Remote / Hybrid • CET Timezone

Fractional CTO in Amsterdam

Expert technical leadership for Amsterdam startups. CTO services in CET/CEST timezone. Build, scale, and transform your product without full-time CTO costs.

Why Amsterdam Startups Choose Fractional CTO

Amsterdam is Europe's international business hub. The city attracts tech companies thanks to its English-speaking environment, excellent infrastructure, and access to international talent. Industries like FinTech, Travel Tech, E-commerce, Logistics, and Enterprise SaaS thrive in the ecosystem built around Booking.com and other major tech companies.

However, Amsterdam's ecosystem creates unique challenges: high competition for talent with major tech companies, Dutch financial regulator requirements (DNB/AFM), and high investor expectations. Many startups find that traditional full-time CTO hiring—costing €140K-€220K+ plus equity—is impractical at early stages.

Challenge

Challenges for Amsterdam Startups

Competition for talent with Booking.com and other major companies
Need for GDPR and Dutch regulatory compliance
DNB/AFM requirements for FinTech startups
Need for rapid scaling after funding rounds

High salary expectations in the market
Competition for talent with Booking.com and other major companies
Need for GDPR and Dutch regulatory compliance

DNB/AFM requirements for FinTech startups
Need for rapid scaling after funding rounds
High salary expectations in the market

How Fractional CTO Solves These Challenges

Access to experienced CTO without Amsterdam salary premiums (€80K-€150K+ annual savings)
Start immediately—no 3-6 month hiring process
Scale engagement up/down as you progress through funding rounds
Expertise in building distributed teams with remote-first focus
Global best practices with Dutch market understanding

What I do

Build MVP

Turn your startup idea into a working product

Tech stack selection for rapid development
Attract remote and local engineers
Launch in 3-4 months with scalable foundation
GDPR-compliant architecture from day one

Scale Product

Grow from seed stage to Series A

Handle 10x growth without outages
Manage technical debt and refactoring
Prepare for Dutch and European VC due diligence

AI Transformation

Integrate AI/ML into your startup

LLM integrations and GPT-powered solutions
ML systems for competitive advantage
Strategy, implementation, and MLOps

Technology Audit

Technical assessment before raising capital

Code quality and architecture review
Prepare for European VC due diligence
Risk map and recommendations

Technical Due Diligence for Investors

For investors evaluating startups

Comprehensive technical risk assessment
Team and product scalability analysis
Reports for investment committees

Team Building

Hire your first 5-10 engineers

Navigate Amsterdam's candidate market
Build hybrid teams (local + remote engineers)
Establish engineering culture

Pricing

Packages for Amsterdam Startups

Currency:

Advisor CTO

$3,600per month

~6 hours per week of dedicated time

For early-stage startups with an MVP or an idea that need oversight and support without full-time involvement.

How we work:

Bi-weekly strategy session with founders (90 min)
Technical stack and architecture review - are you building on the right foundation?
Code review of critical decisions and risky PRs
Candidate screening: resume review, interview structure, hire/no-hire recommendations
Infrastructure and tooling spend review - are you overpaying for cloud and third-party services?
Async access via Slack (48-hour response time)

What you walk away with:

Technical assessment report - honest evaluation of your codebase, infrastructure, and risks
Technology roadmap - prioritized recommendations for the next 6 months
Hiring scorecard - what to look for in your first 3-5 engineers

Outcome

Confidence that your technical decisions are sound and a clear plan to build on - without costly mistakes.

Month-to-month, cancel anytime

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

How Remote Work Functions with Amsterdam Startups

Working hours overlap: 5 hours overlap with 9:00-18:00 CET daily—sufficient for meetings and calls. Outside this window, available asynchronously via Slack and email, enabling work without downtime.
Communication rhythm: Weekly strategic call with founders. Bi-weekly team sync. Daily communication via Slack. Emergency availability for critical issues.
In-person visits: Quarterly visits to Amsterdam available for Scale CTO and higher packages. Available for board meetings and investor presentations (remote or in-person).