Direction and sequencing
Turn competing requests into a coherent next stage. Define what the team can deliver, the dependencies it must resolve, and the decisions that can wait.
Fractional CTO / Moon Sherpa LabsMOON SHERPA / LABS
A technical partner
for the next decision.
For founders and operators who need senior technical judgment close to the work. Get a clear view of what to build, what to keep, and what needs attention before the next commitment.
Technical leadership / Sequence the decisions
The next release starts before the code.
A technical plan connects ownership, operational risk, and delivery. Explore the emphasis at three points in a planning horizon.
SUBJECT STUDY / 07EXPLORE THE MODEL
An illustrative planning sequence, not a promise of delivery dates. Scope and dependencies determine the actual plan.
THE DECISION IN VIEW
Find the constraints that matter.
Understand the system, the team, the business priorities, and the risks affecting everyday work. Clarify ownership and identify the next decision with enough evidence to act.
- Start with
- People, systems, obligations, and priorities
- Make possible
- A shared baseline and a short decision list
An inventory is useful when it changes what the team does next.
The opportunity
Make the next decision with a builder.
Technical decisions arrive before a company is ready to hire a full-time technology leader. You may be evaluating an AI product, questioning a proposed rewrite, preparing to scale an application, or trying to understand why delivery has stalled.
A fractional engagement creates space for that judgment without separating it from implementation. Austin Archuleta leads the work, connecting business priorities to the architecture, code, and operating details behind the recommendation.
The decision, made clearer
Choose the engagement around the decision.
| Your situation | A useful engagement | A tangible output |
|---|---|---|
| A major technical choice is approaching | Focused review | Options, tradeoffs, and a recommended next step |
| The roadmap is hard to deliver | Technical direction | Priorities, dependencies, and a staged delivery plan |
| A product needs sustained senior ownership | Fractional leadership | A recurring decision and delivery cadence |
| One important feature needs a builder | Defined implementation work | A scoped release with review and handover |
A good starting point
A founder or operator needs an experienced technical counterpart and is ready to share the actual constraints, existing work, and decision authority.
A boundary worth discussing
Fractional leadership is not a substitute for every engineering role. We define what the engagement owns and what your team or another specialist will handle.
What we can build
Where experienced judgment helps.
Architecture and system review
Inspect an existing application and its operational context. Separate urgent concerns from improvements that can be scheduled.
AI and vendor evaluation
Evaluate the fit of a model, platform, vendor proposal, or existing product against a real workflow. Ask what it can demonstrate and what it leaves for your team.
Delivery alongside the team
Support implementation decisions, code review, hiring conversations, and handover where they are part of the engagement. Keep the advice close to what gets shipped.
Working together
Clarity should leave something useful behind.
Name the immediate decision
Start with the commitment you are facing, the information you have, and the deadline that matters.
Inspect before recommending
Review the relevant implementation and speak with the people responsible for building and using it.
Write down the tradeoffs
Make the assumptions, dependencies, and recommendation concrete enough for the business to evaluate.
Agree the next responsibility
Move into delivery or hand over a clear plan. Establish the review cadence and an exit path from the engagement.
In practice
Judgment informed by systems we operate.
The portfolio spans improving an established ERP, building an AI product, and operating customer-facing software. That range informs the tradeoffs we help clients make.
ERP Modernization · AWS · Web
Sun Tile Corporation
A client-controlled Laravel ERP on AWS, a repeatable release workflow, and a new Next.js storefront for an established Central Texas flooring company.
Inside the buildAI Platform · CRM Intelligence
Follow Up Ace
An AI layer for Follow Up Boss that ranks the day and prepares personal follow-up drafts, with a shared assistant across the CRM, Claude, ChatGPT, and an iPhone companion.
Inside the buildCompare the approaches
What should happen before the rewrite?
Start with the friction the team can demonstrate. Compare the case for connecting, modernizing, or building, and turn the next decision into a useful first release.
THE DECISION ROOMPlanning exercise · example assumptions
One business. Several possible paths.
The highlighted path is a starting hypothesis. Inspect the assumptions before choosing an implementation.
Exploring / Repair & modernize
What must become dependable before the next feature can ship?
The operating model still fits. Fragile releases, unclear ownership, or unreliable infrastructure make changes difficult.
- What has to be true
- Important workflows and records are worth preserving. The existing application can be inspected and improved in stages.
- What to check first
- Establish access, backups, a repeatable release path, and a checked migration plan before changing the live operation.
- A useful first deliverable
- A controlled release on a dependable foundation, followed by one improvement the team can use in its existing workflow.
In practice: Sun Tile. ERP modernization and a new public storefront solved different parts of the same business. The right answer can combine these paths.
Explore the decisionsBefore we begin
The useful questions.
What is a fractional CTO?
A fractional CTO provides senior technical leadership on a defined part-time or contract basis. The engagement can cover direction, architecture, team decisions, and delivery, with responsibilities agreed around what the business needs.
Is this advisory work or hands-on development?
It can include either or both. We define the deliverables and time allocation explicitly so a review engagement is not mistaken for a full implementation team.
Can you work with our developers or existing agency?
Yes. The aim is to clarify priorities and responsibilities around the existing team. A useful engagement includes access to the people and implementation behind the decisions.
When should we hire a full-time technology leader?
When the business needs ongoing leadership and capacity beyond a fractional arrangement. We can help clarify that role and plan a handover rather than making the company dependent on an indefinite engagement.
How should we prepare for the first conversation?
Bring the decision you need to make, the current product or process, who builds and operates it, and any proposal or deadline driving the discussion. A polished technical brief is not required.
How are fractional CTO engagements priced?
We agree the responsibilities, deliverables, cadence, and expected hands-on work before setting the commercial scope. A focused architecture review and recurring delivery leadership are different engagements.
Do you work outside Austin, or across Texas?
Yes. Moon Sherpa Labs is based in Austin and works with teams throughout Texas — Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and beyond — as well as remotely across the United States. Local meetings can be useful when they improve discovery or collaboration, but the engagement structure is the same either way.
Do you offer fractional CTO work for real estate companies?
Yes. Real estate is a sector we know from the inside — the founder ran a real estate team and lead-generation platform in Austin, and we built and operate Follow Up Ace, a production AI layer on Follow Up Boss used by real estate teams. A fractional engagement can cover CRM and lead-routing strategy, vendor evaluation for listing-data integrations, and architecture review for an existing real estate tech stack. See the real estate CRM automation service for what a hands-on engagement looks like.
Let’s make it concrete
What decision is your team trying to make?
Bring the proposed build, the stalled project, or the architectural question. We’ll start with the evidence.
Talk through the next move