A fractional CTO gives your business the technical judgment of a 25-year engineer — architecture decisions, technology strategy, and hands-on delivery — on a part-time, remote basis sized to what you actually need.
A fractional CTO (sometimes called a fractional software architect or on-demand engineering lead) is a senior engineer who takes ownership of your technical direction without joining your payroll full-time. For most small and mid-sized businesses, the hard technical decisions — which stack to build on, how to architect for growth, whether an agency's proposal is sound, how to add AI capabilities responsibly — arrive long before the budget for a full-time CTO does.
Kuhn Consulting has provided exactly this kind of leadership since 2005: architecture and delivery for Fortune 500 enterprises including DaimlerChrysler, GM, Ford, and Aetna, and modern AI-era platforms like the multi-tenant Wildwood Platform and the API2MCP integration service. Every engagement is handled directly by Mark Kuhn, the firm's founder and principal engineer — the person you talk to is the person who ships the code.
Scoped to your stage — from a few hours of advisory a month to embedded technical leadership.
Technology roadmap, build-vs-buy decisions, stack selection, AI adoption strategy, and budget-realistic planning that matches engineering choices to business goals.
System architecture design, security and scalability reviews, code and infrastructure audits, and second opinions on agency or vendor proposals before you commit.
Unlike advisory-only CTOs, Kuhn Consulting builds: production AI integrations, SaaS backends, APIs, and cross-platform apps — shipped, deployed, and supported.
Founders without a technical co-founder who need someone to own architecture, evaluate developers, and translate product vision into a buildable plan.
Businesses adding AI capabilities that want LLM features built on solid foundations — provider selection, cost control, data privacy, and production reliability — rather than a demo that breaks under real users.
Teams outgrowing their first version whose software needs multi-tenancy, billing, security hardening, or performance work that the original build never anticipated.
Companies vetting outside vendors who want an independent engineer reviewing proposals, estimates, and delivered work before money moves.
Engagements start with a conversation about where your product and team stand, followed by a scoped proposal — advisory hours, a defined project, or ongoing fractional leadership. Everything is remote, handled directly by the principal engineer, and structured so you can scale involvement up or down as your needs change. There are no subcontractors and no long-term lock-in.
A short conversation is enough to tell whether fractional leadership fits.