Remote / Hybrid • CST Timezone

Fractional CTO in Nashville

Expert technical leadership for Nashville startups. CTO services in CST timezone with 6 hours overlap. Build, scale, and transform your product without full-time CTO costs.

Why Nashville Startups Choose Fractional CTO

Nashville is one of the fastest-growing tech hubs in the US, known as the IT healthcare capital. The city is also home to a unique Music Tech ecosystem thanks to its status as the country music capital of the world. Startups specialize in HealthTech, Music Tech, FinTech, logistics, and enterprise SaaS solutions.

The Nashville market offers significant advantages: favorable business environment, lower costs compared to coastal cities, and access to the healthcare industry through major networks like HCA Healthcare. However, CTO salaries ($180K-$320K) are still significant for early startups, making the fractional model particularly attractive.

Challenge

Common Challenges

CTO salaries of $180K-$320K make full-time hiring expensive in early stages
Limited pool of experienced technical talent compared to major hubs
High HIPAA compliance requirements for HealthTech
Specific music industry requirements for Music Tech

Need to scale for enterprise healthcare clients
CTO salaries of $180K-$320K make full-time hiring expensive in early stages
Limited pool of experienced technical talent compared to major hubs

High HIPAA compliance requirements for HealthTech
Specific music industry requirements for Music Tech
Need to scale for enterprise healthcare clients

How Fractional CTO Solves Them

Access to experienced CTO without Nashville salary premiums ($100K-$240K+ savings annually)
Start immediately—no 3-6 month hiring process
Expertise in healthcare technologies (HIPAA, HL7, FHIR)
Remote work expertise for building distributed teams
Global best practices for local market

What I do

Build Your MVP

Turn your startup idea into a working product

Tech stack selection for Tennessee talent market
Launch in 3-4 months with scalable foundation
Architecture with HIPAA compliance support for healthcare

Scale Your Product

Grow from seed stage to Series A

Handle 10x growth without downtime
Technical debt management and refactoring
Prepare for Nashville VC technical due diligence

AI Transformation

Integrate AI/ML into your startup

LLM integrations for healthcare and music industry
ML systems for clinical decision support
Strategy, implementation, and MLOps

Technology Audit

Technical assessment before fundraising

Code quality and architecture review
Prepare for Southeast 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 Tennessee talent market
Build hybrid teams (local + remote engineers)
Establish engineering culture

Pricing

Packages for Nashville Startups

Contract Length:

Currency:

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

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 Nashville Startups Works

Time overlap: 6 hours overlap with Nashville (CST) business hours for synchronous calls
Communication rhythm: Weekly strategic calls, regular team syncs, asynchronous via Slack and email for continuous productivity
In-person visits: Quarterly visits to Nashville available for Scale CTO+ packages, available for board meetings and investor presentations

How it works

Week 1: Onboarding and Audit

5 days

Team introduction, codebase review, identify critical issues, create initial roadmap.

Month 1: Quick Wins and Foundation

4 weeks

Address critical issues, set up development processes, code reviews, begin architectural improvements.

Month 2-3: Scaling and Growth

8 weeks

Implement architectural improvements, optimize performance, hiring and team mentorship.

Understanding the Nashville Startup Ecosystem

Industries I've Helped

HealthTech and Digital Health
Music Tech and Entertainment
FinTech and Payments
Logistics and Supply Chain
Enterprise SaaS
HR Tech

Investor Landscape

Familiar with Southeast VC expectations
Understanding Martin Ventures, Frist Cressey Ventures, JumpStart Foundry requirements
Understanding healthcare-focused investing

Regulatory Environment