Fractional CTO
A fractional CTO for companies that can't yet justify a full-time one
You have real technical decisions in front of you. An architecture that has to hold. A vendor quote you can't judge. A developer you can't interview properly. An investor asking about the stack. PixelApps provides that judgement as a part-time engagement, with the accountability of a leader rather than the deniability of a consultant.
A roadmap with the build-or-buy calls made, in order, with the reasoning kept so the board can argue with it.
In short
PixelApps provides a fractional CTO to Australian startups and growing businesses: a senior technical leader engaged two to six days a month to own architecture, technical hiring, vendor decisions and technical risk. It runs as a fixed monthly retainer, month to month, and starts with a written review of what you have and what you're planning.
This is for you if
- Founders without a technical co-founder who are about to spend real money on development
- Businesses running a product built by an agency or an AI tool that nobody in-house can assess
- Companies hiring their first developers who can't evaluate the candidates
- Boards and investors who want a named person accountable for technical risk
- Teams whose CTO has left and who need cover while they hire properly
It isn't if
- A company that needs code written rather than decisions made. That's the development team, and it's cheaper.
- A deep-tech business where the technology is the company. You want that person full-time and holding equity.
- Anyone looking for a name to put on a pitch deck. We turn up to the work or not at all.
What you get
A written technical review in the first fortnight
What you own, what it's worth, what it costs to keep running, and the three things to fix first. Yours to keep, whatever you decide next.
A roadmap with costs attached
What to build, what to buy and what to leave alone, in order, with a budget and the reasoning next to each item so the leadership team can argue with it.
Every quote and contract read before you sign
Statements of work, vendor proposals, hosting bills and licence terms, read by someone who has written a hundred of them. This routinely saves more than the engagement costs.
Technical hiring you don't have to guess at
The role written properly, candidates screened, the technical interview run, a fair salary range for the market. You never have to wonder whether an answer was good.
Credible answers for investors, procurement and security
Due diligence questions, security questionnaires and enterprise procurement answered by someone who can defend them, with the documentation to back it.
A standing session, and a phone that gets answered
A fixed weekly or fortnightly session with the leadership team, decisions logged so the reasoning survives, and the ability to ring when something can't wait.
Three ways to engage
The cadence is agreed up front and can change with a month's notice. The fee is fixed in writing on the first call.
Advisory
One to two days a month
A standing call, quote and architecture review, decisions on demand. For pre-revenue and early-stage companies where the decisions are big but infrequent.
Fractional CTO
Two to six days a month
Owns the technical roadmap, hiring and vendor relationships. Sits in the leadership meeting. The common shape, and the one most engagements settle into.
Interim CTO
Two to four days a week, for a defined period
Cover for a departed CTO, or through a raise, a migration or a launch. Built with a handover to the permanent hire from the first week, because the job is to make yourself unnecessary.
The first ninety days
- 01
Week one: the first call
An hour on what you have, what you're planning and what you're spending. We tell you whether fractional is the right shape and what it will cost per month, before either side commits to anything.
- 02
Weeks one to two: the technical review
Code, infrastructure, accounts, contracts and team. A written assessment lands within a fortnight. If it says you don't need us, that's the end of it and you've got a useful document.
- 03
Month one: the roadmap
Priorities agreed with you, costs attached, and the first decisions made rather than presented as options.
- 04
Months two and three: the cadence
Standing sessions, hiring or vendor work as needed, decisions logged. At three months we review together whether to continue, scale up, or step back to advisory.
Fractional, full-time or an agency
Three ways to get technical leadership. The right one depends on how many decisions you have, not how big they are.
| Criteria | Fractional CTO | Full-time CTO | Development agency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | A fixed monthly fee for an agreed number of days | $220,000+ a year, plus super, usually plus equity | Project fees. Leadership isn't in the scope |
| Time to start | Inside two weeks | Three to six months to hire, then ramp | Per project |
| Accountable for the technical outcome | Yes, and it says so in writing | Yes | Only for the deliverable in the contract |
| Attention | Bounded. Days per month, agreed | Full | Whoever is on your project this month |
| How it ends | Month to month. A handover is part of the job | Notice period, and a gap | When the invoice is paid |
What it replaces
Indicative Australian figures for 2026, from the market rather than our price list. We quote a fixed monthly figure on the first call.
- Full-time CTO $220,000+ a year
- Plus superannuation, usually equity, a recruiter's fee, and a hiring process measured in months.
- Fractional CTO, market range $4,000 – $12,000 a month
- Two to six days a month. The range the Australian market charges; deep specialists sit above it.
- A bad build decision Uncapped
- The most common outcome of not having anyone senior in the room: a rewrite six months in. This is the cost fractional is measured against.
Work we can show
The public ones. Most engagements sit under client agreements and can be walked through on a call.
Dropt
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Hawker Spaces
Pop-up retail platform — Melbourne & Sydney
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When we're not the answer
If the hard question is whether anyone wants the product, spend the money on finding customers first; a CTO can't fix a demand problem. If your product is technically ordinary and the developer you have is good, you may need a second opinion every quarter rather than a retainer, and we'll say so on the call. And if the technology genuinely is the business, we'll help you hire the permanent CTO and then get out of their way.
Start with a conversation
An hour on where you are and what's in front of you. You'll leave with a straight answer on whether this is the right shape, and the monthly figure if it is.
Common questions
A consultant presents options and leaves. A fractional CTO makes the decision, puts their name to it, and is still there when the consequences arrive. Ours sit in your leadership meeting, own the roadmap and the hiring, and are measured on whether the technology holds up, not on whether the report was well written.
The Australian market runs roughly $4,000 to $12,000 a month for two to six days, and lighter advisory arrangements start around $2,000. We don't publish our own rate. We tell you the monthly figure on the first call, in writing, before anything starts, and it doesn't change without your agreement.
Usually inside two weeks. The engagement has a fixed number of days a month and a standing session, and you can ring between them when a decision can't wait. What you don't get is a full-time person at a desk, and we'd rather say that plainly than pretend otherwise.
Often it makes more sense. Good developers with nobody senior to set direction will make reasonable local decisions that add up to an unreasonable system. A fractional CTO gives them a roadmap, reviews the big calls, and gives you a straight answer about how the team is going.
They can direct a build, and that's how we usually structure it: the fractional CTO sets the roadmap and the on-demand development team delivers it. Paying leadership rates for someone to write code is poor value, so we keep the two roles and the two fees separate.
That's a shape we offer: two to four days a week for a defined period, usually three to six months, covering a departure, a raise or a migration. We help write the role, run the hiring for the permanent CTO, and hand over. The measure of success is that you don't need us afterwards.
Under a mutual NDA before we see anything, and an engagement agreement that says in plain terms that everything produced is yours. Accounts and repositories stay in your name with us as a collaborator, never the other way around, so ending the engagement is a matter of removing access.
The kind of thing we build
Working software, running with a fictional business and sample data. Use it, then decide.
Also worth a look
- Find out what you're actually buying, before you sign
- A senior development team you switch on when you need it
- Not sure you need one? The buying guide
- Who owns your code, domain and accounts
- The questions to ask any developer
Last reviewed . Market figures are indicative Australian ranges, not our prices. Our fee is fixed in writing on the first call.