The Art of Handing Over: A Fractional CTO’s Point of Success
As a Fractional CTO, success means getting laid off.
Yes, you read it right. When my job is done, I’m out. And very happily so.
Let me explain.
I’m usually hired by early-stage tech startups, which don’t have:
- A product.
- A team.
- Revenue and/or VC funding.
Several months after working with them, they already have:
- A product.
- A team.
- Revenue and/or VC funding.
I help them go from 0 to 1!
The Core Work
When I start working with them, there’s usually the Founders and maybe a dev shop and an intern. Nothing else.
These Founders use my help to assemble/manage a team of engineers to build their first MVP and land initial clients. There are usually 5 most common assignments involved in my career as a fractional CTO, including making key tech decisions and finding product-market-fit.
This traction brings them revenue and funding.
At that stage, the Founders want to hire a Full Time CTO, and they usually ask me to ramp up from Fractional to Full Time.
There were a couple times in the past when I accepted the challenge. But mostly, I decline the opportunity.
The Last Commitment
As such, my last commitment to the client is to help hire a full time CTO and hand over my work.
Some important hand over activities:
- Document product.
- Document technology.
- Document team.
- Intro team members.
- Intro tech vendors.
- Ramp down to advisory capacity.
I recently wrote this guide on everything you should know about a Fractional CTO and I think it would bring you more clarity about this less-known career opportunity.
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