Get in touch
Get in touch
Compare

Reveneau vs a fractional CTO

A fractional CTO is a senior technical leader working part-time on a retainer: they make architecture decisions, take part in hiring, and own technical decisions without being a full-time employee. A build partner delivers software. These are usually presented as alternatives and they mostly are not. The honest framing is that one supplies judgment and the other supplies delivery, and a company can easily need both.

Facts about a fractional CTO last checked 2026-08-21

  • A fractional CTO supplies judgment and direction, not delivery capacity.
  • A build partner supplies delivery, and brings direction for the build only.
  • They combine well: the CTO owns the technical strategy, we execute a defined part of it.
  • A fractional CTO is usually the better first purchase if you have no technical leadership at all.
  • Neither replaces the other, and any supplier claiming to be both should be asked how.

Where a fractional CTO is the right answer

Written first, and deliberately. If we could not fill this section honestly, the page would not be worth publishing.

What a fractional CTO is good at

  • Senior judgment across the whole technical picture, not just one build
  • Independent of any delivery contract, so their advice has no scope attached to it
  • Helps you hire, which keeps being useful long after the engagement
  • Cheaper than a full-time executive for a company that does not need one yet
  • Represents your interests when evaluating suppliers, including us

Choose them over us when

  • You have no senior technical leadership and need judgment before you need code
  • The immediate question is what to build or whether to build, not how
  • You are about to hire engineers and need someone to run that properly
  • You need someone independent to evaluate suppliers and proposals
  • The technical decisions are strategic and ongoing rather than tied to one project

Side by side

Every cell about a fractional CTO is labelled with where it came from. Nothing here is inferred, and a blank is left blank.

 ReveneauA fractional CTO
What they supplyDelivered softwareTechnical judgment and directionVerified
Typical commitmentA scoped buildPart-time, on a monthly retainerTheir claim
Who writes the codeAI writes the implementation, on every engagementUsually nobody, or a team they directTheir claim
Independence when evaluating suppliersNone. We are a supplierYes, and it is a real advantageVerified
Helps you hireNoUsually yesTheir claim
Retainer or project costScoped per build, quoted before work startsNot establishedNot established

Most pages comparing these two are written by one of them, and conclude that the other is unnecessary. Here is the version that matches how companies actually buy.

They answer different questions

A fractional CTO answers: what should we build, on what architecture, with what team, and is this supplier any good.

A build partner answers: here is the thing, built and proven, by this date.

If your open question is the first kind, buying delivery is premature and expensive, because you will build the wrong thing efficiently. If your open question is the second kind, buying more advice does not produce software.

The combination that works

The strongest arrangement we see described is both: a fractional CTO owning the technical strategy and the hiring plan, with a delivery partner executing a defined piece of it under that direction.

That also solves a real problem with engaging any build partner, including us. A supplier evaluating whether you need what they sell is not neutral, and pretending otherwise is silly. A fractional CTO represents your interests in that decision and has no scope to protect. If you have one, they should be reading our proposal sceptically, and we would rather they did.

When a fractional CTO is the clear first purchase

If you have no senior technical leadership at all, and the questions in front of you are about what to build and who to hire, buy judgment first. It is cheaper than a build and it prevents the specific failure where a company spends its budget building something well that should not have been built.

What has changed in this category

The category has changed. Fractional CTOs increasingly arrive with delivery capacity behind them rather than advice alone, which narrows the gap this page describes. If you are evaluating one who offers both, the question worth asking is the same one worth asking us: what runs automatically on every change, and what happens to a change that fails it.

The honest limit of each

A fractional CTO working two days a week cannot also deliver a substantial build, and one who says they can is either overcommitted or has a team behind them you should ask about directly.

A build partner cannot be your independent technical advisor. We have an interest in the answer. Where our advice and our commercial interest diverge, you should assume we are as susceptible to that as anyone, and structure around it rather than trusting good intentions.

Where we fit

Reveneau suits this when

  • You know what needs building and need it delivered to a standard
  • Technical direction exists already, whether in-house or fractional
  • There is a defined build with an end date
  • The verification standard is high enough that automated proof matters

Common questions

Do I need a fractional CTO or a development firm?
They answer different questions. A fractional CTO answers what to build, on what architecture, with what team, and whether a supplier is any good. A build partner delivers a defined thing by a date. If your open question is the first kind, buying delivery is premature.
Can I use both a fractional CTO and a development firm at once?
That is often the strongest arrangement: the fractional CTO owns technical strategy and hiring, and a delivery partner executes a defined piece under that direction. It also gives you someone independent to read the supplier's proposal sceptically, including ours, because a supplier evaluating whether you need what it sells has an obvious conflict of interest.
Which should I buy first, a fractional CTO or a build?
If you have no senior technical leadership at all, buy judgment first from a fractional CTO. It is cheaper than a build and prevents the specific failure where a company efficiently builds something that should not have been built. Once the technical direction exists, whether inside your company or fractional, a defined build with an end date is a better fit for a delivery partner.
Can a fractional CTO also build the product?
Not at any real scale on two days a week. Some fractional CTOs now arrive with a delivery team behind them, which is a genuine option, and the thing worth asking about is that team rather than the individual: what runs automatically on every change, and what happens to a change that fails it. That question applies to any supplier, including us.
Is a development firm biased about whether I need one?
Yes, including Reveneau. A supplier assessing whether you need what it sells is not neutral, and structuring around that fact is more sensible than trusting good intentions. An independent fractional CTO with no scope to protect is genuinely valuable for exactly this reason, and can read a delivery proposal, including ours, more sceptically than we can read our own.
What does a fractional CTO typically cost compared to a build partner?
A fractional CTO usually works on a part-time monthly retainer rather than a project fee. Reveneau's engagements are scoped per build and quoted before work starts, tied to a defined result rather than a duration. The two are priced differently because they sell different things: ongoing judgment and direction on one side, a delivered outcome on the other.
Who writes the code in a fractional CTO arrangement versus a build partner?
In a fractional CTO arrangement, the code is usually written by nobody directly, or by a team the CTO directs, since the role is judgment and oversight rather than hands-on delivery. In a Reveneau engagement, AI writes the implementation on every engagement, checked against an eval suite before anything merges. The fractional CTO's job is to decide what should be built, not to build it.
Does a fractional CTO help with hiring?
Usually yes, and this is one of the clearest differences from a build partner. A fractional CTO commonly runs or advises on engineering hiring, which keeps adding value long after the engagement ends because it shapes who your team becomes. A delivery partner like Reveneau does not hire on your behalf; it delivers a defined build to a standard and hands it over.