Fractional CTO for Bridge Round
Bridge rounds are interim financing used when companies need additional capital before their next planned funding round. Often these situations arise because the company didn't hit milestones for the ...
Typical Funding
$500K - $5M bridge to next round
Team Size
5-50 people
Revenue
Varies widely, often struggling
Runway
3-9 months extended by bridge
Understanding Bridge Round
Bridge rounds are interim financing used when companies need additional capital before their next planned funding round. Often these situations arise because the company didn't hit milestones for the next round, runway is shorter than expected, or market conditions changed. Technology issues are frequently a contributing factor: slower product development than planned, technical debt slowing velocity, architecture not scaling, or inefficient technical spending. A fractional CTO can quickly assess the technical situation, make rapid improvements, and help the company become fundable for the next round.
Key Priorities at This Stage
- Rapid technical assessment: identify critical issues blocking next funding round
- Extend runway: reduce technical burn, optimize infrastructure costs, cut waste
- Quick wins: ship features or improvements demonstrating momentum to investors
- Address technical debt blocking progress and creating investor concerns
- Prepare technical narrative for next funding round with clear roadmap
- Stabilize product: fix critical bugs, improve reliability, address user complaints
- Right-size technical team and spending for available runway
- Create realistic technical plan aligned with business milestones for next round
- Build investor confidence in technical execution and leadership
- Position company for successful Series A, B, or later round within 6-12 months
Why You Need a Fractional CTO
- Rapid assessment and action plan (7-14 days) when time is critical
- Experienced perspective on what really matters vs. nice-to-haves
- Credibility with investors concerned about technical execution
- Proven playbook for extending runway while maintaining product progress
- Objective evaluation of technical team and tough decisions when needed
Common Challenges at Bridge Round
Previous technical leadership made poor decisions burning runway inefficiently
Technical debt so severe it's blocking product development and growth
Product quality issues causing customer churn and negative word-of-mouth
Over-built for current scale but under-built for what's needed next
Technical team demoralized or includes people who should be let go
Investors losing confidence in technical execution and leadership
Infrastructure costs too high for current revenue and runway
No clear technical strategy or roadmap giving investors confidence
Previous CTO departed or was fired, leaving gap in technical leadership
Need to demonstrate progress quickly (30-90 days) to maintain investor support
Budget Guidance for Bridge Round
Fractional C T O
$5,000-$8,000/month (20-30 hours/month hands-on plus strategic guidance)
Technical Team Optimization
Often 20-40% reduction in team cost (letting go underperformers, right-sizing)
Infrastructure Optimization
Target 40-60% cost reduction through right-sizing and tool consolidation
Critical Contractors
$5,000-$15,000/month for specific skills gaps if needed
Tooling Reduction
Cut non-essential tools, target 50%+ savings
Total Monthly Tech Burn
Target 30-50% reduction from pre-bridge levels
Success Story
Post-seed B2B SaaS, 12 people, 4 months runway, investors considering $1.5M bridge vs. shutting down, $85K ARR (well below target)
Challenge
Company raised $2M seed 18 months prior targeting $1M ARR but only reached $85K ARR. Previous CTO (first hire) built overly complex architecture, spent 6 months on rewrites delivering no business value, burned through $600K on AWS and contractors. CTO departed 2 months prior, engineering team of 4 demoralized. Product quality poor with frequent outages driving churn. Investors would only provide bridge if convinced technical situation could be fixed.
Solution
Fractional CTO engaged on emergency basis for technical assessment. 10-day assessment revealed: massive over-engineering ($18K/month AWS for 200 users), half-built features creating confusion, no testing causing bugs, 2 of 4 engineers underperforming. Presented 90-day turnaround plan to investors who approved $1.2M bridge. Executed plan: 1) Migrated from AWS to Railway + Vercel reducing costs from $18K to $800/month, 2) Let go 2 underperforming engineers, hired 1 senior contractor, 3) Removed half-built features, focused on core product stability, 4) Implemented testing and CI/CD reducing bugs by 70%, 5) Shipped 3 most-requested features in 60 days, 6) Reduced total tech burn from $75K/month to $28K/month.
Result
Product stability improved dramatically: uptime from 97.2% to 99.7%, support tickets down 65%. Shipped key features supporting sales. Grew from $85K to $340K ARR in 6 months with improved unit economics. Monthly tech burn reduced from $75K to $28K extending runway. Successfully raised $5M Series A at better valuation than seed. Investors specifically cited technical turnaround as key factor. Fractional CTO transitioned to advisor, founders hired full-time VP Engineering.
Bridge Round Solutions by Industry
Our fractional CTOs provide tailored technical leadership for bridge round companies across all industries. Find industry-specific guidance for your startup.
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