Fractional CTO · Albuquerque & Remote
Ship faster.
Hire slower.
Sleep better.
Aedin Insight embeds senior fractional CTO leadership into growing companies: part time cost, full time judgment. Architecture, hiring, and roadmap decisions handled by someone who's shipped before.
// who this is for
Three ways a fractional CTO earns their keep
Founders
You've got product-market fit and a growing backlog of technical decisions nobody on the team is qualified to own alone.
Growing teams
Your engineers need direction and a career ladder, not just another req to fill.
Investors & boards
You need technical due diligence and ongoing oversight, without adding a permanent engineering seat to the board.
// services
What's actually on the roadmap
Technical due diligence
Pre-raise or pre-acquisition assessments that tell you what you're actually buying, before the wire transfer clears.
Architecture & scaling
Systems designed to survive 10x growth, not just carry today's traffic.
Team & hiring
Interview loops, org design, and hiring your first engineer or your fifteenth.
Roadmap & prioritization
Turn a wishlist into a sequence your team can actually build, in an order that makes sense.
Vendor & tool strategy
Stop paying for six SaaS tools doing the job of two.
Board & investor updates
Technical progress explained in language your board actually trusts.
// how engagements work
The engagement log
Every engagement follows the same release cycle. No surprise scope creep, no vague "strategy phase" that never ships.
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v0.1
Discovery
Two weeks. A full audit of your stack, team, and roadmap. No assumptions carried over from the last engineer who left.
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v0.4
Assessment
A prioritized, unvarnished list of what's broken, what's risky, and what can genuinely wait.
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v1.0
Roadmap
A plan your team can execute without you sitting in every single meeting.
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v1.x
Execution
Ongoing fractional leadership on a weekly or monthly cadence, tuned to what the team needs right now.
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v2.0
Handoff
A full-time hire, an internal promotion, or a continued partnership. Your roadmap, your call.
// about
Michael Morales
Michael has spent over twenty years building technology for teams ranging from AT&T's original Wireless Division to Google, Toptal, and Scale AI, where he currently evaluates and improves large language models. In between, he's architected e-commerce platforms that moved the ROI needle by 80%, led development teams through full SDLC cycles, and shipped a mobile app schools across the country still use to run dismissal.
He holds a PhD in Computer Engineering from Boston University and certifications spanning AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Linux, and security. Based in Albuquerque, he works with teams wherever they are.
Book a call with Michael// faq
Questions worth answering up front
What does a fractional CTO cost?
Engagements are scoped after a discovery call and typically run on a monthly retainer, well below the cost of a full-time CTO hire and equity grant. Most clients start with a two-week discovery phase before committing to an ongoing cadence.
When should a startup hire a fractional CTO?
Common triggers include reaching product-market fit without technical leadership in place, preparing for a fundraise that requires technical due diligence, or a growing engineering team that needs direction and career structure.
How is a fractional CTO different from a full-time CTO?
A fractional CTO provides senior technical leadership on a part-time or project basis, without a full-time salary, equity grant, or long-term commitment, while a company scales toward needing a full-time seat.
Do you work with companies outside Albuquerque?
Yes. Aedin Insight is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and works remotely with teams across the US.
What does the engagement process look like?
Every engagement follows the same cycle: discovery, assessment, roadmap, execution, and handoff. Discovery is a two-week audit of the stack, team, and roadmap, followed by a prioritized assessment and a plan the team can actually execute.
Do I need to give up equity to work with a fractional CTO?
No. Engagements with Aedin Insight do not require equity to start the conversation or to work together.
Can a fractional CTO help with technical due diligence for a fundraise?
Yes. Technical due diligence for investors and boards, before a raise or acquisition, is one of the core services, covering codebase, architecture, and team assessment.
What happens at the end of an engagement?
Handoff typically ends in one of three ways: a full-time CTO hire, an internal promotion to fill the role, or a continued fractional partnership, depending on what the company's roadmap calls for.