Engagements
Priced in problems, not headcount.
Every engagement answers a decision, and every engagement is designed to end. Artifacts, not activities — and each tier says who it is for and who it is not.
Start here
Diagnostic
$25,000 fixed
3 weeks · fixed scope
3 weeks, full attention
One decision, examined properly. You bring the question; I bring objective inputs and a written recommendation you can hand to a board.
Advisory Retainer
$15,000
three months
4–8 hrs per month
A standing outside read. Decisions arrive continuously and you want judgment from someone with context who is not inside the politics.
Technology Leadership
also known as fractional CTO
$30,000
three-month minimum
or $50,000 six months
20–40 hrs per month
Someone owns the technology agenda and is accountable for it. Strategy, team structure, roadmap, and the board conversation — decided rather than defaulted.
Embedded Technology Leadership
From $50,000
six months · 1–2 days per week
1–2 days per week
The same ownership at a weekly cadence, for companies where technology is on the critical path to the plan.
Interim
$50,000
six months · embedded
1–2 days per week
You lost a technical leader, or you are preparing to hire one. I hold the function while the role gets defined and filled.
Technical Due Diligence
$35,000–$50,000
per transaction
2–4 weeks per transaction
Pre-acquisition assessment of architecture, security, scalability, and the team — written for the IC, not for theater.
Portfolio Technology Partner
From $50,000/month
fund retainer
Standing capacity across the portfolio
Standing diligence capacity plus portfolio support through the bench — for funds that underwrite technology risk repeatedly.
What the first 30 days look like
The objection that actually blocks this decision is not price. It is what part-time leadership looks like day to day.
- Days 1–10
- Listen. Every engineer one-on-one, the codebase, the incident history, the last four sprints. No recommendations yet.
- Days 11–20
- Diagnose. Where delivery actually stalls, which risks are real, and which of them can wait a quarter.
- Days 21–30
- Decide. A written plan with sequencing, owners, and dates — reviewed with you and then with the team that has to run it.
No 60-slide assessment. A plan your team starts executing in month two.
What moves the price
Diligence sits in a published range because scope is not fixed until the data room opens. A larger portfolio, regulated buyers, or compressed close timelines push toward the top of the range.
More systems in scope — multiple products, legacy cores, or vendor sprawl — do the same. Narrower questions and clean access keep the work at the floor of the band.
Customers
Compare
Side-by-side
Scroll horizontally on small screens — the table stays intact for scanners.
| Criterion | Diagnostic | Advisory Retainer | Technology Leadership | Embedded Technology Leadership | Interim | Technical Due Diligence | Portfolio Technology Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $25,000 fixed | $15,000 | $30,000 / $50,000 | From $50,000 | $50,000 | $35,000–$50,000 | From $50,000/month |
| Structure | 3 weeks · fixed scope | three months | three-month minimum · six months | six months · 1–2 days per week | six months · embedded | per transaction | fund retainer |
| Effort | 3 weeks, full attention | 4–8 hrs per month | 20–40 hrs per month | 1–2 days per week | 1–2 days per week | 2–4 weeks per transaction | Standing capacity across the portfolio |
| Minimum | One sprint | 3 months | 3 months | 6 months | 6 months | One deal | Quarterly review |
| Primary artifact | Findings + risk register | Standing access + decision reviews | Roadmap ownership + board reporting | Operating cadence + roadmap | Function held + clean handoff | IC-ready report | Diligence capacity + portfolio triage |
| Buyer | Deal team / CEO | CEO / founder | CEO / founder | CEO / founder | CEO / board | Deal partner | Fund / operating partner |
| Best first step | Assessment → sprint | Assessment → conversation | Assessment → conversation | Assessment → embed | Conversation | Conversation | Conversation |
Process
How engagements work
01
Start with the risk
You start with the Technical Risk Assessment — twelve questions, four minutes, no email until the last one. If you already know the shape of the work, request a conversation instead.
02
Scope the engagement
We pick the tier that matches the problem — sprint, embed, diligence, or fund retainer — and write the artifacts and dates before any invoice.
03
Deliver and decide
You get the written outputs, not a slide theater. From there you remediate, embed, or close the deal. If quality is the finding, Vigil is an option with the conflict disclosed.
FAQ
Questions that usually come before a kickoff
Adjacent product
When the finding is quality
When a diagnostic identifies testing and release-quality failure as the binding constraint, the client can be routed to Vigil — a spec-driven autonomous QA platform built by Helix Platform, Inc. (helixbots.ai), which I co-founded and run as CEO.
Conflict of interest, stated plainly: I have an ownership interest in Helix. Advisory recommendations that mention Vigil are disclosed as such. You can decline the referral and still get the full advisory work product. The assessment and the sprint do not require Vigil.
Start with the risk, not the retainer.
Complete the Technical Risk Assessment, or request a confidential conversation if you already know the shape of the work.