45 engineers to 22
Series B SaaS, releases slipping. Read the delivery data, cut to the shape the roadmap needed. Weekly releases again after 4 months, payroll from EUR 4 000 000 to EUR 2 000 000, one regretted departure in the six months after.
Your engineering team isn't broken.
It's the wrong shape.
I take over engineering that's the wrong shape, bring it back to the right one, and hand it to a permanent leader who isn't me.
For Founders, CEOs, owners Scale-ups, 15 to 120 engineers Owner-led, 5 to 40 in software
Results from recent engagements
The work, in numbers
Four engagements, anonymised: sectors, sizes and timings are shifted enough that no company is recognisable. The shape and the orders of magnitude are real. References, including for these, on the intro call.
Cloud bill down 42 percent
Scale-up on AWS, the bill rising faster than revenue. Read the spend against the architecture, cut what nobody owned. From EUR 74 000 to EUR 43 000 a month in 5 months, no layoffs, no re-platforming.
A founding CTO replaced, nobody lost
Series A, 28 engineers, a founder in the wrong seat. An 8-month bridge, the search run alongside. Zero regretted attrition, and the founder still in the building as chief architect.
The portal shipped in 11 weeks
Owner-led SME, 60 people, eighteen months of supplier delay. Took over the supplier relationship and reset the contract. Shipped in 11 weeks, EUR 180 000 a year off the agency bill, the lead developer promoted into the job.
Fractional and interim CTO.
Flanders, remote across Europe
Four problems I take on
Two kinds of company call. Startups and scale-ups with investors behind them, and small and medium-sized companies, most of them owner-led, that now depend on software they didn't set out to build. The problems are the same. Only the words for them differ.
Scale-up with investors behind you? Start here
Owner-led SME? Start here
Right-sizing
You hired for a growth story that didn't land. The team is 40 people doing the work of 15. I run a structured cut that keeps the people who ship and ends the ones who don't. The org comes out smaller and still working, not gutted.
Turnaround
Engineering has stopped shipping. Releases slip, senior people are leaving, and you no longer trust the roadmap. I find the cause, which is usually leadership rather than the team, and rebuild the operating rhythm.
CTO replacement
Your CTO is not the CTO you need for the next stage, and everyone knows it, including them. I bridge the transition, run the search alongside you, and stay long enough for the new hire to succeed.
Platform cost and technical debt
The AWS, GCP or Azure bill goes up every quarter and nobody can say which part of it buys anything. Usually that is not a pricing problem. It is an architecture that nobody has owned for a while, plus debt that quietly bills you every month. I read the spend against the code and the traffic, cut what is waste, and give you a plan for the rest with the money attached.
Not sure you need someone embedded 3 days a week? There is a lighter advisory option: 2 to 4 days a month, 3 months minimum. That is where most SME engagements start. Say so on the call.
How the work goes
Weeks 1 to 3. Diagnosis
A fixed-price diagnosis, priced before it starts. I talk to every engineer, read the last 6 months of pull requests and incidents, and sit in on standups. You get a written report: what is actually wrong, what isn't wrong that you thought was, and what I would do next. It can end there.
Months 1 to 6. Execution
Usually 2 to 3 days a week, embedded. I run the engineering leadership meetings, own the hiring and firing calls with you, and unblock the team. The measure is delivery you can predict and a successor lined up.
Handover
I don't want to stay. Every engagement ends with a permanent leader in seat, promoted internally or recruited during the engagement. I stay 6 weeks past their start date, then leave.
What I don't do
I don't write production code, I don't take equity, and I don't work for equity-only or pay-me-later arrangements. If you need a hands-on first CTO to build the product, I'm the wrong person and I'll tell you who to call.
Anonymous publicly. Identified privately.
This work involves boards, founders, and outgoing leaders, so the practice runs without a public name. That is a principle, not a hiding place. Before you pay anything, you get:
- My full name and LinkedIn profile on the intro call, under NDA if you want.
- 12 years in software: engineer first, then CTO or VP Engineering at venture-backed companies in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK.
- A list of prior engagements, and references you can call the same day, before anything is signed.
The reasoning, in full: about the practice.
What it costs
The diagnosis
3 weeks, EUR 9 500, fixed. Every engineer interviewed, 6 months of delivery data read, a written report. It ends there if you want.
Embedded
2 to 3 days a week for 3 to 9 months, after the diagnosis. Day rates in the normal Western European band of EUR 1 000 to EUR 1 600, invoiced monthly. No equity, no success fee.
Advisory
2 to 4 days a month, 3 months minimum. Where most SME engagements start, and often all they need.
EUR 9 500 against the numbers at the top of this page. If the problem is real, the diagnosis pays for itself. Full bands per engagement model in what a fractional CTO costs.
Is this for you?
Probably, if
- Engineering is 15 to 120 people and delivery stopped being predictable.
- Headcount grew faster than the business.
- Your CTO needs replacing, and everyone knows it.
- The cloud bill grows faster than revenue.
- You depend on a supplier or a lead developer nobody can check.
Not, if
- You need someone to write production code every day.
- You need a first CTO to build the product.
- You can only pay in equity.
Frequently asked
What is right-sizing an engineering team?
It is bringing an over-hired engineering organisation back to the size and shape the business needs. It is not a headcount spreadsheet run by finance. It means reading the delivery data and the people, deciding who stays, running the exits under Belgian or Dutch employment law, and leaving an org that can still ship.
Why are you anonymous?
Anonymous publicly, identified privately. On the intro call you get my full name, my LinkedIn profile, references from previous engagements, and the companies I've worked with, before anything is signed and under NDA if you'd like. The reason: founders, boards, and outgoing leaders are all involved in this work, and public marketing complicates those conversations.
What size of company?
Two kinds. Startups and scale-ups with investors behind them, roughly Series A to Series C, with engineering teams of 15 to 120. And SMEs, most of them owner-led, with 5 to 40 people in and around software. Above 120 engineers you need a full-time operator, not a fractional one.
I run an SME, not a startup. Is this for me?
Yes. Owner-led companies with 5 to 40 people in and around software are a large share of the work. The problems are the same as at a scale-up: a team that grew without a shape, a supplier or a lead developer nobody can check, a bill going up with nothing to show for it. The difference is that there is no board and no round, so the work comes out of the operating budget and has to pay for itself. I'll tell you on the call whether it will.
Can you bring our cloud bill down?
Often, yes. A bill that grows faster than revenue is usually an architecture and ownership problem, not a pricing one. It starts with a fixed-fee review: the spend read against the code and the traffic, then a written list of what is waste, what is the monthly price of technical debt, and what you should keep paying for. Most of the saving sits in things nobody has owned for a year or more.
Do you take earlier-stage companies?
Sometimes. If the company can pay a day rate and the problem is engineering leadership rather than code, book the call. If the ask is to build the product, I'm not your person and I'll say so.
What does it cost?
Day rates in the normal Western European band of EUR 1 000 to EUR 1 600, invoiced monthly. No equity, no success fee. For smaller companies the shape is usually fewer days rather than a lower rate, so the total stays in proportion. The full bands per engagement model are in what a fractional CTO costs. Exact numbers on the intro call once the scope is clear.
Do you work in Dutch?
Yes. Native Dutch (Flemish) and English. Most engagements run in English because engineering teams in Europe do.
Can you start next week?
Sometimes. I run one, occasionally two, engagements at a time. Ask.
If the shoe fits
A 15-minute call is the cheapest way to find out whether I can do anything for you. Founder, CEO, or owner of a company where software has become someone else's black box. No slides, no NDA, no follow-up if we don't fit.