Technical leadership, built into your software development.
Startup Labs builds software for startups with fractional CTO support included. You get help with scope, architecture, and technical decisions alongside development, without hiring a separate CTO. If you already have a development team, we also offer dedicated advisory and leadership engagements.
CTO support included
Part of your software development engagement
- Strategic alignment with your business goals
- Architecture decisions you can defend to investors
- Working-software reviews and visible priorities
- Support for a future internal team or CTO hire
What you get
Senior guidance for the decisions behind the build.
Included CTO support helps you navigate these areas during development. Dedicated leadership engagements can take on broader responsibilities, with the mandate agreed in writing.
Architecture & roadmap
Architecture choices and release priorities connected to your users, runway, and business goals.
Delivery management
Priorities, owners, and milestones with weekly reporting you can actually rely on.
Engineering quality
Code review, testing, and standards enforced so stability isn't a recurring surprise.
Team & hiring
Help planning engineering roles, evaluating technical candidates, and preparing for an internal team.
Vendors & budget
Review of technical vendor options, infrastructure costs, and budget tradeoffs within the agreed mandate.
AI & tooling leverage
Evaluate AI and development tools against the product needs, data risks, and review practices they require.
Who it is for
A strong fit starts with a real decision to own.
Development clients receive CTO support as part of the build, whether they are launching an MVP or improving an existing product. Dedicated advisory or leadership is useful when your existing team needs senior technical input or a defined decision owner. We can also collaborate with an internal CTO rather than replace them.
Discovery and scope
Start with the product and the decisions it needs.
The free discovery call helps us understand whether you need development, dedicated leadership, or both. A new product may start with scope and design; an existing system may benefit from a bounded technical diagnostic. Any paid discovery work has its price, duration, and outputs agreed before it starts.
What a diagnostic may cover
- Interviews and review of architecture, delivery, and business priorities.
- Written findings with an ordered list of risks and trade-offs.
- A proposed first 90-day plan with owners, sequencing, and decision points.
- A review meeting to walk through options and open questions.
The exact deliverables depend on the systems and questions in scope, not a one-size-fits-all checklist.
Engagement options
Build with us, or support the team you already have.
The discovery call is free. A deeper diagnostic and any ongoing engagement are separately scoped in a written proposal, with fee, cadence, deliverables, and boundaries confirmed before work starts.
Development with CTO support
For startups building an MVP, adding features, or improving existing software. Fractional CTO support is included in the development engagement, not a separate hire or prerequisite. We define technical ownership, decision access, and team capacity in the proposal.
Dedicated CTO advisory
For founders with an existing development team who need senior input on architecture, roadmap, or strategy. Agree on the decisions in scope, a regular advisory cadence, and how urgent questions are handled.
Dedicated CTO leadership
For an existing team facing a leadership gap or transition. An ongoing or interim mandate defines ownership of technical priorities, delivery structure, reporting, and a handoff or permanent-hire plan.
What your proposal will make explicit
- Included CTO support, expected availability, and decision responsibilities
- Meeting and reporting cadence, including escalation arrangements
- What engineering capacity is included and what is additional
- Scope, deliverables, term, currency, fees, and change process
Questions
Fractional CTO, plainly explained.
Start here
Discuss your build and the support it needs.
Tell us what you want to build or where your existing team needs help. We will discuss development with CTO support included, or a dedicated leadership scope if that is the better fit.
Discuss your MVP or product build. Free discovery call. No obligation to proceed.