SCALARLABS

Services · Fractional CTO

A fractional CTO for Sydney startups and scale-ups.

Scalar Labs takes on fractional CTO roles for Australian companies: a senior technical leader inside your business for the stretch that needs one, setting architecture, hiring, running delivery, and answering to the board for the technical side of the plan. You get the judgment without the full-time salary.

01 · The work

What a fractional CTO does inside your company

The work is the same as a full-time CTO's: an architecture the next stage of the company will not outgrow, engineers hired and managed, delivery run so the board's dates stay honest, and someone in the investor meeting who can answer the technical questions. The difference is the arrangement: you buy the judgment by the day, and stop when the need passes.

The seat is a senior one, and our founder Adam Love takes it. Adam has founded startups, raised venture capital for them, and led engineering organisations through builds, launches and fundraising. When an engagement needs more hands we bring in engineers and designers we have worked with before, and they answer to us, not to you. You always know who is doing the work and how it's going.

For: funded startups without a technical co-founder, and teams between leaders.

02 · The shape

How the engagement runs

Engagements open with a short review of where the build actually stands, because the brief and the codebase rarely agree. From there the cadence is agreed up front and revisited as the company changes. One shape is a CTO in the room for a raise and the board work around it. Another is delivery run day to day until a full-time hire lands, and help making that hire. Moving between them is part of the arrangement.

03 · Questions

What founders ask about the arrangement

What does a fractional CTO cost compared to a full-time hire?

A full-time CTO in Australia costs a senior executive salary, often equity as well, and the search takes months. A fractional arrangement removes all three: you pay for the days worked, no equity changes hands, and the work can start as soon as both sides agree.

As a working anchor, expect A$6,000 to A$20,000 a month depending on cadence, agreed up front and adjusted as the need changes. The bottom of that band is a light oversight arrangement, a standing weekly call that keeps a delivery team on track. A diagnostic sprint runs two weeks, costs a fixed A$7,500, and produces a written plan.

Fractional, virtual, interim or part-time CTO: which one do you need?

The market uses the labels loosely, and they overlap. Virtual and fractional both mean a standing part-time arrangement with no end date implied. Interim means holding the seat until a permanent hire arrives, usually more days a week for a shorter stretch. We take both kinds of engagement.

How does this work with our existing developers?

The role is leadership, not replacement. Your developers keep building, with direction set, decisions unblocked, and their work represented properly to the board.

Do you only work with Sydney companies?

No. We are based in Sydney and the work runs remote, with time on site where it earns its keep. The work in the track record below has run in Australia and overseas.

What happens when the engagement ends?

The role is built to leave things that run without us: documented architecture, a hiring plan, engineers who own their systems. When a company is ready for a full-time leader we help hire them, hand over, and step back. The fashion tech engagement below ended exactly that way, with the platform in the hands of the client's own engineers.

Can you take over a build that has gone sideways?

Yes. Coming in mid-build means reading the code as it stands, stabilising delivery, and being straight with the board about what the dates really are.

04 · Evidence

Where this work has run

Client work is confidential as a rule, so you'll find sectors here rather than names. We can go into specifics on a call, and put you in touch with references.

Fashion tech

Came into a global fashion company mid-build to get an offshore team back on track, tighten the build and hit the dates. Then planned the new architecture and helped migrate the platform onshore to their own engineers.

Health tech

Built a custom platform for a US health technology company whose founders came from the clinical side, not engineering. We made the technical calls so they did not have to, and they finished with a product, not a prototype.

Related work: technical due diligence AI systems and agents web and mobile products all services

Open for new work

Tell us what you're building.

What you are building, where it stands, and what you need from us.

Email adam@scalarlabs.io