20+
years in software engineering
AnnouncementStarting at $1,000/week — days to start, not monthsSchedule a Free Discovery Call
Hire a Fractional CTO Who Leads and Builds
A full-time CTO in the US costs $250K to $440K per year in total compensation (Glassdoor, 2026). The executive search alone takes 3 to 6 months. Most startups and growth-stage SaaS companies cannot afford that timeline or that budget. A fractional CTO gives you senior technology leadership at 15% to 40% of that cost, starting within days. Solidmatics goes further: you hire a team of senior operators, not a single advisor who hands you a plan and disappears.
Why Founders Look for a Fractional CTO
The trigger is usually one of five situations:
You have no technical leadership
You are a non-technical founder making architecture, hiring, and infrastructure decisions based on what your developers tell you. That works until it does not. Bad architecture decisions made without oversight compound quietly. By the time you notice, you are looking at a six-figure rebuild.
Your CTO left
Now every technical decision is stalled, your team is uncertain, and you need experienced coverage while you figure out your next move. A full-time CTO search takes 90 to 120 days on average (Alpha Apex Group, 2025). That is three months of drift.
Your engineering team is not delivering
Features ship late, bugs pile up, and nobody can explain why. The problem is rarely the individual developers. It is usually process, architecture, or leadership.
You are raising capital
Investors will ask hard questions about your tech stack, security posture, scalability, and team structure during due diligence. If your answer is "my lead developer handles that," you are not getting funded.
You need AI built into your product
Not a chatbot bolted onto a landing page. Actual LLM-powered features, agent systems, or internal tooling that creates competitive advantage. This requires someone who has shipped AI products, not someone who has read about them.
What You Get When You Hire a Fractional CTO
A fractional CTO is a senior technology executive who works with your company part-time or on a flexible schedule. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with interim CTO, part-time CTO, or CTO-as-a-Service, but the scope is consistent: strategic technology leadership without full-time commitment.
- Technology strategy and roadmap
- Team structure and hiring
- Architecture and engineering oversight
- Cloud infrastructure and security
- AI and LLM product development
- Board and investor communication
You Hire a Team, Not One Consultant
Most fractional CTO providers give you a single person. That person might be good. But one person cannot be an expert in management strategy, software architecture, cloud infrastructure, security, and AI simultaneously. Solidmatics solves this with a partner model. When you hire a fractional CTO from us, you get access to a team of senior operators. Each brings deep specialization. You engage whichever combination your situation requires.
Strategic and operational leadership
Management strategy, product roadmap alignment, team structure design, engineering process optimization, AI/LLM product development. Your primary point of contact for all high-level technology and product decisions.
Architecture and engineering
Deep technical reviews covering codebase quality, architecture soundness, technology choices, development workflows, and engineering standards. Hands-on restructuring and implementation. Not just audit reports.
Cloud infrastructure and security
AWS cloud architecture (certified), Terraform and IaC, CI/CD pipeline design, cost optimization, security hardening, IAM governance, disaster recovery planning, and compliance readiness.
Is This Right for You?
Good Fit for Hiring a Fractional CTO
- SaaS founders without a technical co-founder who are making technical decisions without the background to evaluate them.
- Companies where the CTO just left and cannot afford 3 to 6 months of drift while searching for a permanent replacement.
- Startups preparing to raise that need clear answers about architecture, security, scalability, and team structure for investor due diligence.
- Teams that are not delivering due to leadership and process problems, not developer problems.
- Founders who want AI in their product — a production-grade system built by someone who is actively shipping AI products right now.
- Companies running on AWS who need infrastructure maturity: security hardening, cost optimization, IaC migration, compliance readiness.
Not the Right Fit
This is not a good fit if you want a dev shop to build your product with no strategic involvement, if you are looking for the cheapest hourly rate, or if you need a full-time employee at part-time prices. We are not the cheapest option. You get a CTO who leads and a team that executes, without the overhead of hiring five separate people.
What a Fractional CTO Costs vs. the Alternatives
The financial case is straightforward. Here are the real numbers.
| Fractional CTO (Solidmatics) | Full-Time CTO Hire | No CTO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | $52K to $195K | $350K to $500K+ | $0 upfront |
| Time to start | Days | 3 to 6 months | N/A |
| Expertise breadth | Team of specialists | One person with gaps | No coverage |
| Execution | Strategy + hands-on delivery | Depends on individual | None |
| Equity | None | 1 to 5% typical | N/A |
| Flexibility | Scale up, down, or pause | Long-term commitment | N/A |
How to Hire a Fractional CTO from Solidmatics
- 1
Discovery call (30 minutes)
Tell us where you are and what is not working. No pitch. We will be direct about whether we can help and what the engagement would look like.
- 2
Diagnosis
We dig into your situation. Team, process, tech stack, goals. If it needs deeper investigation, we run a SolidPulse technical health audit to identify exactly where the problems are.
- 3
Engagement design
We propose the right team composition, hours, and cadence for your needs. Some companies need 5 hours per week of strategic advisory. Others need 15+ hours of embedded leadership. We design around your reality, not a rigid package.
- 4
We lead and build
Fractional CTO leadership, architecture work, cloud infrastructure, AI development, or all of the above. We stay until it works.
Performance Signals
Track Record
Our team's combined experience backs every engagement.
12+
teams built from first hire
200+
engineers coached and mentored
40+
person orgs restructured
99.98%
uptime on systems we architected
40+
AWS accounts designed and managed
What Founders Say
Vygandas was a great technical partner and support helping as I built out the MVP for my SAAS business. He was patient and offered tons of value as we architectured the initial tech stack!Read more →
Vygandas is great to work with and brings a depth and breadth of experience. He's thoughtful and detail-oriented and is able to switch quickly from big-picture planning to granular project management.Read more →
I had the pleasure of working with Jean Baptiste, and I can confidently say that he is an exceptional DevOps professional with extensive expertise in AWS. He is highly knowledgeable about AWS services and has a deep understanding of how to architect, deploy, and manage applications on the AWS platform. His problem-solving abilities are second to none, and he consistently delivers effective solutions to complex challenges using AWS tools and technologies. Jean Baptiste's ability to integrate his solutions with AWS is incredibly efficient, and he always provides detailed plans for executing projects quickly. I highly recommend his services to anyone seeking a top-notch DevOps specialist with AWS expertise.Read more →
Great professional and team leader. Very calm and friendly professional. Feels like everything will be ok, all the time. This helps maintain the team morale in the right place. When calling him to a Design Brainstorming or Process, he is the one that provides the boldest ideas. I really hope we get to work together again in the future.Read more →
Vygandas is a great leader & manager with deep knowledge & experience in many different areas -- marketing, programming, management, sales, etc. I have worked closely with him for 6 months on a day-to-day basis and have only the best things to say. He made sure that our team runs proficiently and performs consistent results. Vygandas is an ambitious, hard-working and results-oriented leader. The thing I loved the most about working with him is that he has an easy-going attitude and doesn't resist going the extra mile when sharing his professional knowledge with co-workers.Read more →
I was lucky to be the Team Lead that hired Vygandas into Toptal. From the interviews he was impressive in the nicest way: calm, friendly, very intelligent, and communicates very well. Once at the company, he continuously did great work. Yes, he is an excellent engineer. At the same time he can work with people superbly, is a great listener, can organize thoughts and priorities, and is patient. To top it off, Vygandas is always positive and uplifting. After I departed Toptal, he took over my position as Team Lead and it worked out very well for everyone involved. Vygandas can work at any level of an organization and excel.Read more →
Vygandas was a great technical partner and support helping as I built out the MVP for my SAAS business. He was patient and offered tons of value as we architectured the initial tech stack!Read more →
Vygandas is great to work with and brings a depth and breadth of experience. He's thoughtful and detail-oriented and is able to switch quickly from big-picture planning to granular project management.Read more →
I had the pleasure of working with Jean Baptiste, and I can confidently say that he is an exceptional DevOps professional with extensive expertise in AWS. He is highly knowledgeable about AWS services and has a deep understanding of how to architect, deploy, and manage applications on the AWS platform. His problem-solving abilities are second to none, and he consistently delivers effective solutions to complex challenges using AWS tools and technologies. Jean Baptiste's ability to integrate his solutions with AWS is incredibly efficient, and he always provides detailed plans for executing projects quickly. I highly recommend his services to anyone seeking a top-notch DevOps specialist with AWS expertise.Read more →
Great professional and team leader. Very calm and friendly professional. Feels like everything will be ok, all the time. This helps maintain the team morale in the right place. When calling him to a Design Brainstorming or Process, he is the one that provides the boldest ideas. I really hope we get to work together again in the future.Read more →
Vygandas is a great leader & manager with deep knowledge & experience in many different areas -- marketing, programming, management, sales, etc. I have worked closely with him for 6 months on a day-to-day basis and have only the best things to say. He made sure that our team runs proficiently and performs consistent results. Vygandas is an ambitious, hard-working and results-oriented leader. The thing I loved the most about working with him is that he has an easy-going attitude and doesn't resist going the extra mile when sharing his professional knowledge with co-workers.Read more →
I was lucky to be the Team Lead that hired Vygandas into Toptal. From the interviews he was impressive in the nicest way: calm, friendly, very intelligent, and communicates very well. Once at the company, he continuously did great work. Yes, he is an excellent engineer. At the same time he can work with people superbly, is a great listener, can organize thoughts and priorities, and is patient. To top it off, Vygandas is always positive and uplifting. After I departed Toptal, he took over my position as Team Lead and it worked out very well for everyone involved. Vygandas can work at any level of an organization and excel.Read more →
Vygandas and I worked together on growth initiatives, primarily on roadmapping and prioritization. Vygandas does a great job in managing his engineering team and collaborating across the engineering organization to make sure that his team works on high impact projects. While I only worked with Vygandas for a few months, I enjoyed his leadership style and hands-on approach to scoping.Read more →
I worked closely with Vygandas on a day-to-day basis as the product manager of the team he managed. We frequently discussed ways to optimize the team and to prioritize features. It was truly a pleasure working alongside Vygandas as he will go above and beyond to support his team. He excels when it comes to capacity planning and providing high-level estimates on LOE for the initiatives on the roadmap. His management style is pretty straightforward - ensure that everyone is equipped to succeed. This includes removing blockers, researching the unknowns, and getting the right people in the room. This mentality is the reason for the success of the team, why his direct reports thrived and how the Product team was able to manage stakeholders and expectations. I would highly recommend Vygandas for a management position at any company that requires building strong teams and effective, strategic planning.Read more →
Vygandas was employee #1 of our Lithuania branch, and his hard work was crucial in getting the new office and team up and running.Read more →
Vygandas is a very creative person who knows how to materialize complex ideas into reality easily. It's because he has strong IT background and management skills which let him to see end picture in the beginning of new project. Vygandas comes up with creative solutions to difficult problems and know how to manage all process to seek best result on time.Read more →
Je recommande vivement Jean-Baptiste en tant que DevOps. J'ai eu le plaisir de travailler avec lui pendant plusieurs années, et j'ai été impressionnée par son expertise en matière d'automatisation, de développement et de déploiement d'applications. Jean-Baptiste est un collaborateur exceptionnel qui a la capacité de travailler en étroite collaboration avec les équipes de développement et d'exploitation pour assurer une transition fluide vers la production. Sa connaissance approfondie de l'écosystème DevOps et de ses outils a été inestimable pour la réussite de nos projets. Je recommande vivement Jean-Baptiste à toute entreprise cherchant à mettre en place des pratiques DevOps efficaces et efficientes. Son expertise technique et sa capacité à travailler en collaboration font de lui un atout précieux pour toute équipe de développement.Read more →
Vygandas and I worked together on growth initiatives, primarily on roadmapping and prioritization. Vygandas does a great job in managing his engineering team and collaborating across the engineering organization to make sure that his team works on high impact projects. While I only worked with Vygandas for a few months, I enjoyed his leadership style and hands-on approach to scoping.Read more →
I worked closely with Vygandas on a day-to-day basis as the product manager of the team he managed. We frequently discussed ways to optimize the team and to prioritize features. It was truly a pleasure working alongside Vygandas as he will go above and beyond to support his team. He excels when it comes to capacity planning and providing high-level estimates on LOE for the initiatives on the roadmap. His management style is pretty straightforward - ensure that everyone is equipped to succeed. This includes removing blockers, researching the unknowns, and getting the right people in the room. This mentality is the reason for the success of the team, why his direct reports thrived and how the Product team was able to manage stakeholders and expectations. I would highly recommend Vygandas for a management position at any company that requires building strong teams and effective, strategic planning.Read more →
Vygandas was employee #1 of our Lithuania branch, and his hard work was crucial in getting the new office and team up and running.Read more →
Vygandas is a very creative person who knows how to materialize complex ideas into reality easily. It's because he has strong IT background and management skills which let him to see end picture in the beginning of new project. Vygandas comes up with creative solutions to difficult problems and know how to manage all process to seek best result on time.Read more →
Je recommande vivement Jean-Baptiste en tant que DevOps. J'ai eu le plaisir de travailler avec lui pendant plusieurs années, et j'ai été impressionnée par son expertise en matière d'automatisation, de développement et de déploiement d'applications. Jean-Baptiste est un collaborateur exceptionnel qui a la capacité de travailler en étroite collaboration avec les équipes de développement et d'exploitation pour assurer une transition fluide vers la production. Sa connaissance approfondie de l'écosystème DevOps et de ses outils a été inestimable pour la réussite de nos projets. Je recommande vivement Jean-Baptiste à toute entreprise cherchant à mettre en place des pratiques DevOps efficaces et efficientes. Son expertise technique et sa capacité à travailler en collaboration font de lui un atout précieux pour toute équipe de développement.Read more →
Frequently Asked Questions About Hiring a Fractional CTO
Ready to Hire a Fractional CTO?
30 minutes. No pitch. Just an honest conversation about where you are and whether we can help. Strategy, execution, or both.