An interim CTO at the table, without the hire.
A senior tech lead working with you a set number of days a month, for as long as you need one and not a month longer. We plan what to build. We review what you have. We hire the right people. We unblock your team. And we own the big technical decisions, including investor diligence when the questions get hard.
Sound familiar?
You're here because one of these is true.
You're raising a round without a technical voice
Investor due diligence stalls when there's no senior engineer to explain how things are built and what's coming next.
Your team is moving but drifting
Your engineers are focused on tasks, but nobody owns the bigger picture, what to build, how to build it, who to hire next.
Hiring a CTO takes months you don't have
A senior CTO costs CHF 180 – 250k a year in total, plus a search fee of 25 – 33% of the first year, plus equity. And you spend three to six months looking before any of it starts working.
What we do
Part-time senior tech lead for your roadmap, hiring and big calls.
You need a CTO at the table, for board meetings, investor questions, hiring calls and the big technical decisions, but you don't yet need (or can't afford) a full-time one. We step in part-time as your tech lead, owning the technology side end-to-end while keeping your team accountable and moving forward. People call this an interim CTO, a CTO ad interim, a fractional CTO or a part-time CTO. It is the same engagement; ours is called Rent-a-CTO.
The process
How the engagement runs.
Light on process, transparent, senior from day one.
- 01
Audit
Two-week deep dive into stack, team, roadmap and risks.
- 02
Plan
Written 90-day plan with priorities, hires and milestones.
- 03
Operate
Embedded weekly: standups, 1:1s, board updates, hiring.
- 04
Transition
Recruit and onboard your full-time CTO when the time is right.
What you get
What's in. What's out.
Built for
Seed / Series A startups without a CTO · Non-technical founders fundraising · Scale-ups between CTO hires
Not the right fit if
Pre-idea founders (start with Guidance) · Teams needing only delivery (use Monthly Support)
Every tier includes
- Weekly 1-on-1s with you and your team
- The technical parts of your board updates
- Help with investor and customer due diligence
- Senior hiring, from sourcing to offer
- Chat with same-day replies
- Quarterly strategy off-site
Intentionally not included
- Day-to-day feature work (see Monthly Support)
- Building a product from scratch (see Development)
- Hands-on coding sprints
- 24/7 on-call cover
- Recruiter or agency sourcing fees
- Equity-only deals
Plain pricing.
One rate: CHF 1'500 a day. Below 6 days a month it is CHF 2'250, because the fixed part of an engagement, learning your stack and holding the thread between sessions, does not shrink when the days do. Minimum three months.
The real comparison
Against hiring, not against a salary.
The salary is the smallest part of what a CTO hire costs you in the first year. Here is the whole picture, next to six months of Full embed.
Six months of Full embed is 72 days at CHF 1'500. Most engagements run six to twelve months and end with your permanent CTO hired, by us.
Common questions
Everything else.
Will you write code?
Sometimes, for prototypes or important reviews. The day-to-day work stays with your team.
Can you help us hire a permanent CTO?
Yes. We write the job description, run the hiring process, and stay on through handover so your new hire lands smoothly.
What's the minimum commitment?
Three months. Most projects run 6 – 12 months and end with us hiring our own replacement.
Do you sign as CTO publicly?
Yes, on terms that work for your cap table. We've signed board decks, investor memos and pitch sites.
Is this the same as an interim CTO?
Yes. Interim CTO, CTO ad interim, fractional CTO, part-time CTO: they all describe the same thing, a senior technology lead who works with you a set number of days a week instead of being hired full-time. We call it Rent-a-CTO. If your board or your investors use one of the other terms, this is what they mean.
Book a free intro call.
No slides, no pitch. Just a quick conversation to see if we're the right fit.
Start a conversation