Fractional vs. full-time CTO. The real math.
Everyone says, "You need to hire a CTO."
Let me show you the receipt before you sign the contract.
Option A: The full-time CTO. You spend 6 months looking for "The One." Then you pay:
→ $180K base salary → $35K benefits & overhead → $36K recruiting fees → 3-5% equity
Total Year 1 Cost: $251,000 (+ equity). And you lost 6 months of execution time waiting for them to start.
Option B: The Fractional CTO. You start next week. You pay:
→ $6K/month retainer → $0 benefits → 0% equity → $0 recruiting fees
Total Year 1 Cost: $72,000. And you get immediate impact.
Here is the hard truth: At the pre-seed or seed stage, you do not need 40 hours of "CTO work."
You need about 5-10 week hours of high-level strategy and oversight.
The other 30+ hours? That's just expensive management overhead you can't afford yet.
The outcome:
You save $180K in hard cash. You save 3-5% of your equity pool. You extend your runway by 9 months.
Hire the full-time CTO when you hit Series A. Rent the brain until then.