Get a Fractional CTO
What is Fractional CTO?
A fractional CTO is a part-time technology leader who does the same job as a full-time CTO: leading engineering teams, making strategic technology decisions, selecting vendors, optimizing infrastructure; just not full-time.Meet your Fractional CTO
Hi, I’m Denis Stebunov. I have over 25 years of experience in software, including hands-on programming, leadership, product management, startup exits, and M&A.
If you choose ivelum as your software development partner, I can be your Fractional CTO.
I’m deeply technical. I’ve been a software developer throughout my career, and I still write code, these days with AI. But over the years, I’ve learned that the biggest challenges in software development are rarely technical. They’re human. Miscommunication, misalignment, and a lack of transparency and context are far more likely to derail a project than the technology itself, and AI hasn’t changed that. That’s why, whenever I join a new project, my first priority is to establish and maintain clear, productive communication within the team.
You can find me on LinkedIn and YouTube, where I occasionally share my thoughts on technology and engineering leadership.
Fractional CTO services for free
When you hire a development team from us (or even just a single developer), you get the Fractional CTO services at no extra cost.
I run the same kind of development team I'm advising you on — so I know exactly where corners get cut when nobody's watching, because I've watched it happen. That's not a conflict of interest, that's why this works: I catch the same shortcuts in your project that I'd catch in ours. That's why we include our Fractional CTO services for free.
If you need help with…
Building and scaling your startup
I understand startup needs deeply. I’m building startups myself, currently my 4th one called Teamplify, and as a Fractional CTO, I help other startup founders all the time, from raw ideas to millions of users and $100M+ exits.
Shipping fast
I’m a huge fan of Continuous Delivery and DevOps. Most of the teams I work with deploy to production multiple times a day while maintaining excellent uptime. I can help your team achieve the same.
Improving quality and uptime
I’ve seen many systems struggle to serve users reliably, and it’s rarely just a single issue that needs fixing. There could be problems with software architecture, development process, infrastructure, production monitoring, or something else. I can help you identify and prioritize these issues and implement solutions.
Choosing vendors and optimizing costs
Cutting tens of thousands of dollars from your AWS bill. Finding solutions that are both better and more cost-effective than what you have today. Eliminating work that doesn't need to be done in the first place. That's what a good CTO does, and as your Fractional CTO, I'll do the same.
Security and compliance
Most of the projects in my practice handle sensitive data and are subject to various compliance standards, including GDPR/CCPA, SOC 2, HIPAA, FedRAMP, and others. I can help you organize a secure development process and infrastructure to meet your organization's requirements.
Working with a legacy system
Legacy systems come with their own unique challenges and can be difficult to work with. While rewriting them from scratch may seem tempting, it's rarely the best approach. I can help you stabilize your existing system, improve its performance and reliability, and modernize it incrementally without disrupting your operations.
Hiring your full-time CTO
My ultimate goal is to make your business successful, and that means my role may eventually no longer be needed. When the time comes, I’ll help you find the right full-time CTO and ensure a smooth transition by helping them get up to speed.
FAQ
How much do your Fractional CTO services cost?
It's free if you hire a development team from us (or even a single developer). Fractional CTOs typically cost $3,000–$25,000/month elsewhere – with ivelum, it's included.
How is this different from hiring a full-time CTO or a regular dev agency?
A full-time CTO costs more and takes months to hire. A regular agency ships code but doesn't have anyone accountable for whether the technology decisions are right. We do both – you get senior engineers and someone who owns the decisions above their heads.
How much time will you be able to devote to our project?
You can count on at least a few hours per week, but there’s no hard limit. I work as much as needed, and in our practice, there has been no case so far that the project was limited by my availability.
Can you work with our in-house developers or other contractors?
Yes! In fact, most of our teams are hybrid, meaning we collaborate with the in-house development team, so I’m very familiar with this environment.
Will you join our team standups?
Yes, as frequently as needed. In most cases, it’s helpful to do at least weekly check-ins with the team.
What if we already have an in-house CTO?
That's completely fine. Whether you use the Fractional CTO services is entirely up to you. I'm always happy to brainstorm ideas, discuss technical challenges, or help solve difficult problems. Think of me as an external advisor you can turn to whenever you need a second opinion.
