Fractional CTO. Engineering Leader. Software Architect. Your engineering team slowing down? Hiring taking forever? Deploy cycles measured in weeks? I fix this by breaking bottlenecks, building teams that ship, and preparing your tech stack for due diligence.
Series A-B startups ($2M-$20M raised) who need engineering leadership without the $300K salary.
Best fit if you're:
Not every engagement is the right fit. I'm transparent about when we shouldn't work together.
Not a fit if you:
Low-pressure social hangout app connecting IRL friends for spontaneous meetups. Built from the ground up with Swift/SwiftUI and live in the App Store.
Developing internal tools that leverage AI to speed up coding, automate testing, and generate documentation. Aiming to reduce development time by 30%.
"What truly makes Brian special isn't how much he cares about the tech, it's how much he cares about the people. He never stops pushing his team to grow technically, professionally, and personally. He isn't afraid to make hard decisions if he knows it is in his engineers' best interest in the long term."
"Brian is the rare combination of extremely intelligent, hard working, and easy to talk to. I've seen him tackle complex problems with utmost confidence, and come up with a solution that he could articulate simply. He is a great motivator, and he cares deeply about his teams. He's down to earth and always willing to lend a helping hand. It would truly be a shame not to work with Brian!"
"Brian grew our team from 2 to 25 engineers with zero turnover. His toolbox of strong business intelligence, effective leadership, and empathetic mentorship produced one of the highest performing teams in the company."
"Brian very clearly stated his 5-year plan was to be running the department. I managed him for 3 years and watched him grow from managing 2 people to leading 25+ engineers. His radical candor was always received well and his team flourished as a result. His team was a reflection of him: high quality, dedicated, and always delivering results."
"Indecision is worse than making the wrong choice. At least with action, you learn something."— James S.A. Corey, The Expanse
15-20 hours/week for 6-12 months. Enough to move the needle, not so much you're paying for a full-time exec you don't need yet.
$10K-$18K/month depending on scope. Less than half the cost of a full-time CTO ($250K+ salary + equity + benefits).
Team audit, identify bottlenecks, fix immediate process issues, create 90-day technical roadmap aligned with your fundraising timeline.
When you're ready for a full-time CTO, I'll help you hire them, do the handoff, and transition out. Or stay on as advisor. Your call.
Looking for a fractional CTO who tells it straight? Need help scaling your team or untangling your architecture? Let's talk.
Boulder, Colorado · Mountain Time (GMT-7)
Writing about engineering leadership at brianseitel.bearblog.dev →