Services

Choose how involved I am.

Lead engineering for you, advise your leadership team, or answer one hard question. Every engagement starts with a short note and a free 30-minute call.

For founders with no engineering leader

Fractional CTO

I join your leadership team part-time and run engineering: the team, the technical strategy, delivery, and the conversation with your board, until you're ready to hand it to a full-time hire.

What it covers

  • Building the team: the hiring plan, your first engineering manager, and the key hires
  • Technical strategy and the architecture decisions that are expensive to reverse
  • A delivery process that keeps shipping as the team grows
  • Where AI belongs in your product and your team
  • The technical story for your board and investors
  • A clean hand-off to your full-time hire

Best when you have no engineering leader, you have just raised, and the plan says double the team.

For founders with a capable team

Advisory

Regular working sessions with you and your leadership team. You keep the decisions and the team. I bring what I've learned scaling engineering at four high-growth companies.

What it covers

  • Strategy sessions with you and your leadership team
  • Reviews of your roadmap, org design and architecture
  • Technical due diligence on acquisitions and investments, and integration afterwards
  • One-to-one coaching for founders and first-time engineering leaders
  • Hiring support

Best when you have a capable team and want a second opinion before an expensive decision.

For one hard question

Workshops

Fixed scope, one clear deliverable. For when you need an answer, not an engagement. Each one starts from a question founders ask me.

  • Why deadlines slip

    Our engineers are busy and deadlines still slip. Is it people, process, or architecture?

  • Who to hire first

    How many engineers do we need for the next 12 months, and who do we hire first?

  • Where AI belongs

    Where does AI belong in our product and our team, and where would it waste money?

  • The board-ready roadmap

    How do I explain our technical roadmap to the board without overpromising?

  • Technical due diligence

    A clear read on a target company's technology and team.

How an engagement runs

  1. Tell me about your business

    Send a short note through the contact form. I reply personally and set up a free 30-minute call to understand what's actually going on. No sales pitch.

  2. Scoping and a proposal

    I recommend a format: fractional, advisory, a workshop, or a mix.

  3. I own the outcome

    I work alongside your team, not from the sidelines, and take responsibility for the engineering results.

  4. A clean hand-off

    When you are ready for a full-time leader, I help you hire them and hand over the team, the plan and the context.

Tell me where your team stands.

Tell me a little about your business. I'll reply personally and set up a free 30-minute call to get an honest read on what to do next. No sales pitch.

Start a conversation

Prefer email? Write to Sean@consultcalarco.com or message me on LinkedIn.