Fractional CTO for Pre-Seed Stage
Pre-seed startups are in the earliest phase of company building, often with just a founding team and a compelling idea. At this stage, you're racing to build and validate an MVP before runway runs out...
Typical Funding
$0 - $500K
Team Size
1-3 people
Revenue
$0 - $10K MRR
Runway
6-12 months
Understanding Pre-Seed Stage
Pre-seed startups are in the earliest phase of company building, often with just a founding team and a compelling idea. At this stage, you're racing to build and validate an MVP before runway runs out. Most pre-seed companies are funded by founders, friends and family, or small angel investments. The primary goal is proving the concept works and achieving initial traction to unlock seed funding. Technical decisions made now will impact your ability to scale later, but over-engineering can kill momentum. You need a CTO who understands this delicate balance.
Key Priorities at This Stage
- Build MVP as fast as possible without accumulating technical debt
- Choose a tech stack that balances speed, cost, and future scalability
- Validate product-market fit with real users before scaling
- Create investor-ready technical documentation and roadmap
- Establish development processes that won't break as team grows
- Make smart build vs. buy decisions to conserve runway
- Set up analytics and metrics to prove traction
- Ensure basic security and compliance from day one
Why You Need a Fractional CTO
- Expert CTO guidance at 1/6th the cost of a full-time hire ($36K/year vs. $220K+)
- Proven experience across dozens of pre-seed companies and tech stacks
- Investor-ready technical narrative and documentation for fundraising
- Avoid costly technical mistakes that burn runway and delay launch
- Unbiased build vs. buy recommendations (we don't benefit from you building more)
Common Challenges at Pre-Seed Stage
No technical co-founder and can't afford a full-time CTO salary ($180K-$250K+)
Don't know which tech stack to choose or how to evaluate developers
Burning through runway on expensive agencies or wrong technical hires
Investors asking technical questions the founding team can't answer confidently
MVP taking too long to build or requiring constant rewrites
Technical decisions being made without understanding long-term implications
Security vulnerabilities or compliance gaps that could derail fundraising
No clear technical roadmap or development process
Budget Guidance for Pre-Seed Stage
Fractional C T O
$2,999-$5,000/month (10-20 hours/month)
Development
$0-$50K (often founders build, or 1-2 contractors)
Infrastructure
$100-$500/month (Vercel, Supabase, monitoring tools)
Tooling
$100-$300/month (GitHub, Linear, Slack, analytics)
Total Monthly Tech Burn
$3,500-$8,000/month
Success Story
Pre-seed fintech startup, 2 non-technical founders, $300K friends & family funding
Challenge
Needed working MVP in 8 weeks to demo at investor meeting. No technical expertise on team. Previously spent $40K with an agency that delivered slow, buggy code. 6 months of runway remaining.
Solution
Fractional CTO conducted 2-day technical audit, scrapped agency code, defined new architecture using Next.js + Supabase + Stripe. Hired 2 senior contractors from our network. Established 2-week sprint cycle with daily standups. Built core features: user onboarding, plaid integration, transaction tracking, basic reporting. Set up Vercel hosting, Sentry error tracking, PostHog analytics.
Result
Successfully demoed to 12 investors. Raised $750K seed round led by known fintech VC. Product supported 200 beta users without issues. Technical architecture praised during due diligence. Fractional CTO transitioned to advising role, founders hired full-time CTO with seed funding. Total tech spend: $24K (Fractional CTO) + $32K (contractors) = $56K for fully-funded company.
Pre-Seed Stage Solutions by Industry
Our fractional CTOs provide tailored technical leadership for pre-seed stage companies across all industries. Find industry-specific guidance for your startup.
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