Fixed-price · Two weeks · Credited to a retainer

The Fractional CTO Diagnostic

Before you commit to a retainer — or a hire — get an honest, independent read on your technology. Two weeks, one senior operator, a written assessment of where you actually stand, and a board-ready 90-day plan. Fixed price, no open-ended scope, and the full fee is credited if you go on to a fractional CTO engagement.

Book the diagnostic £3,500 — credited in full to a retainer

£3,500

Fixed price. No scope creep, no day-rate surprises.

2 weeks

Audit and interviews in week one; synthesis and readout in week two.

100% credited

The full fee comes off your first month if you continue to a fractional CTO retainer.

What We Assess

Six areas, scored honestly. The same diagnostic an incoming full-time CTO would run in their first ninety days — compressed into two focused weeks and delivered as something you can act on.

Architecture & technical debt

What you have built, what will age well, and the decisions quietly compounding into expensive problems eighteen months out.

Delivery & engineering posture

How work actually ships — velocity, quality gates, deployment, and the bottlenecks nobody has named.

Team & org design

Whether the team is structured for the next stage, where the single points of failure are, and what to hire (or not) next.

Security, data & operations

The risk surface a serious technical buyer or board will ask about — and the gaps worth closing before they do.

AI readiness

Where AI genuinely moves the needle for your business versus where it is a distraction — grounded in your data and workflows.

12-month roadmap & investment case

A prioritised technology roadmap and the budget framing to take it to the board with confidence.

How It Works

Kickoff & access

A scoping call, then read-only access to the codebase, infrastructure, and the tools your team runs on. We work around your team, not through them.

Audit & interviews (week one)

Architecture and code review, infrastructure and security assessment, and structured interviews with the people who actually build and run the product.

Synthesis & readout (week two)

A written assessment scored across the six areas, a prioritised 12-month roadmap, a 90-day action plan, and a live readout with you and — if you want — your board.

What You Walk Away With

A written technology assessment, scored across the six areas — the real state, not a sales pitch
A prioritised 12-month roadmap with the build-versus-buy and hiring calls made explicit
A board-ready 90-day action plan with budget framing
A clear, honest answer to the only question that matters: is fractional leadership the constraint worth solving — and if not, what is

Who It's For

Founders scaling through the messy middle, boards and investors who need an independent technical read on a company, and leaders weighing a full-time CTO hire who want to know what they are actually hiring for first. If you are investing in a portfolio company, see our technical due diligence for VCs.

The diagnostic is run by Jamie Buchanan — eighteen-plus years as a CTO and principal engineer, seven of them on the board of Vanarama, growing it from £20M to a £200M Auto Trader acquisition and scaling the tech team from one to thirty-plus. The findings are grounded in decisions already made and mistakes already paid for.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the £3,500 credited?+

If you continue to a fractional CTO retainer within 90 days of the readout, the full £3,500 comes off your first month. The diagnostic is designed to lead naturally into an engagement — but there is no obligation, and plenty of clients take the assessment and run with it themselves.

Is this just technical due diligence?+

It overlaps, but it is broader. Due diligence answers "is this safe to invest in?" The diagnostic answers "what should this company do next, and what will it cost?" — architecture, team, roadmap, and AI readiness, not just risk. For investor-led DD specifically, see the VC page.

Will it disrupt my team?+

Minimally. We need read-only access and a few structured conversations — typically an hour each with three to six people. The point is to understand how the team works, not to interrupt it.

What if we are pre-product or very early?+

Then the diagnostic leans toward architecture, build-versus-buy, hiring sequence, and the first technical decisions that compound. The framework adapts to your stage — the conversation at kickoff sets the focus.

Book your diagnostic

Pick a time for a short scoping call. We will confirm fit, agree the two-week window, and get started. £3,500 fixed, credited in full if you continue to a retainer.