Forward-deployed engineers and operators
Own the software that runs your business.
Custom, AI-native software shaped to your workflows — faster and cheaper than stitching together thirty SaaS tools that don't fit.
What we built. What changed.
Some details and client names are anonymized.
Large NYC real estate fund
Workflow tooling, end to end.
Replaced a stitched-together stack of property and reporting tools with one internal system.
30-year-old NYC electrical company
Full tech stack rebuild.
Replaced legacy scheduling, dispatch, and customer management with a custom AI-native stack.
German accounting firm
A custom alternative to enterprise migration.
Designed a bespoke alternative to a proposed multi-year SAP rollout.
Government-data startup
AI search and chat over a decade of records.
Built natural-language search and chat over 10–15 years of public records.
Multiple seed-stage startups
Embedded as additional AI engineers.
Shipped product alongside founding engineering teams as additional senior capacity.
Your company
The next case study.
Book a discovery audit. We'll show you what your unfair advantage looks like in code.
The reason we exist
The board asked about your AI strategy. You changed the subject.
By next quarter, you should have an answer. By the one after, you should have shipped it.
Get a real answerFrom audit to working software in days, not quarters.
Discovery
Map your workflows, tools, and data — and where the real opportunities live.
Rapid prototyping
Usable prototypes in days, so you see real value before committing to a build.
Build what proves out
Prototypes that deliver get hardened into production by our engineering team.
Maintain and evolve
Your stack stays modern and custom as the technology changes underneath you.
A senior team, not a single contractor.
- A fractional strategist — ex-McKinsey, MIT, HBS.
- AI-native senior engineers, executing the build.
- A senior CTO when the work needs one.
Our promise
Built for your business.
Owned forever. Always modern.
Built for the build-don't-buy era
Built for businesses tired of renting their stack.
Founders, CEOs, and operators who know AI is the wedge — but don't have the budget for a CTO + team, or the patience for a six-month consulting engagement that ends in a deck.
From kickoff to your first production AI tool shipped — not prototyped.
What you'd pay vs. an in-house CTO + senior AI engineer, fully loaded.
Yours from day one. Your repos, your accounts, your IP. No lock-in, ever.
I run three companies. They all need an AI strategy. None of them can afford a CTO. A Smarty Chief of AI is the only thing I've found that gives me senior thinking and senior execution at a price that makes sense.
Working software next week. Not a seventy-page report next quarter.
Things people ask.
What does "fractional CTO" actually mean?
It means a senior technologist who'd be your full-time CTO if you had the budget — engaged for a defined slice of their time. They sit in your leadership meetings, own the technology strategy, talk to your board if needed, and are accountable for the outcome of every build.
Who actually writes the code — you, or a dev shop?
A senior engineering team from our vetted partner network — typically US-led with offshore execution. Your fractional CTO leads architecture, code review, and release. You don't manage the engineers; we do.
Do we own what you build?
Yes — completely, from day one. Code is in your repos, infra is on your accounts, all IP transfers immediately. If you ever fire us, you keep everything. No lock-in.
What happens when AI tech changes? It changes weekly.
That's exactly why most clients keep us on retainer after the build. New model drops, new SDK, new pattern — we evaluate, swap in, and refactor as needed. Your stack stays current without you ever having to think about it.
How is this different from hiring a dev shop?
A dev shop builds what you spec. They don't tell you what to build, they don't kill the SaaS subscriptions you don't need, and they disappear when the project is "done." We're an operator on retainer — strategy, build, and ongoing ownership.
How is pricing structured?
Audit phase: ~$5K over two weeks. Build phase: $10K/month retainer for one full-time senior AI-native engineer plus CTO strategy. Maintenance phase: $5–10K/month. Month-to-month, no long-term contracts.
Start with a discovery audit.
We map your workflows, your tools, and your data — and show you where the real opportunities live.
Book a discovery audit