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.

P.S. Want to see exactly what that will get you? DM me for a breakdown. Let's extend your runway.