Question 1

If they're working for multiple companies, how committed can they really be?

Accepted Answer

A fractional CTO working 15 hours per week for your company is more effective than a full-time hire spending 20 hours in meetings and 10 on email. Fractional executives are paid for output, not presence. Their reputation depends on delivering results across every engagement — which means the incentive alignment is actually stronger, not weaker.

Question 2

How is this different from hiring a consultant?

Accepted Answer

Consultants advise from the outside and deliver recommendations. Fractional executives embed inside your team, lead people, make decisions, and own outcomes. A fractional CTO doesn't hand you a tech strategy document — they build the engineering team, set the architecture, and ship the product. The accountability is fundamentally different.

Question 3

We're too early-stage. Don't we just need a developer?

Accepted Answer

If you need someone to write code, you need a developer or a dev agency. If you need someone to decide what to build, in what order, with what architecture, and how to hire the team that builds it — you need a fractional CTO. Most early-stage technical failures are strategy failures, not execution failures.

Question 4

How do I evaluate a fractional executive before hiring?

Accepted Answer

Ask for three specific decisions they made in their last two engagements and what the outcome was. Ask who they'd bring in to solve a problem they couldn't solve themselves. The best fractional executives have a network, a process, and a clear picture of where their own expertise ends. Generic answers about "driving growth" are a red flag.

Question 5

What does the engagement process actually look like?

Accepted Answer

Most fractional engagements start with a 30–60 day diagnostic phase — the executive embeds, audits the current state, and produces a prioritised action plan. After that, the engagement shifts to execution: attending leadership meetings, making hiring decisions, owning a specific outcome. A well-structured engagement has a clear deliverable every 90 days, not just "ongoing support."

Question 6

What makes a fractional engagement fail?

Accepted Answer

Two causes account for the vast majority of failures: unclear scope and no decision authority. If the executive cannot make or block decisions without getting founder sign-off on every one, the engagement becomes advisory — which is not what you hired for. Before signing, write down exactly what decisions this person owns. If you can't define that, you're not ready for the engagement.

Question 7

How does my listing appear to companies searching the directory?

Accepted Answer

Your listing shows your role, city, availability, rate range, and the first line of your bio — enough for a company to self-qualify before reaching out. Your email is never displayed. Companies contact you through the directory's contact form, which routes directly to your registered email. You review every inquiry before responding.

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