Fractional CTO for first-time founders

Your v1 gets built.
Your founding engineer
comes with it.

I turn what's in your head into a shipped product, on a fixed budget, complete with a developer who keeps building after launch.

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This is where most founders get stuck.

You know the opportunity is real.

Deep industry expertise. A gap only you can see. But you've never built software and have no idea where to start.

Agencies bill until you run out of money.

No fixed scope. No fixed price. Longer timelines mean more revenue for them.

Hiring a CTO feels impossible.

If you're not technical, hiring a developer is luck of the draw. Wrong person, wrong direction, and months of burned runway before you realize it.

You need someone who speaks business.

Not just code. Someone to get you from idea to launched product and leave you with a team that keeps building.

Here's how we solve these.

1

Start with a blueprint

We deep-dive on your product idea and build a blueprint with wireframes showing exactly what done looks like.

  • ●Typically 50 to 100 pages — that's the fixed target for the build
  • ●No lock-in: you can have me build it or take it to someone else
2

Build for a fixed price

You get the product you need to go to market for an agreed-upon price. You don't pay a penny more.

  • ●I hire and manage senior developers and write code alongside them
  • ●Weekly Zoom calls keep you in the loop
  • ●Built-in scope change budget means the product can evolve as you learn
3

Your founding engineer is included

After launch, my developer can stay on as your tech lead.

  • ●They already know the codebase and your domain
  • ●You get the processes and tooling we used — a proven, repeatable system for shipping software

You get an advisor who speaks business and code.
You're working with someone who's been in your seat.

  • ●Four companies founded, three exits
  • ●A sounding board for strategy, pricing, hiring, and go-to-market
  • ●Help with decisions you've never faced before

Clients by the numbers

15+
MVPs launched
$1B+
Marketplace volume
$50M+
Post-v1 money raised

Trusted by founders at

Loadar
Bulki
SpareDock
RTS
Charitable Impact
Common Wealth
Predictable Revenue
Responsible

What founders say

Ciaran Doherty
Ciaran Doherty
Founder, Loadar · raised $4M post-launch

"On budget, on time, and a product that doesn't look like an MVP. I'm out there in the market with a product I'm proud of and I'm getting massive compliments about it."

Joe McGinnis
Joe McGinnis
CEO, Bulki / Braidwater Group

"Your experience from having done this so many times — how to run the process, keep on track, keep the lines open, and get it all done — that was invaluable to us."

Gavin Diamond
Gavin Diamond
Founder, SpareDock

"You were able to get exactly what you needed from me to build the product without ever making me feel like you thought 'this guy doesn't know anything about tech at all.'"

Client success stories

Loadar

Freight marketplace — 80-page blueprint to shipped web, iOS, and Android product in 6 months. Raised $4M post-launch.

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 Bulki

Construction materials marketplace — 103-page blueprint to shipped web, iOS, and Android product in 8 months.

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 SpareDock

Commercial vehicle parts marketplace — 52-page blueprint to shipped web, iOS, and Android product in 5 months.

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Kareem Mayan

Kareem Mayan

Principal, Launch V1

Building software since 2001. Founded four companies, sold three. Built a $130M marketplace. Shipped 15+ products from zero to one. Most of my clients are first-time non-technical founders with deep domain expertise. Beyond the product, I help them think through strategy, pricing, hiring, and decisions they've never faced before.

Thinking about building?

Let's talk about what you're working on.

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