Fractional CTO / Operator
Your first technical co‑founder.
I've sat in the seat. Now I help underrepresented founders — women, LGBTQ+, and anyone building without a technical co-founder — make the tech, product, and marketing calls that actually matter, before an agency sells you the wrong thing.
Vancouver, BC
Who this is for
You closed a priced round. You've got real investors, a real board, and a real deadline — and no one on the team who's done this before.
Nobody handed you a technical co-founder along with your term sheet. So you're the one deciding what to build, which tools to trust, who to hire, and when to let AI do the work versus when it'll quietly cost you more than it saves. Those aren't small decisions, and you shouldn't have to make them alone, or take some agency's word for it.
- What to actually build first, and what to skip
- Which tools your marketing and sales team should be running on
- Who your first technical hire should be, and when
- How to talk to vendors and agencies without getting oversold
This is for founders — especially women and LGBTQ+ founders — who raised $1M+ in a priced round and want a straight answer from someone who's actually been accountable for these calls before. Not a generic playbook. Not a sales pitch dressed up as advice.
Not just engineering. Everything technical that touches how your company actually runs — including knowing where AI genuinely helps and where it's just expensive noise.
Product & Engineering
What to build, how to scope it, how not to over-engineer your first version — and where AI can legitimately speed up your team versus where it'll just create rework.
Marketing & Ops Stack
CRM, automation, attribution, analytics — the tools your team will actually live in, chosen once, chosen right. Including an honest read on which AI tools in this space are worth paying for.
Team Structure
Who to hire next, in what order, and how to interview for a technical hire when you can't evaluate the technical answer yourself — plus where a well-set-up AI workflow can genuinely cover you until that hire makes sense.
Where this comes from
Not a theory I read about
I'm currently Director of Engineering at a health-tech startup, running engineering, data, and security — regulated, multi-jurisdiction, real stakes if you get it wrong.
How it works
Start with a Sprint
A fixed-scope, fixed-fee engagement, three weeks. I look at where you actually are, tell you what's wrong without softening it, and hand you a clear plan your team can act on immediately. No ongoing commitment required.
Continue with a Retainer (optional)
Want an ongoing partner, not just a report? We move to a capped retainer — one day a week, folded into your team for vendor calls, hiring decisions, and roadmap check-ins. Async-first, so you're not waiting on my calendar, and I'm not waiting on yours.
"I keep every engagement scoped and capped on purpose — not because I don't want to help, but because I do. Open-ended access sounds generous right up until it isn't sustainable for either of us. You get direct, senior-level input on a schedule you can count on. That's the deal, and I mean it." Why I work this way
About
I didn't grow up in tech.
I grew up in Lithuania in the years right after the Soviet Union collapsed — young enough that independence, and the responsibility that comes with it, wasn't an abstraction, it was just what was happening around me. A year in Finland later taught me what sisu actually means: quiet, stubborn resolve when things are hard.
Before I wrote a line of code, I built a fitness and nutrition coaching business from nothing in Vancouver — my own clients, my own decisions, no department to hand anything off to. At thirty, I pivoted again: bootcamp, junior developer, and up from there — Java developer, team lead, product owner — to where I am now, Director of Engineering at a health-tech startup, running engineering, data, and security.
I've been the person staring at a technical decision with no background to make it confidently. I've also been the one accountable for getting it right. That gap — between not knowing and needing to decide anyway — is exactly what I help founders close now, so they don't have to rebuild from zero the hard way, the way I did.
Why women & LGBTQ+ founders
I've started over more than once — as an immigrant, as a career-changer who walked into a bootcamp at thirty with no technical background and worked my way up to running an engineering org. I know what it costs to earn a seat in a room you had to teach yourself to enter, and I know how much easier that climb is when someone with more context is actually in your corner instead of gatekeeping.
FAQ
Why women and LGBTQ+ founders specifically?
Short version: it's not about the funding number, it's about founders who are already fighting for a seat at the table getting to build what they actually want to build, with someone straight with them instead of managing them.
Why the $1M+ raised requirement, if it's not about the money?
It's a proxy, not a value judgment — a priced round means a real investor is already in the room asking hard questions alongside you, so our conversations can start further along instead of from zero.
Do you work with pre-revenue companies?
Yes — most clients are pre-revenue or early revenue. What matters is a priced round, not traction yet.
What if I just need a quick answer, not a full sprint?
The Sprint is the starting point on purpose — it's how I get enough real context to give you a good answer instead of a guess.
Is this ongoing/on-call support?
No. Retainer time is capped and scheduled, not on-call. If you need 24/7 coverage, this isn't that — and honestly, if that's what you need, I'm not the right fit.
Ready to stop guessing?
Founders who raised a priced round and want a straight answer, not another vendor pitch.