Ongoing Senior Technology Leadership, on a Fractional Basis
For founders without a CTO, portfolio companies between CTOs, and PE firms placing a portfolio-CTO-in-residence across multiple investments.
Three tiers. Three-month minimum, then month-to-month.
A consistent senior presence, not occasional hourly advice
This retainer is for founders without a CTO, PE-backed portfolio companies between CTOs, executive teams that need senior technical judgment, software companies that have strong engineers but lack consistent architecture and technology leadership at the executive level, and PE firms that want to place a senior technology presence into one or more portfolio companies on an ongoing coordinated basis.
It is also useful when the company is making high-impact technology decisions around AI strategy, platform modernization, hiring, vendor selection, cloud architecture, security posture, product scalability, or engineering operating model, but does not yet need or cannot justify a full-time CTO.
The best fit is a leadership team or PE firm that needs a named senior technology voice in the room on a consistent basis, not occasional hourly advice with no continuity.
Typical focus areas
Many companies do not need a full-time CTO immediately.
They need senior judgment available at the moments when wrong decisions become expensive. Architecture choices, hiring decisions, vendor contracts, AI implementation plans, roadmap commitments, infrastructure changes, and platform rebuilds often look manageable in isolation. But together, they define whether the company can scale, ship reliably, control cost, and maintain investor or customer confidence.
For PE-backed companies, those same decisions define whether the value-creation plan stays on track and whether the asset is exit-ready when the time comes.
Hourly consulting rarely solves this because the advisor lacks context and accountability. A full-time CTO may be too expensive, too slow to hire, or unnecessary at the current stage. The gap is a consistent senior presence that understands the business, knows the architecture, participates in key decisions, and helps leadership avoid avoidable technical mistakes.
The CTO Advisory Retainer fills that gap with a scoped, ongoing, senior-led engagement matched to how much technology leadership the business actually needs right now.
The leadership team and the PE sponsor get a consistent senior technology voice that improves decision quality, reduces architecture and execution risk, and brings CTO-level judgment into the business without the cost or commitment of a full-time executive hire.
Matched to how much senior presence the business actually needs
Buyers select the tier that fits and can move up or down with 30 days notice.
Three-month minimum, then month-to-month. Tier changes effective the following calendar month.
Advisory
$8,000
per month
Embedded
$14,000
per month
Fractional CTO
$20,000
per month
Engagements that exceed the Fractional CTO scope - multi-portfolio coordination, board-level engagement at premium cadence, or strategic transformation work - are priced by scope. Operating partners can also engage Sharp Logica through portfolio-level conversations rather than per-portfolio-company.
A single senior technology presence across multiple portfolio companies
For PE firms, the retainer can be deployed as a portfolio-CTO-in-residence model: a single senior technology presence placed across multiple portfolio companies on a coordinated cadence, with the operating partner as the central point of coordination.
This works particularly well during transitions between full-time CTOs, for early-hold portfolio companies that are not yet ready for a full-time hire, or for firms that want a consistent technology voice across a cluster of related investments.
Pricing for portfolio-CTO-in-residence is structured per portfolio company at the appropriate tier, with portfolio-level coordination included at no additional fee.
Timeline and terms
What It Is Not
This is not staff augmentation, not on-call engineering, and not a full-time CTO at a discount. It is senior judgment, available consistently, scoped honestly to what the business needs right now.
Ready for a consistent senior technology voice?
Start with a 30-minute Triage Call. No preparation required. By the end you'll know which tier fits and have two or three specific risks or opportunities in hand.
Or reach us at: info@sharplogica.com