Technical Advisory & Fractional CTO
Senior technical leadership from operators who actually run production systems — not consultants who left them.
Most technical advisory firms are staffed by ex-CTOs who left the trenches a decade ago. We're different. The operators advising you are running production engineering today — Eternitech's own 15-product SaaS portfolio plus active client engagements. When we recommend an architecture, it's because we built it last quarter. When we flag a security risk, it's because we patched the same one in our own stack. Advisory from people whose hands are still dirty.
Why Most Technical Advisory Engagements Disappoint
The advisory market has a credentialing problem. The title "fractional CTO" requires no demonstrated track record. Anyone with a LinkedIn headline and a calendar can charge $5K/month to attend a weekly call and offer opinions. The buyer — usually a founder or CEO who isn't deeply technical — has no way to evaluate the advice.
The deeper problem is that the best technical advice comes from people currently shipping production software. The half-life of architectural knowledge is short. Someone who hasn't deployed to production in three years is genuinely out of date on cloud cost optimization, modern security threats, AI-augmented developer workflows, and the actual operational realities of running a 2026 SaaS product.
We solve both problems the same way. Our advisors are operating engineers — building Eternitech's own SaaS portfolio, leading active client engagements, in code review and architecture decisions weekly. The advice you get is from people whose own products would suffer if it were wrong.
Three Ways We Engage
Fractional CTO (Monthly Retainer)
You need senior technical leadership but not a $300K+ full-time CTO yet. We embed a senior operator into your business at 25-50% allocation — running architecture, leading or partnering with your engineering team, sitting in board meetings when technology is on the agenda. Typical engagements run 6-18 months, often ending when you hire your full-time CTO (we'll help you do that, too).
Architecture & Security Audit (One-Time)
A senior operator deep-dives your codebase, infrastructure, deployment pipeline, and team structure over 2-4 weeks. Output: a written report covering architecture bottlenecks, security risks, technical debt prioritization, hiring gaps, and a 12-month roadmap. We've done these for funded startups, PE-backed mid-market companies, and acquirers evaluating targets.
Technical Due Diligence (PE / Acquirer)
For PE firms, strategic acquirers, and VCs running detailed technical diligence on a target. We assess engineering team strength, code quality, scalability ceilings, security posture, and post-close integration risk. Deliverable: a written diligence report with explicit risk ratings and remediation cost estimates.
What a Fractional CTO Engagement Actually Looks Like
Every engagement is custom, but the shape is usually some version of this.
- Weekly 1:1 with the CEO or founder — strategic alignment, blockers, hiring decisions, escalations
- Architecture ownership — the advisor signs off on material technical decisions (new platform components, security choices, vendor selection, major refactors)
- Engineering team partnership — works directly with your current tech lead or senior engineers; runs or co-runs the weekly engineering meeting
- Code review participation — reviews material PRs, especially around infrastructure, security, data, billing
- Hiring support — helps you write JDs, interview senior engineering hires, evaluate candidates technically
- Board / investor support — joins board meetings when technology is on the agenda; helps prepare technical sections of board decks
- Vendor & cloud cost review — quarterly review of cloud spend, vendor contracts, build-vs-buy decisions
Which Engagement Fits Your Situation
| Your Situation | What Fits | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You're a non-technical founder running a small dev team | Fractional CTO | You need ongoing leadership, not a one-time report |
| You inherited a codebase via acquisition and need to know what you bought | Architecture Audit | Bounded scope, written deliverable |
| You're considering acquiring a software company | Technical DD | Diligence-grade rigor, risk-rated deliverable |
| Your CTO just left and you need a bridge | Fractional CTO | We fill the seat while you recruit |
| Your engineering team is stuck and you can't tell if it's leadership, talent, or strategy | Architecture Audit → maybe Fractional CTO | Diagnose first, treat second |
| You need a board-ready technical assessment for a fundraise | Architecture Audit | Investors take third-party assessments more seriously |
Why an Operating Engineer Beats a Career Consultant
Career consultants have a structural problem: their incentive is to extend the engagement. Operators have the opposite incentive — they have other production work demanding their attention, and they're motivated to fix your problem and step out.
The other structural difference is currency. The operator knows what AWS costs this quarter because they paid the bill last week. They know how AI-augmented developer workflows actually change sprint velocity because they're running them on their own team. They know which open-source projects are dying because they've had to migrate off two of them this year. This kind of knowledge is perishable — and consultants who aren't operating lose it faster than they realize.
The last difference is intellectual honesty. An operator will tell you when build-vs-buy says "buy". A consultant will tell you to build, because the build engagement is bigger. We sell engineering teams and project builds — but if your problem is solved by a SaaS vendor, we'll say so. The advisory engagement is the only place in our business where this conflict shows up clearly, and we handle it by being explicit about it.
Is Eternitech Advisory the Right Group Brand for You?
The Eternitech Group runs three advisory practices, each calibrated for a different buyer. Most readers of this page land on the right one — but here's the map.
Eternitech Technical Advisory (this page)
Best for: funded startups, mid-market companies, and PE/acquirers who want operator-led advisory delivered alongside or in lieu of engineering capacity. Pricing transparent, engagements pragmatic, integrated with Eternitech delivery if you need engineering build-out.
TechPartners.io
Best for: Series B+ companies, PE-backed operators, post-acquisition CTOs, and CEO/board engagements requiring board-level technical advisory. Higher altitude, reference-driven, $20-80K/month.
GotYourTech.ai
Best for: pre-seed and seed-stage non-technical founders who need productized fractional CTO without enterprise pricing. Self-serve booking, $3-12K/month, designed around the founder's reality.
Pricing
| Engagement | Range | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Fractional CTO (25% allocation) | $4,000 – $6,000/mo | Monthly retainer, 30-day notice |
| Fractional CTO (50% allocation) | $6,000 – $12,000/mo | Monthly retainer, 30-day notice |
| Architecture & Security Audit | $8,000 – $25,000 | One-time, 2-4 weeks |
| Technical Due Diligence | $15,000 – $50,000 | One-time, 1-3 weeks |
| Strategy Day (single-day workshop) | $3,500 | One-day onsite or virtual |
Frequently Asked Questions
We'll be updating this section with answers to your most pressing questions shortly.
Discuss Your Needs
Book a call with a senior operator to discuss your architecture, engineering gaps, or advisory needs.