If your app crashes when the number of concurrent users reaches a certain threshold, if you cringe every time you launch a new feature because you are afraid it will introduce new bugs, if important releases are often materially late… these are all indicators that something(s) need to be fixed in engineering.
You might need better developers or a more organized team leader. Yet, when your company is experiencing a high growth rate (e.g., more than 30% per year), it is a good time to consider hiring a fractional CTO.
A high-growth rate is a critical factor in the decision to hire a fractional CTO because as a company grows, it becomes a different company. Operationally speaking, you do not run a 100-person business the same way you run a 10-person business. When you have information about 100,000 users, you must protect it much more carefully than when you had 10,000 users. As the company grows, delays in releases become more painful for customers, bugs and crashes become more challenging, and security breaches more costly. As a company evolves up the maturity curve, it needs to change the way it operates: software releases need to become predictable in quality and schedule, scaling must be built-in the cloud environment by configuration (rather than requiring code updates), and security tools and processes must match the size and nature of the data the company stores. This requires upgrades in software development methodologies and tools, as well as developer skills. A CTO will know which developer can rise to the new challenges and which need to be encouraged out.
An experienced fractional CTO will not only solve today’s problems, they will design solutions that anticipate tomorrow’s problems. They will also select technologies that align with the company’s maturity.
6 Signs It’s Time To Hire A Fractional CTO
1. Your CEO is leading the technology team
- It is not unusual for a CEO to assume multiple roles when a company is small. At some point, the CEO needs to focus on their primary responsibility, which is to grow the company. At the same time, technology decisions need to be made by technologists, such as a fractional CTO.
2. Instability or scalability issues
- An unstable system is not only an indication of poor design, it also creates a vicious cycle of declining productivity: developers spend their time fixing bugs, rather than developing new features.
3. AI adoption & ROI
- The power of AI in actual business applications is now well documented for certain use cases (e.g., customer support, software development, sales). As a first step, a fractional CTO can identify practical ways in which AI could improve the business, whether through automation or presenting brand new capabilities.
- In a second phase, the fractional CTO will select the best-fit AI technologies and implement them in a cost effective fashion.
4. Customer churn, low engagement, bad product reviews
- When customers are churning (e.g., more than 5% per month) and competitors are gaining market share, a fractional CTO can upgrade the team (including product and user experience) and refine the software architecture.
5. Revenue projections missed
- When feature releases are frequently delayed and negatively impact revenues, it is time to make fundamental changes to the technology team. A fractional CTO brings the experience and know-how to diagnose and implement the necessary changes.
6. Technology leadership transition
- The departure of a technology team leader creates knowledge gaps and can jeopardize velocity, stability, and revenue. Finding a permanent replacement is usually time consuming. A fractional CTO can jump in quickly and drive the team forward during the search for a permanent CTO. In addition, the fractional CTO can assist in defining the skills and competencies needed in the permanent CTO that are relevant to the company, as well as in recruiting and selecting the CTO.
5 Steps You Can Expect a Fractional CTO to Take
1. Understand the needs of your business and make technical decisions that align with your business and its technology budget
- A fractional CTO will partner with the CEO to prioritize features on the roadmap based on customer needs, as well as technical effort, costs, and time.
2. Implement best practices in software development, security, and operations, aligned with the maturity and market of the company
- Many factors come into play when selecting technology – it is not a simple matter of price and performance. For example, delivering a short time-to-value is critical and requires technical expertise and experience to evaluate the company’s team, skillset, and existing technical stack, which also impact time-to-value.
3. Deliver releases on a predictable schedule
- A fractional CTO will deploy established technologies, development methodologies, and tools adapted to the company that provide visibility on progress and ensure on-time delivery.
4. Address non-customer facing requirements
- Security, data privacy, scalability, resiliency, and business continuity are easy to overlook in the early stages of a company. They can also change materially as the company experiences high growth. A fractional CTO will assess the company’s posture and needs for each of these dimensions and deliver a plan to meet these needs cost-effectively.
5. Deliver mission-critical projects
- A fractional CTO can own out-of-the-ordinary projects, critical to the company’s success, that the existing CTO does not have the bandwidth or the expertise to execute. This could be the deployment of AI-driven features (mentioned above), re-architecting a sub-system, building an analytics suite, etc.
A fractional CTO provides immediate access to technical leadership with hands-on experience, clears paths to eliminate technical and product hurdles that block revenue growth, and creates a data-driven product roadmap with prioritized initiatives to accelerate growth — all while aligning technology initiatives with business objectives and ensuring measurable outcomes.
About the Author, Bernard Fraenkel
Bernard has over 20 years of experience leading engineering teams that deliver mission-critical software applications for the enterprise. His teams have delivered SaaS and mobile applications in markets as diverse as digital marketing, mobile banking, cloud-scale storage, education, augmented reality, social messaging, email security, web hosting, e-commerce, neuroscience and distance learning. In the process, Bernard has gone through two IPOs and four acquisitions. For the past ten years, he has been Practice Lead at Silicon Valley Software Group, leading technology due diligence for Venture and Private Equity investors, as well as for acquisitions.
About Silicon Valley Software Group
SVSG’s fractional CTOs, Chief Product Officers and full technical teams have scaled and sold dozens of companies and led multiple companies to IPO.
SVSG Accelerates Product Success & Unlocks Growth Potential
- Immediate access to tech and product leadership with hands-on experience.
- Clear paths to eliminate technical and product hurdles that block revenue growth
- Creation of data-driven roadmaps with prioritized initiatives to accelerate growth.
- Access to customized AI-Agents with no upfront fees and guaranteed results.
- Access to Rapid Impact Assessments to quantify revenue potential & efficiency gains.
- Align technology initiatives with business objectives, ensuring measurable outcomes.
SVSG’s offerings include:
- Fractional Product & Tech Leadership : Interim or on-demand CTOs, CPOs and build teams in the U.S./EU
- Applied AI: ROI driven analysis and implementation of AI powered initiatives tailored to business needs across engineering, customer support, sales/marketing.
- Rapid Impact Assessments: Cross-functional reviews to identify and quantify product revenue opportunities & applied AI and Tech savings within two weeks.
- Product Lifecycle Management: Data driven framework to optimize tech and product roadmaps for revenue
- Tech Due Diligence: Target assessments and readiness review for fundraising, M&A, and board-level insights
