The Working CTO Journal of a fractional CTO

Field notes from the trenches.

Architecture, AI-first delivery, hiring, due diligence. Long-form essays and short dispatches on the technical decisions that quietly shape startups -- written by an operator, not a content team.

Articles155 published

Topics5 categories

CadenceWeekly long-form

All 155 Press 4 Zavodit 102 News 2 Special 1 Useful 46

August 2026 Latest article

7 min read CTO

Zavodit- Aug 6, 2026 -7 min read

Why Most Startups Don't Need a Full-Time CTO Until Series B

The fractional-to-full-time CTO progression and how to know when you actually need a full-time engineering leader. Real examples from startups that waited too long and ones that hired too early, from 200+ client projects.

Aleksandr Protsiuk

Fractional CTO

Why Most Startups Don't Need a Full-Time CTO Until Series B

Zavodit

How to Structure Engineering Compensation at a Startup

Senior Developer vs Junior Developer: Who to Hire First

How to Hire Your First Engineer as a Non-Technical Founder

How to Survive a Traffic Spike When Your Architecture Wasn't Built for It

Why Your App Is Slow and What Your CTO Should Be Doing About It

Database Performance Problems Founders Can Spot Without SQL

How to Prioritize Technical Debt Without Slowing Down Feature Development

The Second System Trap: Why Rebuilds Almost Always Go Over Budget

How to Plan a Technical Migration Without Shutting Down Your Product

When to Rebuild vs When to Refactor: A Founder's Guide

5 Signs Your Codebase Is Holding Your Startup Back

How Technical Debt Kills Your Startup's Valuation

Technical Debt Explained for Non-Technical Founders

Why MVP Technical Debt Costs 10x More Later

How to Scope an MVP That Investors Actually Want to Fund

Why Your MVP Doesn't Need a Mobile App (Yet)

Build vs Buy: When to Use Off-the-Shelf and When to Build Custom

The 3 MVP Architectures That Actually Work for Startups

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