Remote / Hybrid • PST Timezone

Fractional CTO in Portland

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

Why Portland Startups Choose Fractional CTO

Portland is a unique tech hub with strong creative and sustainability culture. The city is known for its focus on sustainable technologies, Outdoor Tech, B2B SaaS, Hardware, and creative technologies. With lower cost of living compared to San Francisco and Seattle, Portland attracts talented engineers who value quality of life and work-life balance.

Portland's ecosystem has its specifics: strong design culture, focus on sustainability, and ethical business practices. However, CTO salaries ($200K-$340K) are still significant for early startups. Local investors value companies with social impact, which requires a special approach to technical development.

Challenge

Common Challenges

CTO salaries of $200K-$340K make full-time hiring expensive
Competition with Seattle and San Francisco for technical talent
Need to integrate sustainability into product
Challenges attracting venture funding

Hardware-specific technical challenges
CTO salaries of $200K-$340K make full-time hiring expensive
Competition with Seattle and San Francisco for technical talent

Need to integrate sustainability into product
Challenges attracting venture funding
Hardware-specific technical challenges

How Fractional CTO Solves Them

Access to experienced CTO without Portland salary premiums ($120K-$260K+ savings annually)
Start immediately—no 3-6 month hiring process
Expertise in sustainable technologies and hardware
Expertise in building distributed teams with remote-first focus
Global best practices with local market understanding

What I do

Build Your MVP

Turn your startup idea into a working product

Tech stack selection for Oregon talent market
Launch in 3-4 months with scalable foundation
Sustainable architecture and green hosting

Scale Your Product

Grow from seed stage to Series A

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

AI Transformation

Integrate AI/ML into your startup

LLM integrations and GPT-based solutions
ML systems for creative and design tools
Strategy, implementation, and MLOps

Technology Audit

Technical assessment before fundraising

Code quality and architecture review
Prepare for Pacific Northwest 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 Oregon talent market
Build hybrid teams (local + remote engineers)
Establish design-focused engineering culture

Pricing

Packages for Portland 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 Portland Startups Works

Time overlap: 8 hours daily overlap with 9am-6pm PST—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 meetings, daily asynchronous support, emergency availability for critical issues
In-person visits: Quarterly trips to Portland available for Scale CTO packages and above. Available for board meetings and investor presentations (remote or in-person)