CTO DIAGNOSTIC
Muhammad Kashif, our CTO, reviews your code, your plan and the decision in front of you. In one week you get a written answer you can act on, for a fixed $5,000.
Fixed price · Report is yours to keep · NDAs are standard
$5,000
Fixed price
1 week
To a written answer
23 years
Kashif's time in software
60 days
To credit the fee against a build, retainer or fractional CTO
WHO IT'S FOR
01
An agency sent a number and a feature list. You can't tell which line items are padding and which are the real work.
02
You're raising, and someone wants to know how the product is built and what breaks at 10× the users.
03
You're about to hire and don't know which role comes first, what to test for or what to pay attention to.
04
Features that took a week now take a month. Your developer says it needs a rewrite, and you can't check whether that's true.
PRICING
Bring the decision in front of you. Kashif answers it first, then reviews the rest of the company's technology so the answer holds up when an investor, a hire or an agency asks about it.
CTO DIAGNOSTIC
$5,000
1 week · Fixed price
Your question answered, plus the company-level technical picture.
Includes
The report is yours, NDAs are standard, and the fee comes off any build, sprint, retainer or fractional CTO engagement you start with us within 60 days.
FIXED PRICE · REPORT IS YOURS · 60-DAY CREDIT
Prices are in USD and exclude any applicable taxes.
WHAT WE REVIEW
Six areas, all covered in every diagnostic. Your question decides where Kashif goes deepest.
01
Can the codebase carry the next 12 months of features without a rewrite?
02
Are the tools and cloud choices sensible for your stage and budget?
03
Are passwords, secrets and customer data handled the way an investor or enterprise buyer will ask about?
04
How does work get from idea to production, and where does it stall?
05
Are agency and tool costs in line with the work, and what's missing from the quote?
06
What should be built, bought or hired next, and in what order?
WHAT YOU GET
EXAMPLE COMPANY · CTO DIAGNOSTIC
Written answer + roadmap
The answer to your question first, then findings by area, a roadmap and a hiring plan.
The report is yours. Use it with us, with another team or on your own.
See a sample report outline on the call →COMPARE
| Full-time CTO | Fractional CTO | CTO Diagnostic | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | ~$157K average startup base; ~$293K cash at Series A (Kruze) | $5K–$15K a month (market range); 69.5% charge $5K–$10K (Frak) | $5,000, once |
| What you get | A leader, ongoing | Senior hours each month | One written review, 1 week |
| Commitment | A hire | A monthly retainer | None after the report |
| Best when | You're building an engineering org | You need ongoing decisions | You have a decision to make now |
Sources: Kruze Consulting (startup payroll data), Frak (fractional executive pricing).
AFTER THE REPORT
Some founders want the person who wrote the report to help carry it out. Kashif works as a fractional CTO for $5,000 a month: architecture calls, vendor reviews and hiring interviews, starting from the roadmap he already wrote. Because he's already read your code, there's no onboarding month.
See how fractional CTO works →PROOF
4 months
AI marketing SaaS
Navia's founder had no technical co-founder and a plan to build on WordPress. We made the stack call (Next.js, Node.js and PostgreSQL instead) and shipped four AI modules in four months, idea to production. The founder owns 100% of the code, and the product has paying subscribers.
Read the Navia case study →“The range of skills was incredible. They delivered on time, and flagged it early when a deadline was at risk.”
5.0 on Clutch · 4 reviews · You contract with a US entity under US law
FAQ
