Fractional Advisory for System Formation & De-Risking
I help early-stage and scaling teams turn convincing demos into real, defensible systems — or identify when they shouldn’t be built at all.
This work sits at the intersection of architecture, product, delivery, and risk. It’s not feature delivery by default, and it’s not staff augmentation. It’s senior judgment applied early, when decisions are still reversible.
This work is equally effective for established organizations operating in early-stage conditions — new platforms, AI initiatives, or high-uncertainty bets where senior judgment is needed before scale makes mistakes expensive.
I’m also engaged for targeted technical due diligence and forensic review — assessing whether systems, architectures, and claims actually hold up under scrutiny, and surfacing risk before it becomes reputational or financial.
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What I Do
I operate as a fractional Chief Architect / Head of Product & Delivery, helping teams:
• Define clear system boundaries, constraints, and sequencing
• Translate investor, customer, and market signals into technically coherent product direction
• Identify illusion-based progress before credibility is spent
• Design systems with auditability, authority separation, and regulatory defensibility built in
• Pressure-test execution plans against real inputs: scope, budget, infrastructure, and continuity
This work is advisory-first, asynchronous by default, and explicitly time-bounded.
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Typical Engagements
I’m most often brought in when a team is:
• Pre- or post-funding and needs to turn vision into something real
• Scaling too early and feeling delivery friction without understanding why
• Introducing AI into regulated, high-impact, or safety-sensitive workflows
• Preparing for enterprise customers, audits, or investor scrutiny
• Unsure whether the next step is build, pause, or stop
• Pre-investment or pre-enterprise diligence to validate technical claims and delivery readiness
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90-Day Engagement Model
Most engagements follow a simple cadence:
Days 1–30: System Formation
• Clarify product scope and non-goals
• Establish architectural and execution constraints
• Identify core risks, false assumptions, and sequencing errors
Days 31–60: De-Risking & Direction
• Pressure-test delivery plans and timelines
• Align product, engineering, and business expectations
• Define what “done” actually means (and what it doesn’t)
Days 61–90: Decision Support
• Support execution where inputs are sufficient
• Prepare for investors, customers, or audits
• Make an explicit call: proceed, re-scope, or stop
Continuation beyond 90 days is optional and month-to-month.
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Common Failure Patterns I’m Often Brought in Too Late to Fix
• Demo-driven development mistaken for working systems
• Undefined authority boundaries, especially with AI
• Execution without inputs (timelines without scope, budget, or infra)
• Premature scaling pressure driven by optics, not readiness
• Siloed decision-making before the system can tolerate it
• Treating senior advisory as extra hands instead of independent judgment
My role exists to surface these patterns early — while correction is still cheap.
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How This Works
• Fractional, non-exclusive, non-employment engagement
• Fixed monthly retainer, paid in advance
• Advisory by default; execution only when explicitly agreed
• No open-ended delivery obligations
• Work stops cleanly if the retainer stops
Simple by design.
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Who This Is For
• Founders and leaders who value clarity over optimism
• Teams willing to hear “not yet” or “don’t build this”
• Organizations where architecture and execution must move together
Who This Is Not For
• Validation seeking
• Staff augmentation
• “Just build it and we’ll figure it out later”
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If this resonates, reach out. If it doesn’t, that’s likely a useful signal for both of us.