A CTO’s judgment. Not a CTO’s salary.
Most companies that think they need a full-time CTO really need about eight to ten days of one each month. With D-Sign you get the strategy, the hiring help, and the hard decisions, without paying for an executive you may not be ready to keep busy.
Four signs it’s time.
Wrong decisions are getting costly to undo
Early on, everything is a quick fix. Once you have real customers and real data, one wrong technology decision can cost you months to unwind.
You’re hiring faster than you can judge people
Engineers are your most expensive hires. Right now, no one in the room can tell a real expert from someone who just sounds confident.
A tech problem could now hurt the whole business
Security, downtime, or the one senior developer who holds the whole system in their head. When a tech failure could sink the company, you need someone senior owning it.
Big customers ask questions you can’t answer
Larger buyers ask how you handle security and how things are built. Those questions are slowing down your deals.
Notice what’s not on that list: “we just raised money” or “our competitors have a CTO.” Neither is a real reason. And if you’re honestly not sure which group you’re in, that’s a sign to look closer, not to hire yet. There’s a full post on exactly that.
What D-Sign actually does.
Set the direction
Decide what to build, what to buy, and what to stop, based on the business, not just the to-do list.
Hire and shape the team
Sit in the interviews that matter, design the team, and find the two or three hires that unblock everything else.
Make the hard calls
Security, cloud cost, build-versus-buy, and more. Made fast, in writing, with the reasons explained in plain language.
Speak to your investors
Be the credible technical voice in an investor check or a board meeting when you need one.
A steady seat: a day or two a week, a real stake in your success, and a plan to hand over as your team grows.
Not sure it’s a CTO you even need?
A lot of first calls end with ‘you need a senior lead, not a CTO’, and that alone can save you a year and a big salary. Let’s find out which one is true for you.