Fractional CTO  ·  Fractional engineering leadership

Fractional CTO for connected-device
& IoT companies

Your hardware is strong. The software, firmware, wireless, and cloud that turn it into a product is where things stall. That gap is what I fill.

Senior tech leadership, on a fractional basis — without a full-time CTO hire you're not ready for.

The problem I solve

Plenty of hardware companies build a great device and then hit a wall: the firmware is fragile, the wireless is unreliable, the cloud story is an afterthought, and every new product restarts the same fire drill. The team is good — it's just missing the senior person who's shipped this class of product before.

I've spent 30 years where software meets hardware. I come in part-time, set technical direction, unblock the team, and raise the odds your next product ships on time and doesn't fall over in the field.

Is this a fit?

This is for you if…

  • You build physical products with embedded software or connectivity
  • Your engineering is strong on hardware, thin on firmware / wireless / cloud
  • You need senior technical direction but not a full-time CTO salary
  • You're shipping (or about to ship) real product

Probably not if…

  • You're pre-product and just need a contract firmware dev
  • You want a pure software / SaaS CTO with no hardware in the loop
  • You're looking to fully outsource engineering and step away
  • You want a body to write code, not someone to set direction

What I do

A part-time member of your leadership team, focused on the work that moves the needle.

01

Technical strategy & roadmap

Turn product goals into an architecture and a plan your team can actually execute against.

02

Firmware, wireless & cloud

Fill the exact gap hardware-strong teams tend to have — the connected-device software stack, end to end.

03

Engineering leadership

Process, hiring, and delivery discipline that gets products out the door on time and defect-free.

04

Team & vendor enablement

Level up the engineers you have and manage the outside partners you depend on.

Results

$15M+ revenue

Built a new product platform from scratch

Client: PS Audio (high-end consumer audio).
Problem: Every new product restarted software from zero.
Action: Designed a streaming platform architecture reused across the line.
Result: Shipped across 7+ products in 5 years; dev cycles cut from 18 months to under 2 per product.

95% on-time

Turned around delivery predictability

Client: Spectralink (VoIP / IoT workplace telephony).
Problem: Slipping schedules across a large product portfolio.
Action: Revamped and refined the software delivery process.
Result: 95% on-time delivery across 40+ products and initiatives.

75% fewer defects

Attacked field quality at the root

Client: Spectralink (VoIP / IoT workplace telephony).
Problem: High defect rate hitting customers in the field.
Action: Aggressive triage with end customers to find core issues.
Result: Product defects cut 75% in a single year.

Why I do this

I got into connected devices for independent living for personal reasons. My mother was paralyzed in a car accident at 77 and later developed dementia. Our family went through the full spectrum — assisted living, remodeling a house for accessibility, daily home care.

I spent years sketching systems that might give her back some independence. Twenty years ago the technology wasn't ready — the sensors too expensive, the actuators too clumsy, the software too brittle. That's changed. The embedded systems, wireless connectivity, and cloud infrastructure I've spent 30 years building are exactly what powers today's aging-in-place and assistive devices.

The engineering problems — real-time firmware, wireless reliability, cloud data pipelines — I've solved many times. The personal stake in the people who use these products is something a typical tech hire doesn't bring.

Common questions

What does a fractional CTO engagement look like?

Typically a set number of days per month as a part-time member of your leadership team — setting direction, unblocking engineering, and owning the technical roadmap. Scope and cadence are shaped to what you actually need.

How is this different from hiring a contractor?

A contractor executes tasks you define. I set the technical direction, make the architecture calls, and take responsibility for whether the product ships — the CTO layer, not the coding layer.

Do you write code?

When it's the fastest way to unblock something, yes — but the value is judgment and leadership, not billable hours at a keyboard.

How do we start?

A 30-minute call. No pitch — just a real conversation about what you're building and where it's stuck.

Tell me what you're trying to solve

30 minutes, your time zone. No pitch, just a real conversation.