Do You Actually Need a CTO?
8 questions about your team, stage, board, and budget. One of the four possible answers is "not yet", and you'll get it if that's the honest one. Your answers stay in your browser.
Scorecard
How the scoring works
Each answer adds weight to one of four outcomes: no CTO yet, fractional, interim, or full-time hire. The thresholds mirror how I qualify discovery calls. A sudden CTO departure or an immediate deadline pushes hard towards interim. A team under 15 engineers between Seed and Series A usually lands on fractional. A quiet board, a working roadmap, and no hiring pain lands on "not yet", because it shouldn't take a quiz to sell you something.
For the longer version of the reasoning, readwhat a fractional CTO actually doesand fractional vs interim, which one you need.
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Common questions
When does a startup need a CTO?
A startup needs CTO-level leadership when technical decisions start carrying long-term consequences nobody senior owns: an architecture that must scale, senior hires to assess, a board asking questions about technical strategy, or due diligence on the horizon. Below that threshold, a strong senior engineer is usually enough.
Should I hire a fractional CTO or a full-time CTO?
Fractional fits most companies between Seed and Series A: you get senior leadership 1 to 3 days a week at £3,000 to £7,000 per month. A full-time hire makes sense from around Series B, when there are more than 15 engineers, or when the budget supports a £150,000+ package and 12 months of search time. Many companies run a fractional CTO through the search.
What is the difference between an interim and a fractional CTO?
An interim CTO is full-time for a fixed term, typically covering a sudden gap or leading a defined transformation, at £20,000 to £32,000 per month. A fractional CTO is part-time and ongoing, typically 1 to 3 days per week. If your CTO just left, interim is usually the right shape; if you have never had one, fractional usually is.
Disagree with your result?
8 questions can't see everything. A 30-minute call can cover the parts that don't fit in a scorecard, and it's as free as the quiz.