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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.