What Is a Fractional CTO and How to Find One for Your Startup
Over the years I’ve be asked a number of times by startup founders and small business owners whether they need a CTO or not. They are usually in the process of determining whether they could use and afford a full or part time CTO for their business. This post is an attempt to answer what is a fractional CTO and the best approach to find on for your startup.
Technology is an integral part of businesses today. It plays a key role in marketing, security, PR, organization, customer satisfaction, and more.
Businesses that fail to use or integrate the latest technologies will likely fall behind. At the same time, technology has become all the more complicated, and not every business owner has the time or ability to stay up to date on the latest advances in technology and effectively implement it.
As a result, many businesses are employing CTOs (Chief Technology Officers) to handle the technology side of the company.
What Does a CTO Do?
A CTO is the highest-ranking technology executive in a business and reports directly to the CEO.
A CTO’s responsibilities can vary depending on the industry, but they are, more broadly speaking, in charge of the technological side of the company, and they use advances in technology to further advance the goals of the business.
A CTO for a startup can perform many roles such as:
● Developing and implementing a plan to use technology in a way that maximizes the business’ productivity and reduces costs
● Implementing data protection measures
● Overseeing and constructing an IT department
CTOs are a very central “gear” to many up-and-coming businesses as well as established businesses. They make sure that the business is up to date on the latest technological platforms and tools.
Typically, they also play a visionary role and can come up with five-year plans and business strategies for implementing and using technology that will benefit the business in the long run.
Types of CTOs
There are four different types of CTOs, and each has a different aim and purpose in the business.
1. Thinker—The Thinker works closely with executives to explore new ways of how to use technology in business to come up with a unique business strategy.
2. Infrastructure Manager—The Infrastructure Manager oversees the business’ technical roadmap. This includes analyzing data, overseeing security, and ensuring proper maintenance for the existing and future technology used in the business.
3. Strategic Planner—The Strategic Planner is often known as a “Visionary” or “Technical Co-Founder” who focuses on developing plans for the company’s future success as well as coming up with the company’s business strategy in regard to the role that technology should play in the business as it progresses.
4. Consumer Liaison—The Consumer Liaison is responsible for understanding the company’s target consumer and implementing technology to deliver great customer service. This requires a solid understanding of the customer’s needs and how to use technology to meet them.
What Is a Part-Time or Fractional CTO?
A part-time or fractional CTO is a CTO who does not work for the business on a full-time basis. Startups typically do not have the money to hire a full-time CTO, nor do they have a need or enough work for a full-time CTO.
However, a startup may still need a CTO to develop and come up with a plan for how to best implement technology in the company and what the company needs to implement immediately.
As a result, a fractional CTO can be a great option. They can work a couple of days a week or even a couple of days a month—depending on how much the business needs them.
Furthermore, factional CTOs are more affordable as they do not work full-time and can be hired on a monthly basis.
When and Why Do You Need One?
CTOs provide experience, expertise, and leadership for a company. So, if you have a startup, a CTO can be a critical part of building and planning for the future success of your company.
A fractional CTO should be hired when you can no longer manage all aspects of your business or if your business is heavily dependent on technology and you either lack the time or expertise to run that side of the business well.
It should be noted that a fractional CTO can also be brought on as a consultant at the inception of your business to advise you on how you should implement technology in your business and to come up with a future plan for how your business should use technology for its benefit.
If you find that you need an IT department for your up-and-coming business, then hiring a CTO can also be a good choice as the CTO can lead and build that department.
When it comes down to it, hiring a fractional CTO is not a big risk. Since most fractional CTOs can be hired on a monthly basis and can work as much or as little as you need them to, they can be a great choice for startups in need of technological guidance.
How to Find One?
If you are looking to find a technical co-founder or find a CTO for some other purpose, then there are many ways to do so. For one, you could use an agency that can provide you with a qualified CTO.
You could also list an ad on job boards. This approach will mean that you will have to decide between the many applicants who is the right one for the job. So, if you don’t know what you should be looking for, then it may be best to use an agency instead.
There are also other options such as using a headhunter, asking for referrals, and searching LinkedIn for qualified candidates.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a CTO?
A fractional CTO can cost you anywhere between $50 to $200 an hour. Whereas, a full-time CTO will cost you around $132,255 a year.
Skills and Experience Needed to Be a CTO?
A CTO will typically have five to ten years of experience in the information technology field. CTOs need to have good leadership skills as well as the capability to develop business plans two to five years down the road.
Depending on the industry that the CTO goes in, they will need to have both experience and expertise in that field. For example, a gaming CTO will need to understand the processes and technology that are needed to develop a game as well as the target consumers’ needs.
Final Thoughts
All in all, technology is becoming a critical part of modern-day business and a CTO has the expertise, experience, and ability to implement, oversee, and develop plans for the success of the business by using technology.
Is your business ready for a the help of a fractional CTO? Do you need CTO help for your business or idea and just don’t know where to start? Please reach out to using the contact form.
Joe is is a professional software engineer, CTO and technology innovation leader residing in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta. He is a published author of game development books and a leader in the technical innovation space.
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