Tech audits
An honest read of what you have
Stack review, security posture, performance baseline, vendor lock-in analysis, and undocumented dependencies. Written for whoever signs the check and owns the outcome.
What we do · 01
Technology Strategy & CTO Advisory.
Tech audits, AI strategy, roadmaps, and fractional CTO for companies that need senior judgment. Delivered in operator language. Strategy with the same owner through delivery.
€2.1M
Vendor contract avoided, single audit
2–4
Typical engagement weeks
0
Affiliate deals with vendors we recommend
How we work
You need a decision before next quarter.
Most SMEs do not need a ninety-page deck from a tier-one firm. They need someone who can read the stack on Monday, spot the technical debt that is actually slowing the team down, write the three decisions that matter on Wednesday, and start building on Friday.
Same team from audit to delivery. The person who scopes the engagement stays for the build, whether that means shipping the roadmap or stepping in as your fractional CTO. Every recommendation names who does what next, with the same team carrying it through.
Advisory work stays short on purpose. If the answer cannot fit in a memo your board can argue from, the problem is not scoped tightly enough yet, whether that is a build vs buy call or a vendor comparison.
What we cover
Six types of engagement.
AI strategy & guardrails
AI that earns its roadmap slot
We assess where AI actually saves your team time or money, and where it does not. Output: a prioritised list of use cases, build-vs-buy recommendation, and a delivery plan your team can execute.
Delivery roadmaps
A plan that survives first contact
Phased, costed, and prioritised. Roadmaps sized to engineering capacity and budget reality, with owners and exit criteria per phase.
04 · Fractional CTO
The second opinion your board deserves
Interim CTO cover, vendor evaluation, technical due diligence for investors, and fractional advisory for CEOs making platform decisions. We speak board language because we have been in those rooms.
05 · Architecture Review
Before you scale the wrong thing
Pre-scale architecture reviews. We find the load-bearing walls before you knock them down trying to grow. Typical output: a two-page memo and a risk-ranked change list.
06 · Vendor Evaluation
Independent evaluation. Zero commercial bias.
Honest comparison of platforms, tools, and vendors, scored against your actual requirements and renewal dates. We carry zero commercial relationships with the tools we recommend.
What ships
Every audit lands with artefacts you can defend.
We do not leave you with a PDF nobody opens. The output is written so finance, legal, and engineering can argue from the same facts, the same rigor we bring to a technical due diligence review for investors.
✓
Executive summary with the three decisions that matter this quarter
✓
Risk-ranked findings with effort bands your board can budget against
✓
Vendor and dependency map tied to renewal dates and blast radius
✓
Security and compliance posture read against how you actually operate
✓
90-day execution sequence with owners and exit criteria per phase
Who it's for
Built for whoever signs off.
For the CEO
Clarity, commercial outcomes, and a ship date that holds
- One advisor, direct line, zero account manager layer
- Commercial outcomes agreed upfront, reviewed monthly
- Board-ready reporting written in plain English
- Fixed-fee engagements where scope permits
For the CTO
A partner who respects the stack you've built
- We read the codebase before the kickoff call
- Architecture review that does not end in "rewrite everything"
- Vendor and tooling evaluation without hidden affiliations
- Security and compliance gaps surfaced without alarm-ism
Recent results
What changed after the audit.
What broke
A manufacturer was weeks from signing a EUR 2.1M ERP deal
No internal CTO. The vendor had shaped the entire evaluation. Leadership assumed they needed new software. Seventy percent of required functionality was already in their stack, misconfigured.
What we built
A two-week independent read with a 90-day execution map
Stack review, vendor comparison against actual requirements, and three decisions the board could approve in one meeting. A person responsible for each phase.
What moved
The contract was not signed
Seventy percent of required functionality was already in their stack, misconfigured. Reconfiguration cost a fraction of the proposed deal. Board had a written rationale in under three weeks.
Selected work
Strategy with an operating consequence.
Manufacturing · Consultant
Relaunchmulti-market
Requirements study and technical advisory for a multi-market, multilingual website relaunch.
↗
EdTech · Fractional CTO
6WP sites
Six-property WordPress multisite network across markets and brands
↗
B2B Media · Fractional CTO
4markets
vegconomist.com · vegconomist.de · vegconomist.fr · vegconomist.es · cultivated-x.com
↗Decision guides
Put a decision behind the advisory budget.
Fractional CTO costs and scope
Engagement models, price ranges, hiring signals, and an editable decision memo.
Fractional CTO service
Ongoing technology ownership for companies without a full-time CTO.
When a tech audit is justified
The triggers that warrant an independent read before a contract or platform decision.
FAQ
Questions leaders ask before they approve strategy budget.
What does a tech strategy engagement include?
Most strategy engagements include a technical audit, a risk-ranked decision memo, a 90-day roadmap, and vendor recommendation notes that leadership can use in board and budget discussions.
How long does strategy work usually take?
Most first-cycle strategy engagements run for two to four weeks. The timeline depends on access to systems, stakeholder availability, and whether legal or compliance review is needed.
Do you also execute after strategy?
Yes. The same team can move into delivery after the advisory phase so architecture context and decision rationale are not lost during handoff.
How does a fractional CTO differ from a full-time hire?
A fractional CTO works 2–5 days per month at €5,000–€18,000/month, versus €150,000–€200,000/year plus benefits for a full-time hire. The fractional model fits companies that need senior architecture decisions, vendor evaluation, and board reporting on a part-time basis. The role centres on strategy and decision-making, with sprint rituals and day-to-day engineering management left to your in-house team.
What does a technical due diligence engagement cover for an investment round?
We assess codebase quality (architecture, dependency risk, test coverage), security posture (access controls, exposed credentials, dependency vulnerabilities), infrastructure and operational maturity (monitoring, incident runbooks, deployment discipline), and team capability (engineering hiring bar and documentation quality). Output: a risk-ranked memo written for investors and founders to argue from the same facts. Typical timeline: 2–4 weeks.
What is in a vendor due diligence report?
We test vendor RFP answers against your actual requirements and score each against pass/fail criteria you can defend internally. The output maps: SLA commitments versus realistic delivery history, architectural lock-in depth (data portability, API access, exit costs), security certifications and compliance coverage, and total cost of ownership including migration and training overhead. We carry zero commercial relationships with any vendor we evaluate.
- €2.1M Largest vendor contract avoided after an independent audit
- Mid-market advisory engagement
- 2–4 Typical weeks to board-ready written output
- Scope held to decisions your board can act on
- 0 Commercial relationships with vendors we evaluate
- Conflict posture documented in every memo
Start here
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