Senior technical judgment, on a recurring schedule.
Working sessions with your leadership on AI strategy, architecture decisions, and build-vs-partner choices — not a written report, and not a full-time hire.
For companies that already have engineers.
This is built for a founder, CTO, VP of Engineering, or product leader at a company with an existing development team who needs senior technical judgment without a full-time hire.
When advisory adds the most value.
A decision with long-term architectural consequences is on the table.
Build versus buy, cloud versus on-premise, which AI model or platform to commit to — these compound over time and benefit from an outside perspective with relevant experience.
Your engineering team disagrees on direction and the debate has stalled.
Sometimes the same internal arguments keep circling. An external voice with a stake in the outcome being right, not in who wins the debate, can break a stalemate.
You are scaling a team or a system for the first time.
Hiring your second or fifth engineer, moving from one database to many, or introducing a second AI system — these all have known failure modes that are easier to avoid than to fix afterward.
Typical advisory topics.
Topics vary by engagement. These are common areas, not an exhaustive list.
- AI adoption strategy and use-case prioritization
- Cloud AI versus private AI versus hybrid decisions
- AI coding-tool governance and cost controls
- Architecture decisions for reliability and scale
- Legacy-system modernization approach
- Data architecture and privacy tradeoffs
- Build-versus-buy analysis for specific systems
- Vendor selection and evaluation criteria
- Technical roadmap prioritization
- Cloud cost strategy and architecture review
- Security and privacy tradeoffs in platform design
- Engineering team structure and hiring approach
- Delivery-process improvements and bottlenecks
- Scalability and reliability planning
- Technical-debt prioritization
Session format.
Sessions are working discussions — decisions made together, not a report handed over afterward.
Four sessions per month
Each session is a focused working discussion — typically 60 minutes — on a specific decision or question brought by your leadership. Sessions are not structured presentations: we work through the problem together and arrive at a clear next action or decision before the session ends.
$3,000/month · four working sessions · written follow-up after each session · response to questions between sessions within one business day.
What you receive.
Not every session produces every deliverable. What you receive depends on what the session covered.
- Written session notes with decisions made and follow-up actions
- Decision records for significant architectural or strategic choices
- Technical recommendations in writing where a decision has a clear answer
- Risk assessments for proposed approaches or vendor choices
- Prioritized roadmap updates where roadmap is in scope
- Vendor comparisons and evaluation summaries
- Architecture diagrams for decisions involving system design
- Running open-items register maintained between sessions
What happens between sessions.
Between sessions, we maintain a running list of open questions and pending decisions. If an urgent question comes up before the next session, you can reach us by email and expect a response within one business day.
We send a brief prep note before each session summarizing open items and suggesting an agenda — so you spend the session working, not orienting.
Between-session responses cover clarifying questions, quick follow-ups from the last session, and time-sensitive inputs on a decision already in progress. Extended advisory work or new topics are held for the next session.
How onboarding works.
Onboarding session
We start with a dedicated onboarding session to review your current systems, team structure, active decisions, and priorities — so the first working sessions are immediately useful.
Schedule confirmed
We agree on a recurring session cadence that fits your leadership team's calendar. Sessions can be distributed across the month or clustered, depending on your preference.
Working sessions begin
Each session has an agenda prepared in advance. We work through decisions together and send written notes within one business day of the session.
Quarterly review
Every quarter we step back and review what decisions were made, what is still open, and whether the advisory focus is still aligned with where your business is heading.
Boundaries, stated up front.
Frequently asked questions.
Is this the same as hiring a fractional CTO?
No. A fractional CTO typically provides ongoing operational leadership: team management, standing participation in leadership meetings, and day-to-day decisions. Strategic Advisory is four structured working sessions per month focused on specific strategic decisions — not ongoing operational involvement or team management.
What if I don't have a topic prepared for a session?
We maintain a running list of open decisions and questions between sessions, so there is always material to work through. That said, sessions are most productive when you come with a specific decision or question you want to make progress on. We send a prep note before each session to help focus the agenda.
What is the difference between Advisory and project implementation work?
Advisory sessions produce decisions, recommendations, and direction. Implementation — actually building a reporting automation, deploying private AI, or writing code — is separately scoped project work. Advisory is judgment and strategy; implementation is hands-on delivery.
How does the engagement start?
We begin with an onboarding session to review your current systems, team structure, active decisions, and priorities. This gives us the context needed to make the first working sessions immediately useful, rather than spending the early weeks asking basic background questions.
Can I pause or cancel the engagement?
Yes. The engagement can be paused or ended with 30 days' notice. There is no long-term contract required. All notes, decision records, and recommendations produced during the engagement remain with you.
What if a decision requires more than a session to resolve?
Complex decisions often span multiple sessions. We track open questions and decisions between sessions, build on prior work, and return to them as more information becomes available. Not every decision closes in one conversation.
Ready to work through your next technical decision?
Book a free consultation call. We'll discuss what decisions are in front of you and whether the advisory format is the right fit.