Fractional CTO & AI Advisor
Independent AI and technology strategy —
from an operator who ships.
I help leadership teams adopt AI with judgement instead of hype — grounded in eighteen years building and rebuilding commercial technology, and proven in the AI products I design and ship myself.
Retailers, PE-backed portfolios, investors and founders — anywhere a high-stakes AI or platform decision needs an operator's perspective, not a vendor's pitch.
Trusted by teams at
Proof, not slideware
Most people advising on AI have never shipped it.
I have — solo, end to end. These are live products I designed, built and run myself, not case studies from a team I once managed. The same judgement goes into every engagement.
ProductMatch
AI pricing intelligence for Australian retailers. Upload a product photo; it finds visually similar products across the market and returns a defensible floor, sweet-spot and ceiling price in ninety seconds. A live, multi-tenant SaaS — visual AI matching, Stripe billing, the lot.
Live SaaS · designed, built and shipped solo
Digital Starter Kit
Small-business websites built properly and live in days — then hosted, looked after and updated for one flat monthly fee. The slow, expensive part of an agency build is handled by AI tooling I built in-house. The modern alternative to billable hours.
Productised offer · AI-assisted delivery
What I do
Four ways I work with leadership teams
Every engagement is shaped around a specific decision or transition — most of them now with an AI dimension at the centre. I work where strategy meets execution: close enough to the detail to be useful, senior enough to hold the whole picture.
AI & Platform Opportunity Audit
FlagshipWhere AI and platform decisions create genuine leverage — and where they don't.
For
Retailers, scale-ups and enterprise teams weighing AI tools, replatforming, or technology consolidation.
The problem it solves
Too many vendor pitches, too little independent perspective. The AI market in particular runs on hype — decisions stall, or go sideways, without someone who has actually built this and can tell the leverage from the noise.
Likely outcomes
- A clear, honest view of where AI or platform change creates real business value — and where it's a distraction
- A shortlist of credible options with the trade-offs spelled out
- A decision-ready brief your board or leadership team can act on
Engagement: 2–4 week structured engagement, fixed fee
AI-Era Transformation Blueprint
A programme plan that survives contact with reality — not a deck in a drawer.
For
Businesses planning a major platform migration, operating-model change, or multi-workstream transformation in which AI now changes the shape of the work.
The problem it solves
Transformation fails when the plan is built on vendor promises and internal optimism — and AI has added a fresh layer of both. Most consultants are long gone by the time delivery gets hard.
Likely outcomes
- A sequenced roadmap your team can actually execute, with AI factored in where it earns its place
- A vendor shortlist and procurement framework
- A resourcing model, risk register and business case
Engagement: 4–8 week engagement, or ongoing advisory retainer
Fractional CTO Advisory
Senior technology leadership embedded in your business — including the AI calls.
For
Growing businesses that need experienced technology leadership but aren't at the stage where a full-time CTO makes financial or structural sense.
The problem it solves
Without a senior technology voice, decisions default to the vendor, the developer, or whoever shouts loudest — and AI is where that goes wrong fastest, and most expensively. Strategy and execution drift apart.
Likely outcomes
- A consistent senior perspective across the decisions that matter, AI included
- Vendor relationships managed with commercial discipline
- Team capability built over time, not dependent on a single person
Engagement: Ongoing monthly retainer, typically two days per week
Interim CTO
Hands-on technology leadership when you need it most — without the lag of a permanent hire.
For
Startups and growth-stage businesses that need an experienced CTO to set direction, build the team and ship — not advise from the sidelines.
The problem it solves
Early-stage companies can't afford to get architecture wrong, hire the wrong team shape, or burn runway on vendors that don't scale — and "what do we do about AI" usually lands on the same desk. Finding a permanent CTO takes months you don't have.
Likely outcomes
- Architecture designed for your next growth phase, not over-engineered for day one
- An engineering team hired, structured and shipping within weeks
- Vendor costs held tight — and a pragmatic line on where AI actually fits
Engagement: 3–12 month engagement, typically three to four days per week
Where I operate
Eighteen years building and rebuilding technology for commercial businesses
My perspective comes from operating inside the businesses I advise — as CTO, Head of Engineering, Platform Lead and Technical Director. I've led teams through re-platforms, acquisitions, market expansions and the messy middle of organisational change. And I still build: the AI work on this site is mine, hands on keyboard.
Industries
E-commerce, retail, media, marketplaces, automotive, health & wellness
AI capability
Strategy and governance, AI readiness and capability matrices, plus hands-on builds: autonomous agents, AI-powered tools, and live SaaS shipped end to end — see what I've shipped
Capability areas
Platform architecture, vendor selection, team capability, delivery leadership, data strategy
Scale
Series B to ASX-listed. Teams of 5 to 200+. Revenue from $10M to $2B+.
Platforms I've led decisions around
VTEX, Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, Adobe Commerce, custom headless builds, Contentful, Segment, Braze, Snowflake
Selected work
What this looks like in practice
Retail & E-commerce · Fractional CTO — 9 months
Re-platforming a $200M+ multi-brand e-commerce operation
Led the technology strategy and vendor selection for a major Australian retailer moving from a monolithic legacy platform to a composable commerce architecture — without disrupting peak trading.
Retail & Consumer · Transformation Blueprint + Advisory — 5 months
Unifying customer data across a fragmented retail ecosystem
Designed and led the implementation of a customer data platform strategy for a national retailer with 12 disconnected data sources and no single view of the customer.
Marketplace & Technology · Fractional CTO — 12 months
Building the technology function for a high-growth marketplace
Stepped in as Fractional CTO to establish engineering capability, architecture, and delivery practices for a Series B marketplace platform scaling from 50 to 200+ employees.
Latest thinking
Insights
Meet ProductMatch: How I Shipped an AI SaaS in Two Weeks
Most companies treat AI as a feature to bolt onto something they already have. I treated it as the product itself — shipped a complete, multi-tenant pricing intelligence SaaS in two weeks, then iterated. Here's the discipline that makes that pace real, not theatre.
Data: The Foundation of Enterprise AI Success
Why data governance isn't optional. How to avoid the 80% of AI projects that fail before reaching production.
Why your CRM implementation failed and what to do about it
CRM implementations in retail fail at an alarming rate. This article diagnoses the common failure patterns and provides a practical remediation framework, including when to fix what you have and when to start again.
Pragmatic AI and technology advice — from someone who's actually built it.
Whether you're weighing an AI investment, planning a replatform, building technology capability in a portfolio company, or need rigorous due diligence ahead of an acquisition, I bring an operator's perspective — and a builder's — to the decisions that matter.