From Unicorn CTO to Fractional: Why I Made the Switch (And What It Means for Series A Founders)
Lloyd Moore
After Blockdaemon hit $3.25 billion valuation, I started talking to companies about permanent CTO roles.
None of them felt as challenging as what I’d just done. Scaling from 10 to 187 engineers. Building infrastructure that Meta and JP Morgan trusted. Deploying validators across five continents. Managing 96% retention through hypergrowth.
I could wait for another opportunity like Blockdaemon. But I’d probably wait forever.
So I went fractional instead.
Why fractional made sense
The decision wasn’t complicated. I’d spent years building hard-earned knowledge about scaling technical teams, infrastructure, and organisations. I could apply that knowledge to help multiple companies rather than waiting for one perfect opportunity.
Going fractional meant I could earn a living while helping founders who need exactly the expertise I’d developed. Not the watered-down consultant version. The actual doing-it-myself version.
Most people think fractional is what you do when you can’t get a permanent role. Wrong. Fractional is what you do when you’ve already done the permanent role at scale and you’re more valuable helping multiple companies than optimising for one.
What fractional CTO actually means
Here’s what I do now, and it’s not what most founders expect.
I work with companies that have small executive teams. Often they’ve used contractors on and off. Now there’s a big project coming and they need someone to give laser-focused direction.
They need to understand what it actually takes to get the project delivered. How long it’ll take. What it’ll cost. What their staffing options are. What they need to build in terms of solution architecture.
That’s not advice. That’s hands-on technical leadership.
The biggest misconception founders have about fractional: they think it means cheap.
It doesn’t. My day rate is probably higher than a permanent CTO salary when you break it down. But you’re not paying me to sit in meetings about office furniture. You’re paying me to solve specific technical problems that unlock your next stage of growth.
Fractional isn’t part-time CTO. It’s focused CTO for specific outcomes.
When you need fractional vs full-time
Not every company should hire fractional. Some absolutely need a permanent CTO. Here’s how to think about it.
You probably need full-time if:
You’re post-Series B and building a large engineering organisation. You need someone embedded full-time, building culture, hiring constantly, managing performance, sitting on the exec team every day.
Your product is deeply technical and evolving constantly. Someone needs to own the technical vision full-time, not drop in for strategic direction.
You’ve found someone exceptional who fits your company perfectly and wants to commit long-term. Take them. Great permanent CTOs are rare.
You probably need fractional if:
You’re pre-Series A or early Series A with a founder CTO who hasn’t scaled before. You need strategic guidance without replacing them.
You have a big technical project that needs scoping, direction, and architecture. You don’t need someone managing day-to-day operations - you need focused technical leadership to get this specific thing right.
You’re between CTOs and can’t afford to wait six months to hire. You need someone immediately to keep technical momentum while you search.
You have technical debt or infrastructure problems that need fixing before you can scale. You need someone who’s solved these problems before, not someone learning on your dime.
The decision framework is simple: Do you need strategic technical direction for specific outcomes, or do you need someone embedded in operations every day?
If it’s the former, fractional makes sense. If it’s the latter, hire permanent.
What Series A companies actually get
When I work with Series A companies, here’s what they typically need:
Scoping and direction. They know they need to build something but they’re not sure exactly what. They need someone to cut through the noise, figure out what actually needs to be built, and give clear direction.
Timeline and budget reality. Founders often have wildly optimistic or pessimistic views of how long things take. I give them realistic timelines based on having done this before. That means they can make actual business decisions instead of guessing.
Staffing strategy. Should they hire permanent? Use contractors? Build offshore? Bring in specialists? I’ve made all these decisions at scale. They don’t have to figure it out from scratch.
Solution architecture. What actually needs to be built? What’s the right technical approach? What are the trade-offs? I’ve built infrastructure that served institutional clients at scale. That experience compresses their learning curve.
The outcome isn’t just a technical plan. It’s confidence. They know what they’re building, why, and what it’ll take to get there.
That confidence lets them make business decisions. Raise money. Hire the right people. Execute without second-guessing every technical choice.
Why this works better than alternatives
Founders have other options. They could hire a permanent CTO. They could use a consultancy. They could muddle through with their existing team.
Here’s why fractional often works better:
Versus permanent CTO: You get someone with unicorn-scale experience immediately, without six months of searching and without betting $300k+ salary on someone who might not work out. And if you’re between CTOs or your founder CTO needs support, fractional doesn’t threaten anyone’s role.
Versus consultancy: Consultancies give you slides. I give you direction. I’ve actually built and scaled technical organisations. I’m not theorising about what might work - I’m telling you what worked when I did it.
Versus muddling through: Your existing team is good at execution. They’re probably not good at strategic technical decisions they’ve never made before. Bringing in someone who’s made those decisions at scale means they can focus on building instead of guessing.
The misunderstanding about cost
Some founders think fractional means cheaper. Let me be clear: it doesn’t.
My day rate, if you worked it out hourly, is higher than a permanent CTO salary. But here’s what you’re actually paying for:
You’re paying for focused expertise on specific problems. Not meetings about HR policies. Not office logistics. Not the hundred other things permanent executives do.
You’re paying for compressed learning curves. I’ve already made the mistakes. You don’t have to.
You’re paying for confidence in your technical decisions. That confidence lets you move faster, raise money more effectively, and avoid expensive wrong turns.
The question isn’t whether fractional is cheaper. The question is whether the value you get justifies the investment. For companies with specific technical challenges that need solving now, it usually does.
What happens after fractional
Fractional isn’t forever for most companies. It’s a bridge.
Sometimes the bridge is to hiring a permanent CTO. I help them scope the role properly, understand what they actually need, maybe even help interview candidates. Then I hand over and step back.
Sometimes the bridge is to the next stage of growth. We solve the immediate technical challenges, build the right foundation, get them to Series B. Then they bring in permanent technical leadership for the next phase.
Sometimes fractional becomes ongoing strategic support. I’m not running their engineering day-to-day, but I’m helping with major technical decisions, architecture reviews, key hires. That can work long-term if they have strong technical leadership internally.
The point isn’t to be fractional forever. The point is to give companies the technical leadership they need right now, without forcing them into permanent hiring decisions before they’re ready.
If you’re wondering whether you need this
Ask yourself these questions:
Do you have a major technical project coming up and you’re not confident you know how to scope it properly?
Is your founder CTO brilliant at building but has never scaled a technical organisation before?
Are you about to raise Series A or B and you’re worried about technical due diligence?
Do you have technical debt that’s slowing you down but you’re not sure how to prioritise fixing it?
Are you between CTOs and can’t afford to wait months while technical momentum stalls?
If you answered yes to any of these, fractional might make sense.
The alternative is muddling through, making expensive mistakes, and learning lessons the hard way. I’ve already learned those lessons. That’s what you’re paying for.
After scaling Blockdaemon to unicorn status, I could have waited for another perfect opportunity. Instead, I’m helping multiple companies avoid the mistakes I made and replicate the things that worked.
That’s what fractional means. Not cheaper. Not part-time. Focused technical leadership for companies that need it right now.