Fractional & Interim CTO
Some companies need a steady hand on an ongoing basis. Some need someone in the building this week because the team is in trouble. Both are the same skill set, applied on a different clock.
A fractional CTO gives a company senior technical leadership without a full-time executive hire: architecture and technical strategy, technology budget ownership, engineering org design and hiring, and delivery process, on an ongoing part-time basis. An interim CTO is the same leadership brought in for a bounded period to stabilize a specific crisis, whether that's a leadership vacancy, a stalled release process, or an engineering org that has lost technical direction. Tienta provides both under one engagement, backed by two decades running real engineering organizations. That includes taking one team's release cadence from 1 deployment a month to 90 in four months, and stepping in to stabilize technical leadership through an active crisis.
The work is the same kind of judgment either way. What changes is the clock it runs on.
For steady-state leadership
A standing technical executive, part-time, for companies that need senior judgment on an ongoing basis but aren't ready for, or don't need, a full-time hire.
For a team in crisis
Brought in for a bounded period to stabilize a specific situation: a departure, a stalled delivery process, or an engineering org that needs a steady hand while a permanent search runs.
Three engagements, three different starting points:
1 → 90 deployments/month in 4 months
Surefire: brought in to lead organizational transformation for the engineering team, building AI-native tooling and delivery practices from scratch and rearchitecting how the team shipped software.
40M+ messages/month at 99.9% deliverability
Txtwire Technologies: stepped into CTO-level leadership during an active crisis to stabilize the organization, rebuild technical leadership continuity, and scale infrastructure to handle high-volume messaging reliably.
100K+ users, 6 SaaS platforms, one 12-year run
EntryPoint Networks: built the technical foundation from the ground up and led it through a twelve-year run as the company scaled, including navigating a private equity transition.
See the full detail on these, plus the capability patterns behind other engagements, on the portfolio. See the work →
Founders and executives who need senior judgment without a full-time hire, whether that's steady-state leadership, a specific crisis to stabilize, or a piece of software built end-to-end. If you're not sure which mode fits, that's exactly what the first conversation is for.
Duration and purpose, not skill set. Fractional is ongoing, part-time technical leadership for a company that doesn't need, or isn't ready for, a full-time hire. Interim is the same leadership for a bounded period, brought in to stabilize something specific: a departure, a stalled delivery process, a crisis. Some engagements start as one and become the other once the immediate problem is solved.
The first conversation is a 30-minute call, and it's about understanding what's actually happening before anything is scoped. Interim engagements move faster than a normal hiring process by design: the whole point is continuity now, not after a multi-month search.
Scoped to the engagement rather than a flat number, since an ongoing fractional arrangement and a bounded interim stabilization are different shapes of work. Baseline rates start at $150/hr; see the full capabilities and rates breakdown on the Services page. Actual scope gets nailed down on a call.
Yes. Based in Idaho Falls, and working with companies there and remotely across the country. The leadership work runs the same either way, just over video instead of in person.
No, the seat is executive, not advisory. That means technology budget ownership, hiring and team leadership, and board or investor communication, not just recommendations handed to someone else to execute.
Depends on why it started. Some interim engagements end with a permanent hire in place and a clean handoff; some convert into an ongoing fractional arrangement once the immediate crisis is resolved and steady-state leadership is what's actually needed.
Based in Idaho Falls, working with companies here and remotely across the country. An interim engagement runs the same either way: the difference is whether the work happens at your table or over video.
A 30-minute conversation is enough to know whether this is ongoing partnership, a bounded turnaround, or something else entirely. No cost, no obligation.
