | Remote CTO

You hired developers but can't tell if they're building the right thing - or building it right. Your CTO left, or you never had one. You're spending half your week on technical decisions you shouldn't be making alone. I'm a fractional CTO for startups and scaling companies that need senior technical leadership without the full-time overhead. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐃𝐨 I embed with your team daily - standups, Slack, code reviews - and take ownership of the technology side of your business. I make architecture decisions, manage developers and agencies, enforce quality, and keep delivery on track. I'm the technical voice so you don't have to be. Whether you're building an MVP, managing an outsourced team that lacks oversight, recovering from a bad agency engagement, or replacing a departing CTO - I've done it before, and I'll tell you honestly what it takes. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 I don't do weekly advisory calls. I embed with your team and work alongside them every day. That means daily standups, architecture decisions made in real time, and code reviews on the work that matters - security, real-time systems, anything your business depends on. I operate on monthly retainers, not hourly billing. My job is to deliver outcomes, not log hours. Most engagements average 10-15 hours per week, but the right answer to "how many hours" is: as many as needed to deliver what we agreed on. I run lightweight Agile - short sprints, clear goals, weekly demos. If your team is underperforming, I catch it in week two, not month three. If an agency is padding hours, I see it immediately. If a feature request doesn't belong in the current release, my default answer is "not now." 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 • RenoAssistance - home renovation marketplace • Immobel - real estate Saas company for Fortune 500 clients • Svetness - in-home personal training • Enterprise - digital news and investor relations • CallX - call center technology • Lexacon - AI-powered legal contract analysis • Elistra - AI-powered realstate propery management • TrackhawkGPS - GPS fleet tracking 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐃𝐨 I'm not an agency. I don't have my own developers and I'm not affiliated with any development shop. That means when I recommend an agency or hire a developer for you, I'm choosing the best fit - not feeding my own team. I'm not writing code 40 hours a week. I review code, make architecture decisions, and unblock your team. I'm the architect, not the construction crew. I don't make product decisions. You decide what to build. I decide how to build it. "Should we support VR headsets?" is your call. "Should we use WebGL or a managed service?" is mine. I'm not a project manager. If you have an agency, they provide the PM. I provide technical leadership and quality oversight - making sure what gets built is what you actually need. 𝐅𝐀𝐐𝐬 𝐐: How many hours will you spend on my project? 𝐀: Most engagements average 10-15 hours per week. But I don't cap my involvement by hours. I embed with your team daily - standups, Slack, code reviews - and stay as involved as needed to deliver what we agreed on. Think of it as "available every day," not "working every hour." 𝐐: Can you join investor calls? 𝐀: Absolutely. I've supported clients through fundraising, joined due diligence calls, and provided technical updates in language investors understand. You can put me on pitch materials, your website, or LinkedIn as your technical advisor. 𝐐: What if my team or agency is underperforming? 𝐀: Short feedback cycles make it obvious fast. Once I introduce structured sprints and daily check-ins, it becomes very hard to hide behind long deadlines and lack of transparency. If it's a process problem, I fix the process. If it's a talent problem, I coach first - and if that doesn't work, I help you make the change. 𝐐: What tech stack do you work with? 𝐀: I've shipped products on React, Node.js, .NET, PostgreSQL, AWS, and GCP, among others. I'm stack-agnostic - I choose what fits your stage and budget, not what's trendy. The best technology is the one that solves the problem you actually have. 𝐐: I got burned by a previous agency. How is this different? 𝐀: I'm not building anything - I'm making sure whoever builds it does it right. I review the code personally, I challenge scope creep, and I catch problems early. If something is going wrong, you hear about it immediately, not after the budget is spent. If any of this sounds like your situation, send me a message. Tell me what you're building, what's going wrong, and what you've tried so far. I'll tell you honestly whether I can help.