Part-time technical leadership
Fractional CTO
Senior technical ownership for startups and growing companies that need the decisions, team structure and delivery discipline of a CTO without a full-time hire.
Discuss the engagement See what I own- 2008
- Building digital products since
- 40+
- Apps shipped
- 400M+
- Cumulative downloads
Clément Sauvage · Bits’n Coffee
Senior technical ownership, part-time.
Clément Sauvage is a senior product engineer and fractional CTO who provides part-time technical leadership to startups and growing companies. He has built digital products since 2008 across native Apple platforms, web products, backend systems and applied AI. Companies bring him in when the product needs a technical owner who can choose the stack, structure the architecture, build or steer the team and keep delivery honest.
He works directly with pre-seed and seed founders without a technical co-founder, and with CEOs of SMEs and scale-ups whose engineering teams need senior ownership. Based in France, he works in English and French across Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States and Switzerland. Engagements remain senior-led by Clément, with trusted specialists added through Bits’n Coffee when the scope needs more hands.
When to bring me in
Where I take ownership.
The role is useful when technology needs one accountable owner, but the company does not need—or cannot yet justify—a full-time CTO.
What does the company need?
You are launching a first product without a CTO
Define the first version, choose the stack, set the architecture and engineering conventions, then select or assemble the people who will build it before money is committed to a weak plan.
Your team ships slowly and nobody can say why
Diagnose whether architecture, process, ownership, tooling or scope is slowing delivery, then sequence the fixes without stopping the product roadmap.
You are preparing a fundraise or technical due diligence
Prepare credible answers on architecture, scalability, security, technical debt, team structure and roadmap, and fix the material issues before investors ask about them.
Your CTO or lead developer has left
Step in as interim technical owner, stabilize delivery, document concentrated knowledge and decide whether the next step is a permanent hire or a differently structured team.
What I actually own
Decisions owned. Delivery accountable.
A fractional CTO owns the decisions that connect product, technology, people and delivery. Advice is useful; accountable follow-through is the service.
Technology choices
Own decisions about stack, infrastructure and tooling, and document the reasoning so the company is not dependent on one person’s memory.
Architecture
Define product boundaries, what is built or bought, what must be solid from day one and what can remain deliberately simple.
Team and delivery
Define roles, run technical interviews, onboard engineers, arbitrate between employees, freelancers and agencies, and maintain a credible delivery cadence.
Product and business alignment
Make technical trade-offs in the conversations where customer value, company priorities, runway and engineering constraints meet.
Hands-on where it matters
Review, set direction and unblock. Stay closer to implementation at the beginning or in a very small team, then step back as ownership grows.
Relevant experience
Leadership, proven in production.
Verified engagements where product, platform, team and business decisions had to move together.
Operating model
Make the decisions. Build the system. Transfer the ownership.
There is no default stack or fixed operating model. The product, team, hiring market, risk and stage determine the answer—and the company should be able to own that answer after the engagement.
- 01Choose
Fit technology to the company
Choose stack and architecture from the product, the people who will build it, its expected life, hiring reality and material risk—not personal comfort or novelty.
- 02Mobile
Start native when mobile is the product
Use Swift and SwiftUI on Apple platforms and native Android when platform experience creates product value, without rewriting existing cross-platform products out of ideology.
- 03Backend
Keep boundaries clear and operations proportionate
Prefer services with understandable boundaries and serverless infrastructure when workload, regulation, cost and team skills make it a responsible fit.
- 04AI
Use AI with explicit ownership
Decide where models improve the product, how failures and inference costs are handled, and introduce coding agents inside an architecture humans still set, review and own.
- 05Engage
Work recurring or scoped
Lead one to two days a week over several months, run a defined foundation mission, or combine an intensive start with a lighter recurring presence.
- 06Transfer
End without dependency
Leave documented decisions, architecture the team understands, predictable delivery and a clear view of whether a permanent CTO is the right next hire.
Frequently asked questions
Clear before the first decision.
Scope, responsibility and the end of the engagement should be explicit from the start.
What does a fractional CTO actually do?
A fractional CTO provides senior technical leadership part-time: technology and architecture decisions, team structure and hiring, delivery management, and the technical side of investor and partner conversations.
How is a fractional CTO different from a technical consultant?
A consultant advises on a defined problem. A fractional CTO owns decisions, team, delivery and outcomes for the duration of the engagement.
How much time do you commit?
Usually one to two days a week for recurring engagements, or a defined block of time for a scoped mission. The right amount depends on the company stage and team size.
Do you still write code as a fractional CTO?
Little. Most time goes to architecture, review, decisions and the team. In a very small company or at the start of an engagement, Clément stays closer to implementation and steps back as the team grows.
Which technologies do you recommend?
None by default. The stack should match the product, team and hiring reality. Native mobile, clear backend boundaries and serverless infrastructure are starting positions only when the project constraints support them.
Can you help us hire a permanent CTO?
Yes. Defining the role, interviewing candidates and handing over a documented technical foundation is a natural end to a fractional engagement.
Do you work with companies outside France?
Yes. Clément is based in France, works in English and French, and takes engagements across Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States and Switzerland.
Tell me where the company is.
I’ll tell you how I would lead it.
Share what you are building, who is on the team, what has already been decided and what is blocking you. I’ll personally review it and explain how I would take on the technical leadership.
Discuss the engagement