Fractional CTO in Boston
Expert technical leadership for Boston startups. CTO services in EST timezone. Build, scale, and transform your product without full-time CTO costs.

Why Boston Startups Choose Fractional CTO
Boston is one of the world's leading innovation centers thanks to the MIT and Harvard ecosystem. The city is strong in deep tech, healthcare, and research-driven innovation. Industries like BioTech/HealthTech, EdTech, Robotics, Enterprise Software, and AI/ML thrive in this ecosystem with close ties between academia and industry.
However, this concentration creates unique challenges: competition for PhD talent and senior engineers is high, regulatory requirements in healthcare are strict, and investor expectations regarding scientific and technical depth are very high. Many startups find that traditional full-time CTO hiring—costing $260K-$400K+ plus equity—is impractical in the early stages.
Challenges for Boston Startups
- Competition for PhD and senior engineers with large companies
- Strict HIPAA regulatory requirements for healthcare startups
- Need for deep technical expertise for deep tech products
- Compliance requirements in academic research
- Investors expect scientific rigor in technical solutions
- Competition for PhD and senior engineers with large companies
- Strict HIPAA regulatory requirements for healthcare startups
- Need for deep technical expertise for deep tech products
- Compliance requirements in academic research
- Investors expect scientific rigor in technical solutions
How Fractional CTO Helps Solve These Challenges
- Access to experienced CTO without Boston salary premiums ($150K-$300K+ savings annually)
- Start immediately—no 3-6 month hiring process
- Expertise in healthcare compliance and HIPAA requirements
- Expertise in building distributed teams with remote-first focus
- Experience with research-driven startups and spin-offs
What I do
- Tech stack selection for Boston talent market
- Launch in 3-4 months with scalable foundation
- Architecture for healthcare and research applications
- Handle 10x growth without downtime
- Technical debt management and refactoring
- Prepare for Boston VC due diligence
- ML systems for healthcare and life sciences
- Deep learning and computer vision
- Strategy, implementation, and MLOps
- Code quality and architecture review
- Prepare for Boston VC due diligence
- Risk map and recommendations
- Comprehensive technical risk assessment
- Team and product scalability analysis
- Reports for investment committees
- Navigate Boston talent market and competitive offers
- Build hybrid teams (local + remote engineers)
- Establish engineering culture for research teams
Pricing
Packages for Boston Startups
Contract Length:
Advisor CTO
$3,600per month
6 hours per week, 24 hours per month
For early-stage startups with an MVP or an idea that need oversight and support without full-time involvement.
- 2 strategic sessions per month (90 minutes each)
- Technical stack and architecture audit
- Slack support (48-hour response time)
- Hiring support: candidate reviews and recommendations
What's included:
- 6-month technical roadmap
- Architecture guidelines document
Outcome:A clear plan and recommendations for technology and team development without the overhead of a full-time CTO.
Contract term:1 month
Growth CTO
Most popular$6,000per month
10 hours per week, 40 hours per month
Post-Seed to Series A startups actively building product and team (3 to 10 engineers).
- Weekly call with founders (1 hour)
- Bi-weekly sprint reviews with the team
- Active hiring involvement: sourcing, interviews, offers, onboarding
- Product architecture and technical roadmap ownership
- Emergency availability for critical situations
- Slack support (24-hour response time)
What's included:
- Quarterly OKRs for the technical team
- Hiring playbook for first 5-10 engineers
- Architecture Decision Records (ADR)
Outcome:A solid technical foundation and team ready for rapid growth and product scaling without chaos.
Contract term:from 3 months
Scale CTO
$12,000per month
≈3 days per week, 80 hours per month
Series A+ startups with 15-20+ engineers preparing for the next funding round.
- Everything from Growth CTO package
- Participation in executive meetings and investor discussions
- Building engineering management team (leads, engineering managers)
- Due diligence support for fundraising
- Organizational design: team structure, processes, rituals
- Technical debt strategy and refactoring roadmap
- Vendor and partner negotiations (AWS, third-party services, contractors)
What's included:
- Engineering handbook and team culture code
- Leveling and compensation framework
- Engineering metrics dashboards (DORA, velocity, code quality, etc.)
- Incident management and on-call rotation
Outcome:A mature engineering organization with clear processes, metrics, and a culture of product ownership.
Contract term:from 6 months
How Remote Work with Boston Startups Works
- Time overlap: 5 hours daily overlap with 9am-6pm EST—sufficient for meetings and calls. Outside this window, available asynchronously via Slack and email for uninterrupted workflow.
- Communication rhythm: Weekly strategic calls with founders. Bi-weekly team syncs. Daily communication via Slack. Emergency availability for critical issues.
- In-person visits: Quarterly visits to Boston available for Scale CTO packages and above. Available for board meetings and investor presentations (remote or in-person).
How it works
Week 1: Onboarding and Audit
5 daysTeam introduction, codebase review, identify critical issues, create initial roadmap.
Month 1: Quick Wins and Foundation
4 weeksAddress critical issues, set up development processes, code reviews, begin architectural improvements.
Month 2-3: Scaling and Growth
8 weeksImplement architectural improvements, optimize performance, hiring and team mentorship.
Understanding the Boston Startup Ecosystem
- BioTech and HealthTech
- EdTech and Learning Platforms
- Robotics and Automation
- Enterprise Software
- AI/ML and Deep Tech
- Life Sciences and Medical Devices
- Familiar with General Catalyst expectations
- Help defend technical architecture to .406 Ventures
- Experience with MIT/Harvard spin-offs
- HIPAA compliance for healthcare startups
- FDA regulations for medical devices
- Academic research compliance
- SOC2 Type II for enterprise clients
Frequently asked questions
Related services
Ready to Work with a Fractional CTO in Boston?
Start with a free 30-minute consultation. We'll discuss your goals, challenges, and determine how I can help.