Startup Technical Advisor
Founders decide on architecture, hires, vendors, and AI bets almost every week, usually with nobody senior around to check the reasoning against. I take that seat on a monthly retainer: a standing call, review of what your team is building, and async access when a decision can't wait until next week.
A startup technical advisor is a senior engineer or CTO who gives founders judgment on architecture, hiring, and technology spend on a recurring basis, without joining the company as an operator. Oleg Sotnikov advises founders on a month-to-month retainer from $3,000/month, covering weekly strategy calls, architecture and code review, hiring support, and async access by Telegram or email between calls. He has founded nine startups with two exits and spent 25+ years leading engineering, so the advice comes from the founder's side of the table as well as the CTO's.
What the Advisory Covers
Six kinds of decision that show up on nearly every retainer.
Architecture and stack decisions
Build or buy, monolith or services, which database, when a rewrite is worth it. You get the reasoning along with the answer, so your team can defend the choice after the call ends.
Hiring: sourcing, interviews, offers
I help write the role, screen candidates, run the technical interview, and shape the offer. Your first few engineers set the bar for everyone hired after them, and that bar is hard to raise later.
Translating tech for investors and the board
Diligence questions, board slides, the technical half of a raise. I help you describe what you built in terms investors already trust, and flag what they will push on before they do.
AI adoption guidance
Where AI removes real work from your product and your team, and where it buys a demo in exchange for a maintenance burden. I operate a platform that processes 11B+ tokens a month, so this comes from running it rather than reading about it.
Vendor and agency oversight
Review of agency contracts, statements of work, and what the outsourced team actually delivered against them. With nobody in-house who can read the code, this is the easiest place in a startup to overpay.
A founder sounding board
Being the technical founder is a lonely job: the people closest to a decision are usually part of it. I've been in that chair nine times, and an outside voice with no stake in the outcome is worth more than it sounds.
How the Retainer Works
Intro call
A free 30-minute call about where the company is, what's actually blocking it, and whether you need an advisor or a hands-on fractional CTO. If it's neither, I'll tell you that on the call.
Weekly cadence
One call a week at a fixed time, plus async access by Telegram and email in between. Much of the value moves through the async channel: decisions rarely wait politely for Thursday.
Compounding context
By the third month I know your codebase, your team, and the arguments you've already had. Answers get faster and more specific, which is the part a one-off consultant can never sell you.
Why Me
- Nine startups founded and two exits — the founder's side of this is lived experience for me, not a case study
- 25+ years leading engineering, including platforms serving users in 190+ countries at 99.99% uptime
- I mentor accelerator cohorts and their portfolio founders, so the same decisions pass in front of me across many companies at once
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a technical advisor do for a startup?
A startup advisor with an engineering background gives founders senior engineering judgment on a recurring basis without taking an operating role. In practice that means architecture and stack decisions, reviewing what the team ships, running technical interviews, and being the person a founder checks a decision against before committing to it. Managing the team and owning delivery stay with the founder.
Technical advisor or fractional CTO — which do I need?
Advisory buys judgment; a fractional CTO buys execution. If you have a team that ships and you need someone senior to pressure-test decisions and help you hire, advisory from $3,000/month covers it. If nobody owns engineering — no roadmap, no hiring plan, nobody accountable for delivery — the hands-on fractional CTO engagement at $5,000–10,000/month is the right shape instead.
How much does a technical advisor cost?
My advisory retainer starts at $3,000/month and runs month-to-month, so you can stop at the end of any month. It covers weekly strategy calls, architecture and code review, hiring support, and async access in between. The pricing page has the full picture, including the fixed-price audit and the fractional CTO tier at $5,000–10,000/month.
How do advisor compensation models work?
Three arrangements are common in the market: a monthly cash retainer, an equity grant vesting over a set period under a standard advisor agreement, or a hybrid of the two. Equity tends to suit pre-revenue companies with no cash and a light time commitment; a cash retainer suits companies that want real weekly hours and a clean way to end it. My published model is a cash retainer from $3,000/month, and the free advisor agreement template on this site works for whichever model you pick.
How much of your time do we get?
A few hours a week: a scheduled call plus async questions in between. That is the point of the format: an advisor is there for the decisions that shape your next six months, not for the daily standup. Founders who need substantially more hours than that are usually describing a fractional CTO engagement.
Get a Senior Technical Voice in the Room
A free 30-minute call to work out whether an advisor is what you need. If another format fits better, I'll say so.
Month-to-month, cancel anytime · 3 client slots open for 2026
Related reading
Notes on hiring, architecture calls, and the AI decisions founders face early.
