Fractional CTO for e-commerce and marketplaces

Building scalable e-commerce platforms that handle peak loads, optimize conversion, and delight customers. Expert guidance on performance, personalization, and omnichannel commerce.

Challenge

E-commerce challenges

Peak load management: Black Friday, flash sales, viral moments (10-100x normal traffic)
Performance and speed: page load time directly correlates with conversion
Search and discovery: product search, filtering, faceted navigation at scale
Personalization: product recommendations, dynamic pricing, personalized content

Inventory management: real-time inventory across all channels, warehouse management
Payments and checkout: abandoned carts, payment gateway optimization, fraud prevention
Mobile commerce: mobile-first design, progressive web apps, native apps

Omnichannel: unified experience across web, mobile, marketplaces, social
Third-party integrations: ERP, CRM, PIM, WMS, shipping, marketplaces
International expansion: multi-currency, multi-language, regional regulations

How I help

High-performance architecture

Load times <2 seconds for maximum conversion

Page speed optimization: <2 seconds, Core Web Vitals
Caching strategies: CDN, edge caching, application caching, database query caching
Database optimization: query optimization, indexing, read replicas, sharding
Image optimization: lazy loading, responsive sizes, WebP, CDN
Progressive web apps: offline functionality, fast transitions, native-like experience
Server-side rendering: Next.js, Nuxt.js for SEO and performance

Search, discovery and personalization

Smart recommendations and fast relevant search

Product search: Elasticsearch, Algolia, Typesense for fast relevant search
Recommendation systems: collaborative filtering, content-based, hybrid approaches
Dynamic pricing: ML-powered price optimization, competitor monitoring
Personalization: user segmentation, A/B testing, personalized content
Faceted navigation: fast filtering by multiple attributes
Search analytics: understanding what customers search for and can't find

Scalability and reliability

Automatic handling of peak loads without downtime

Auto-scaling: automatic handling of traffic spikes
Load testing: simulating Black Friday traffic, identifying bottlenecks
High availability: multi-region deployment, zero-downtime deployments
Queue management: background jobs for emails, inventory updates, analytics
Database scaling: horizontal scaling, read replicas, caching layers
CDN strategy: global content delivery, DDoS protection

Checkout and payment optimization

Reducing abandoned carts and maximizing conversion

Checkout optimization: reducing abandoned carts
Payment gateway integration: Stripe, Adyen, PayPal, local payment methods
Guest checkout: no account creation required
Multiple payment methods: cards, digital wallets, installments, crypto
Fraud detection: real-time scoring, 3D Secure, address verification
Payment recovery: retry failed payments, dunning management

Inventory and order management

Real-time inventory sync across all channels

Real-time inventory: sync across all channels (web, mobile, marketplace, retail)
Warehouse management: pick-pack-ship processes, multi-warehouse support
Order management: order routing, tracking, returns handling
Inventory forecasting: ML-powered demand prediction, auto-reordering
Dropshipping integration: supplier management, automated order placement
Multi-channel inventory: unified inventory across Amazon, eBay, Shopify, etc.

Analytics and optimization

Data-driven decisions for revenue growth

Conversion funnel analysis: identifying and fixing drop-off points
A/B testing platform: test everything (layout, copy, pricing, flow)
Product analytics: which products drive revenue, which don't sell
Customer analytics: LTV, cohort analysis, churn prediction
Marketing attribution: which channels drive profitable customers
Real-time dashboards: Revenue, conversion, traffic, inventory

Common use cases

Specialized solutions for different e-commerce models

D2C E-commerce

Shopify/WooCommerce optimization
Headless commerce architecture
Subscription management
Email/SMS marketing automation
Customer loyalty programs

Marketplaces

Multi-vendor platform architecture
Seller onboarding and management
Commission and payout systems
Fraud prevention
Dispute arbitration

B2B E-commerce

Complex pricing (volume discounts, contracts)
Quote management and approval
Purchase order integration
Multi-user accounts with permissions
ERP system integration

Omnichannel retail

Unified online/offline inventory
Buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS)
Ship from store for online orders
Unified customer profiles
POS system integration

Social commerce

Instagram/Facebook shop integration
Shoppable posts and stories
Influencer management platforms
User-generated content (UGC)
Live commerce

Technology stack and architecture

Modern technologies for high-performance e-commerce

Frontend and platforms

React, Next.js, Vue.js, Nuxt.js
Progressive Web Apps
Shopify Plus, Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce
Headless CMS: Contentful, Sanity, Strapi, Prismic

Backend and databases

Node.js, Python, Ruby on Rails, PHP (Laravel)
PostgreSQL, MongoDB
Redis for caching
Microservices architecture

Search and personalization

Elasticsearch, Algolia, Typesense, Meilisearch
Recommendation systems
ML for dynamic pricing
A/B testing platforms

Payments and infrastructure

Stripe, Adyen, PayPal, Square, Braintree
AWS, GCP, Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare
Kubernetes for orchestration
CDN for global delivery

Analytics and monitoring

Google Analytics, Segment, Mixpanel, Amplitude
DataDog, New Relic for monitoring
Grafana for metrics visualization
Sentry for error tracking

How it works

Month 1: Assessment and quick wins

4 weeks

Performance audit and optimization opportunities. Conversion funnel analysis. Infrastructure review. Quick wins implementation (caching, image optimization). Monitoring and analytics setup.

Month 2-3: Core optimization

8 weeks

Page speed optimization. Search and discovery improvements. Checkout flow optimization. Payment processing improvements. A/B testing framework.

Month 4-6: Scaling and advanced features

12 weeks

Personalization and recommendations. Inventory and order management. Multi-channel integration. Peak traffic preparation. Team training and documentation.

Results you can expect

Performance improvements

Page load times: from 5 seconds to <2 seconds (3x faster)
Mobile load speed: from 8 seconds to <3 seconds (2.5x faster)
Search results: from 2 seconds to <200ms (10x faster)
99.95%+ uptime during peak loads
Handling 10-50x traffic spikes

Business impact

20-40% increase in conversion
30-50% reduction in abandoned carts
15-25% increase in average order value (AOV)
50-70% reduction in infrastructure costs
10-20% increase in customer satisfaction

Technical maturity

Production-grade monitoring and alerting
Automated scaling and deployment
A/B testing for continuous optimization
Real-time inventory across all channels
Disaster recovery and backup systems

Who this is for

Pre-Seed/Seed stages

Building first version of e-commerce platform. D2C brand launching online store. Developing marketplace MVP.

Series A

Scaling to 1M+ monthly visitors. Adding personalization and recommendations. Multi-channel expansion.

Series A+ and above

International expansion. Omnichannel commerce. Enterprise e-commerce platforms.

Peak season preparation

Black Friday, holiday sales, new product launches. Need expertise to prepare infrastructure for 10-50x traffic increase.

Pricing

Suitable packages for E-commerce companies

Currency:

Growth CTO

Scale CTO

$11,000per month

~20 hours per week of dedicated time

For Series A+ startups with 15-20+ engineers preparing for the next funding round.

How we work:

Everything from Growth CTO package
Daily involvement in engineering operations - standups, planning, escalations
Executive team participation - board prep, investor meetings, due diligence support
Engineering management development - coaching team leads into engineering managers
Organizational design - team topology, processes, rituals, communication structures
Vendor strategy - cloud cost optimization, service negotiations, contractor management
Technical debt strategy - refactoring roadmap balanced against product delivery

What you walk away with:

Engineering handbook - culture, standards, processes, expectations
Leveling and compensation framework - career ladders and salary bands
Engineering metrics dashboard - DORA metrics, velocity trends, code quality
Incident management playbook - on-call rotation, severity definitions, postmortem process
Technical due diligence package - investor-ready architecture and security documentation
Security and compliance assessment - SOC2, GDPR, HIPAA readiness evaluation
Engineering headcount plan and infrastructure budget forecast

Outcome

A mature engineering organization ready for due diligence and the next funding round.

3-month minimum commitment