Direction
Know what to build.
Technology strategy, product roadmap, architecture decisions, build-vs-buy. We sit on your side of the table and make the calls a full-time CTO would — sized to what your stage actually needs.
Fractional technical leadership
Clarity in the noise.
Signal CTO gives founders and CEOs senior technical leadership on demand — the clarity to know what to build, what to fix, and what to ignore, without hiring a full-time CTO.
Ben Wallace & Ryan Powers — two senior CTOs on every engagement
The problem
You don't have a technology problem. You have a clarity problem.
Every week it's something new. Your dev shop says rewrite it. A vendor says buy their platform. An advisor says "just use AI." Your roadmap has forty items and no order. And there's no one in the room senior enough — and neutral enough — to tell you what actually matters.
That's the noise. It doesn't just slow you down. It burns runway, stalls hiring, and lets small technical problems compound into company-killing ones. A CTO's real job isn't writing code. It's finding the signal: what to build, what to ignore, what will break at scale, and which hire comes first.
What we do
Three ways we find your signal.
Diagnosis
Know what's actually broken.
Code audits, security reviews, team assessments, technical due diligence. Whether you inherited a codebase, outgrew your dev shop, or are about to write a check — we tell you the truth about what you've got.
Delivery leadership
Make sure it ships right.
Hiring your first engineers, managing agencies and contractors, standing up process that fits your size. We make sure the people building your product are building the right thing, the right way.
Who it's for
Built for the moment before the full-time CTO.
Non-technical founders who can't evaluate their own engineering — and know it.
Seed–Series A startups that need CTO-level judgment but not a $250k+ hire.
PE/VC-backed companies with a struggling or leaderless engineering org.
Founders with an AI-built MVP that got them to market — and won't get them much further.
If you're past 30 engineers and need someone in the building every day, we'll tell you that too — and help you hire them.
The founders
Two CTOs. One engagement.
Most fractional CTOs are one person and a calendar. Signal CTO is two senior technical operators on every engagement — so you always have coverage, and every big call gets a second opinion before it gets to you.
Meet Ben & Ryan
Proof
Founders we've given the signal to.
"We were a month from a full rewrite our dev shop swore we needed. Signal CTO spent two weeks in the code and showed us the real problem was two queries and a missing hire. We shipped instead of rebuilt — and saved a quarter of runway."
"I couldn't tell if my engineering team was slow or if I was asking for the wrong things. Ben and Ryan sat between me and the team for six weeks and the fog lifted. First time I've actually felt in control of my own roadmap."
"Our AI-built MVP got us to 500 customers and then started falling over weekly. Their health check told us exactly what to fix first, in what order, and what to ignore. No rewrite, no drama — just a plan we could run."
Free diagnostic
Not sure what shape you're in? Find out free.
The Technical Health Check is a real diagnostic, not a sales call. Send us access to your codebase and an hour with whoever runs your engineering. Within a week you get a written report: what's solid, what's fragile, what's urgent, and what to do about it — whether or not you ever work with us.
How engagements work
Simple engagements. No lock-in.
Advisory
from $X,XXX/mo
Standing weekly session + async access. Your technical sounding board for strategy, hiring, vendors, and roadmap.
Fractional CTO
from $X,XXX/mo
Embedded leadership: we run your technical org 1–2 days a week — roadmap, architecture, hiring, delivery.
Diagnostic
from $X,XXX flat
Code audit, team assessment, or technical due diligence with a written report and action plan. Typical turnaround: two weeks.
All engagements are month-to-month. If we're not paying for ourselves, fire us — that's the deal a CTO should offer.
Questions founders ask
Fractional CTOs, answered.
What is a fractional CTO?
A fractional CTO is a senior technical leader who runs your technology function part-time — typically one to two days a week — instead of as a full-time hire. You get CTO-level judgment on strategy, architecture, hiring, and delivery without a $250k+ salary and equity grant. It suits companies that need the decisions a CTO makes but not yet a full-time person making them.
How is Signal CTO different from hiring one fractional CTO?
Most fractional CTOs are one person and a calendar. Signal CTO puts two senior technical operators — Ben Wallace and Ryan Powers — on every engagement. That means you always have coverage, and every significant technical decision gets a second senior opinion before it reaches you.
When should I hire a fractional CTO instead of a full-time one?
Hire fractional when you need CTO-level decisions — roadmap, architecture, first engineering hires, vendor calls — but you have fewer than roughly 30 engineers and can't yet justify a full-time CTO salary. Once you need someone in the building every day leading a large team, you need a full-time CTO. We'll tell you when you've reached that point, and help you hire them.
How much does a fractional CTO cost?
Signal CTO engagements are month-to-month with no lock-in. Advisory retainers, embedded fractional CTO work, and flat-fee diagnostics are each priced to the scope you need. If an engagement isn't paying for itself, you can end it — that's the deal a CTO should offer.
What does a technical due diligence or code audit include?
A written diagnostic across five areas: codebase quality, security posture, architecture and scaling risks, dependency and vendor health, and team and process fit — followed by a prioritized action plan your team can execute. Typical turnaround is two weeks. It's the same review whether you inherited a codebase, outgrew a dev shop, or are about to write a check.
Do you write code, or just advise?
A CTO's real job is finding the signal — what to build, what to ignore, what will break at scale, and which hire comes first — not writing production code day to day. We make those calls, lead the people who build, and get hands-on where it moves a decision forward.
Stop guessing. Get the signal.
One call. Bring your hardest technical question — roadmap, hire, vendor, rewrite — and leave with a straight answer. If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you who is.
Book a Signal Call