Becsi
A few shapes an engagement usually takes - some measured in weeks, some in the length of a build. What stays constant is the ownership and a clearly defined scope, not the duration.
You don't need a full-time CTO for a raise - you need someone credible in the room when investors start asking the hard questions. I step in on contract, own the architecture story and the roadmap, then step back once it's done.
Sometimes the gap isn't headcount, it's direction. I come in as founding engineer just long enough to turn a half-formed idea into an architecture and a written plan your team can build from. Then I hand it off - no lock-in, no dependency on me to ship it.
Before you raise, hire, or sell, you need something real in front of people. I build fixed-scope MVPs on a set timeline - proof over polish, with a clear line where the engagement ends.
Not every engagement is short. Some need sustained hands-on ownership - architecture, code, the whole system - for six to twelve months, without the overhead of a permanent hire. Same standards as everything above, just for the length of a build.
Founding engineer with 15 years building production systems. I take ownership of architecture decisions when nobody else can - and I don't just draw boxes, I build the thing. Eight years at Veratrak: two platforms, end-to-end, from blank canvas to live in production including a complex B2B supply chain integration hub processing partner file transactions across AS2 and SFTP for enterprise pharma clients in a GxP-regulated environment.
I'm drawn to the moments where the problem isn't defined yet. Give me a BRD, a napkin sketch, or a half-baked idea - I'll turn it into something that keeps running.
Every engagement follows the same shape. First I understand the system - not just the feature, the whole thing. Then I write the spec before anyone touches code. Then we build it properly. Then we ship it. Then I make sure it doesn't fall apart - because maintenance is part of the work.
Node.js and TypeScript as the core. NestJS for structure. AWS end-to-end - Lambda, Step Functions, ECS, EventBridge. Docker and CI/CD so it ships. Observability so you know it's working.
- Architectural clarity when the problem is still fuzzy
- Technical specs engineers can actually build from
- End-to-end ownership - not just tickets
- Systems that ship and keep shipping
- Honest assessment of what's debt and what isn't
- Migrations that don't break things - including single-tenant to multi-tenant at scale
- Cutting third-party costs by replacing vendors with native cloud solutions