“I don’t know what I don’t know.”
Within 30 days you have a clear map of your systems, risks, and gaps — on one page.
- Years running business systems
- 13+
- To a full Systems Map
- 30 days
- Max response time
- 1 day
- Openings for Q1 2027
- 2
Why owners call us
You are likely here because…
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“Every vendor is selling me something.”
Someone on your side vets them, negotiates, and says no when the answer is no.
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“Tech projects drag and I can’t tell if they’re on track.”
Every initiative has an owner, a date, and a status you can read in two minutes.
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One Owner
Roadmap, vendors, architecture, and priorities sit with one senior person — not with you by default.
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Senior Judgment
Executive-level technology decisions from someone who has made them before, scoped to what your business needs.
Power Techniques Inc. Field operations connected from site to office 
WHAT YOU GET
What you get, and when.
FIRST 30 DAYS
Systems Map and 90-day plan
Every system, vendor, risk, and gap on one page, plus the first quarter's priorities.
Your first month, done
EVERY FRIDAY
Written update
The scoreboard, what moved, what's blocked, what we need from you. Two minutes to read.
13× per quarter
EVERY TWO WEEKS
60-minute working session
Decisions, priorities, vendor and project review with you or your leadership team.
6× per quarter
EVERY QUARTER
Half-day strategic review
The plan and scoreboard reset for the next 90 days. In person where practical.
1× per quarter
Always on
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Decision log
Every technology decision in plain English, with the reason and the date.
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Direct access
Email or message, answered within one business day.
WHAT'S IN THE RETAINER
Decisions, direction, and accountability.
Anything that ships code, fixes a device, or takes on-call responsibility is priced separately.
Included
- Technology roadmap and 90-day plans
- Architecture and build-vs-buy decisions
- Vendor selection, negotiation, oversight, and replacement
- Hiring input: job descriptions, interviews, contractor evaluation. You make the employment call
- Security posture review and priorities
- AI adoption: what to use, what to avoid, and the guardrails
- Specs and requirements for any build, whoever builds it
- Growth Care for products we built: monitoring, P1 response, and 15 retained hours / month
Not included
- Building software — quoted separately as Design & Build
- Support for other live systems — that's Application Care, with its own response times
- IT helpdesk work: laptops, passwords, email admin. We'll help you pick a managed IT provider, then manage them
- 24/7 or emergency response, or managing your staff day to day
- Extra retained hours, hourly rates, or overage billing beyond your Growth Care plan
Transparent plans
Two ways to start.
A monthly retainer when you're ready to hand over the technology picture, or a two-week diagnostic if you'd rather see the map first.
Fractional CTO Retainer
From $8,000 / mo
- 3-month minimum, then month to month
- 30 days' written notice, any time after month two
- Starts within two weeks of signing; first month prorated
- Billed monthly in advance on the 1st
- Your rate is locked for the first six months
- Includes Growth Care for products we built
Not sure yet?
Start with a Technology Diagnostic
$7,500 · two weeks
We interview you and your key people, inventory your systems and vendors, and run a four-hour working session with your leadership team. You get your Systems Map, a punch list of immediate fixes, your risks and blind spots, and a 90-day plan — with a plain recommendation: a fractional CTO, a build, or a plan you run yourselves.
If you go on to a retainer, your first month is already done.
WHO YOU'D WORK WITH
One senior person, accountable.
Andrew Smith
Founder, Stiff Upper Lip
Andrew has led enterprise software architecture for a national multi-unit brand and has spent 13+ years designing and running business systems.
In Andrew's words
Most of the technology problems I get pulled into started as reasonable decisions. A vendor chosen fast because the demo was great or the timeline demanded it. A platform built for 10 users that now carries 10,000. A strong engineering team shipping hard in a direction nobody pressure-tested. By the time it shows up as missed deadlines or a surprise invoice, the cause is often two or three decisions back.
I work on those decisions: platform and tech choices, vendor evaluation and procurement, and building engineering teams that don’t burn out. Much of that is translating between what the business wants and what the technology can do, and making the trade-offs visible to both sides.
Questions I come back to often
- Should we build or buy?
- What breaks first when we scale?
- Is this a technology problem or a team structure problem? (It’s the second one more often than people expect.)
Frequently Asked Questions
Finding the Right Fit
You also build software. Isn’t that a conflict?
When we recommend a build, we’ll tell you upfront whether we’d like to bid on it. You get the recommendation and the spec in writing before any SUL quote, and you’re free to take that spec to anyone. You own it either way, and when we’re bidding, you make the vendor decision.
What's the minimum commitment?
Three months, then month to month. After month two you can end it any time with 30 days' written notice.
What if something comes up that doesn't fit the cadence?
It becomes a scoped project, quoted separately, or we reprioritize it at the next working session. You never get a surprise invoice for hours.
How is this different from Application Care?
Fractional CTO is direction and accountability: the roadmap, vendors, and decisions. Application Care keeps a live system running, with its own response times. If we built your product and you're on Growth Care, Fractional CTO is the upgrade: the retainer includes your Growth Care plan, and we add the direction on top.
Do you hire people for us?
We write the job descriptions, sit in on interviews, and evaluate contractors. You make the employment call.
How do we get started?
Book a 30-minute strategy call. If you're not sure yet, start with a two-week Technology Diagnostic — if you move to a retainer, your first month is already done.
Not the right fit for your current challenge?
Technical leadership comes in many forms. Whether you need a product built, AI woven into your workflows, or a long-term partner in your corner — there's a door for that.
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Software Design and Build
You have the idea. You need it built. Discovery through launch, one team — design and engineering together.
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AI Integration
Where AI actually fits in your business, built private on our own models — not as a bolt-on demo.
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Technology Strategy
Not sure what to build yet — or whether to build at all? We diagnose first, then hand you a roadmap: what to build, what to buy, what to skip.
