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 Fixed price, credited in full to a retainer

Fixed fee

One flat 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, helping grow it from £20M to a £200M Auto Trader acquisition and building 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 it credited?+

If you continue to a fractional CTO retainer within 90 days of the readout, the full audit fee 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?" It weighs 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. Fixed price, credited in full if you continue to a retainer.