En
Fr
De
It
Es
Uk
What does a fractional CTO do for a startup?
A startup without a technical founder still has to make a CTO's decisions, usually in the first months and with the most money at stake: what the first version includes, which stack to use, which agency or freelancers to hire, whether their estimate is fair, and what to tell investors when they ask about the technology.
A fractional CTO for startups makes those decisions with you one or two days a week. At Lytvynov Production that person is Anton Lytvynov, the founder of the company, who takes at most two fractional clients at a time.
The three moments when founders need one most
1. Before the MVP is ordered
- Turns the idea into a written scope: user roles, the few flows that prove the idea, what waits for version two.
- Chooses a stack that a normal team can maintain and hire for, with monthly running costs.
- Writes the brief vendors quote against, compares the quotes and spots padding and gaps.
- See what an MVP usually costs in our MVP development cost guide.
2. While the MVP is built
- Weekly call with the founders and the vendor, reviews of tickets, releases and pull requests.
- Keeps the scope from growing silently and checks that change requests are priced fairly.
- Makes sure the startup owns the code repository, the cloud accounts, the domains and the app store accounts from day one.
3. Before and during the first round
- Prepares the technical part of the data room: architecture overview, security basics, running costs, roadmap.
- Fixes what an investor's technical due diligence would find.
- Answers technical questions on investor calls and defines the first engineering hires after the round.
Startup stages and what changes
| Stage | Typical CTO work | Usual plan |
|---|---|---|
| Idea and validation | Scope, stack, prototype or no-code check, vendor brief | 1 day a week or the $3,500 audit of an existing prototype |
| MVP build (2-4 months) | Vendor oversight, reviews, scope control, launch readiness | 2 days a week |
| After launch | Stability, analytics, first iterations, hiring plan | 1 day a week |
| Fundraising | Data room, due diligence, investor calls | 1-2 days a week for a few months |
What founders get that a vendor alone does not give
- Someone on your side of the table. An agency is paid to build; a fractional CTO is paid to make sure what is built is the right thing at a fair price.
- Decisions in writing. Every major technical decision is recorded with the reason and the cost, so the next CTO understands it.
- Control of your assets. Code, accounts and credentials in the company's name, not a freelancer's.
- A hiring plan. When it is time to build an in-house team, Anton writes the role descriptions and runs the technical interviews.
Price
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| CTO 1 day a week | $2,500 / month |
| CTO 2 days a week | $4,500 / month |
| Technical audit of an existing prototype or MVP | $3,500 fixed, 2 weeks |
The CTO work is billed separately from development. You are free to build with any vendor. Full details of the plans are on the main fractional CTO page.
Fractional CTO, agency or in-house team?
If you are still deciding how to staff the first build, our guide fractional CTO vs agency vs in-house team compares the costs over the first year and the combinations that work at each stage. If you already know you need the product built, see how a first build runs on our MVP development page and in the MVP development process guide.
Why Anton
Anton has worked in software since 2011, as a business analyst, a developer and a team lead. At Anycommerce he led the creation of two payment products from zero, including the integration with the Natixis banking system, and managed fully remote teams. At Lytvynov Production he leads the architecture of the products we build for clients, and the team built and runs its own AI SaaS, AI Resume Master. He holds master's degrees in artificial intelligence and applied mathematics.
