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Stephen Vickers
SERVICES // 01-04

How I Help

I work with businesses that need senior technical judgement before they are ready to hire a full-time CTO. The work is practical: clearer decisions, better delivery, and sensible AI adoption.

WHEN IT FITS
  • → The business needs senior technical judgement but not a full-time CTO
  • → Founders or directors are making technology decisions without enough confidence
  • → The roadmap exists, but priorities keep shifting and delivery keeps dragging
  • → The team is capable but needs clearer direction and better constraints
  • → You want someone commercially minded who has owned the consequences of delivery
WHAT I DO
  • → Join leadership conversations and help make technology decisions explicit
  • → Review the roadmap, current commitments, team shape, and delivery risks
  • → Challenge suppliers, internal assumptions, and vague technical proposals
  • → Bring 15 years of agency ownership into planning, scoping, and stakeholder management
  • → Stay close enough to the work to be useful, without creating dependency
WHAT CHANGES
  • → Leadership gets a clearer view of what is realistic, risky, and worth funding
  • → Engineering gets better priorities and fewer ambiguous commitments
  • → Delivery conversations become more evidence-led
  • → The team has a senior sounding board between board meetings and delivery pressure
  • → You avoid hiring a permanent CTO before the business is ready for one
BEST FOR
→ Retainer Ongoing senior support for businesses building their technology function
CADENCE
→ Weekly Leadership sessions, async support, and delivery review
STYLE
→ Plain English Commercial, technical, and direct

This is the primary way I work. It suits founders, agencies, SaaS businesses, and owner-managed companies that need senior technical leadership without the cost or commitment of a permanent CTO.

Need a clearer technical plan?

Most conversations start with a short call to understand the business, the team, and the pressure points.