ZeroCTO — Fractional CTO for Startups That Can't Afford Bad First Hires

WHAT WE BUILD & MANAGE

Not just advice. We build, ship, and run it.

Most fractional CTOs audit your code and hand you a roadmap. We do that — and then we build the thing, deploy it, and manage it after launch.

🖥️

AI Web & Mobile Apps

Production-grade web and mobile applications with AI baked in — not bolted on. Auth, payments, dashboards, and intelligent features your users actually touch. We architect, build, and manage the full stack.

React · Next.js · React Native · Swift

CORE STRENGTH

🧱

AI Platforms

Multi-tenant SaaS, internal tools, and data platforms with RAG pipelines, knowledge bases, and admin layers. The kind of build that agencies quote $100K+ for and still get wrong. We build it in weeks and run it after launch.

Full-stack · RAG · Multi-agent · Stripe · Admin

🤖

High-Performance AI Agents

Purpose-built agents trained on YOUR data — lead qualification, customer support, intake automation, internal ops. Not generic chatbots. Agents that actually close deals, resolve tickets, and save your team 20+ hours a week.

GPT-4o · Claude · Custom RAG · Voice · Multi-channel

Need just a build, not ongoing leadership? → productprinter.ai

THE MATH

Why founders choose ZeroCTO over the alternatives.

	Full-Time CTO	Dev Shop	ZeroCTO
Annual cost	$300K+ (salary + benefits)	$150–250K	$18K–$144K/yr SAVE 70%+
Equity required	1–5%	None	None
Time to start	3–6 month search	2–4 weeks onboarding	This week
Builds the product	Sometimes	Yes — but to spec, not to outcome	Yes — hands on the keyboard
Product instinct	Depends on the hire	No — they execute, you decide	Yes — 10+ yrs PM experience
Investor-ready	Eventually	No — agency stigma	Yes — DD docs & board calls

SOUND FAMILIAR?

You're building. But nobody's leading.

🔥

Burned $50K on a dev shop and got garbage

They built what you asked for — which wasn't what you needed. No one challenged your assumptions. No one led the product. You're starting over.

🧑‍💻

Your devs are building without direction

You have 1–3 engineers shipping code, but no one's setting architecture, running sprints, or making sure the product scales. Investors are starting to notice.

📊

You're searching for a technical co-founder

You've posted on YC, CoFoundersLab, Indie Hackers. You need someone now — not in 6 months. And you don't want to give away 5% equity to find out they're wrong.

💸

My dev shop is bleeding me dry

You're spending $12–20K/month and the product still looks rough. You suspect the code is bad but you can't prove it. You need someone who can actually evaluate the work — and either fix the relationship or replace it.

🤖

My no-code app is breaking

You built on Bubble or Webflow. It worked great at $5K MRR. Now you're at $20K and the platform can't handle it. Pages crash. Features break. You need a migration plan.

💰

I raised a round and investors want a technical leader

You closed your seed or Series A — congrats. Now your investors are asking about architecture, hiring plans, and technical milestones you can't speak to. You need someone who can sit in board meetings, own the roadmap, and make your investors confident their money is building something real. Yesterday.

WHAT YOU GET

Everything a CTO does. Plus they build it too.

Not just advice — embedded product and technical leadership. I join your team, not your cap table.

🏗️

Tech Stack & Architecture

Audit what you have. Recommend what you need. Prevent the $100K rewrite in 18 months.

📋

Product Roadmap

Translate business goals into engineering priorities. Kill scope creep. Ship what matters.

👥

Dev Team Oversight

Sprint planning, code reviews, performance management. Your engineers ship faster with clear direction.

🎯

Vendor & Agency Management

Evaluate dev shops. Negotiate contracts. Hold them accountable. Stop getting overcharged.

💼

Investor-Facing Materials

Technical due diligence docs, architecture decks, roadmap presentations. Ready for your raise.

🤖

AI Strategy & Integration

Where AI fits and where it doesn't. Implementation roadmap. Model selection. Build vs. buy.

IS THIS YOU?

You don't need a CTO job posting. You need a CTO this week.

"I'm searching for a technical co-founder"

You've posted on YC, CoFoundersLab, LinkedIn. You've had 2–3 conversations that went nowhere. Meanwhile, your dev shop is billing $15K/month and you can't tell if the code is good. Stop searching. Start leading — with me at 1/10th the equity cost.

"My dev shop is bleeding me dry"

You're spending $12–20K/month and the product still looks rough. You suspect the code is bad but you can't prove it. I audit the stack, tell you exactly what's wrong, and either fix the relationship or replace it — in the first week.

"My no-code app is breaking"

You built on Bubble or Webflow. It worked great at $5K MRR. Now you're at $20K and the platform can't handle it. Pages crash. Features break. You need someone to architect the migration to real infrastructure without killing the business while it's running.

"I just shipped an MVP and need ongoing leadership"

Someone built you a product. It's live. Users are coming. But now you need iterations, bug fixes, a roadmap, and someone to manage the next dev hire. You need a CTO, not another freelancer.

"I'm a professional pivoting to founder"

Ex-McKinsey, Goldman, BigLaw — you know your industry cold but you've never hired an engineer or evaluated a tech stack. You have savings or seed funding and a domain idea. You need someone who speaks both business and technology — because every other technical person you've talked to made you feel stupid.

HOW IT WORKS

From first call to CTO on your team. One week.

Discovery Call

15 minutes. $99 (refundable if we don't work together). We talk through your startup, your tech challenges, and whether ZeroCTO is the right fit.

AI Readiness Audit or Retainer

You choose: a 1-week AI Readiness Audit ($1,500) for a full assessment, or jump straight to a monthly retainer ($8–12K/mo) for ongoing leadership.

Build & Lead

I embed in your team. I attend standups, review code, talk to investors, manage vendors, and ship features. Not advice from a slide deck — hands on the keyboard.

PRICING

Flexible. Transparent. No equity. No lock-in.

Month-to-month. Cancel anytime. No equity. No lock-in. Every engagement starts with a $99 discovery call.

ONE-TIME

AI Readiness Audit

$1,500

1-week async delivery

Full tech stack audit & architecture review
AI readiness assessment — where AI fits, where it doesn't
Vendor & agency evaluation
Product roadmap with 90-day priorities
Delivered as a written report + 60-min walkthrough call

Book Discovery Call Talk to Ro First — $99

Fully refundable if we don't work together.

RECOMMENDED

MONTHLY

Strategic Advisor

$8,000 /mo

Best for seed & Series A

Everything in AI Readiness Audit
4x monthly strategy calls
Async Slack access for real-time questions
Architecture decisions & code review
Vendor negotiations & accountability
Investor-facing technical materials
AI integration roadmap & model selection

Book Discovery Call Talk to Ro First — $99

Fully refundable if we don't work together.

MONTHLY

Embedded CTO

$12,000 /mo

Best for Series A+ and post-raise

Everything in Strategic Advisor
Weekly hands-on sessions
Board & investor call attendance
Hiring support — JDs, interviews, evaluation
UX & design oversight
AI agent deployment & management
Dedicated Slack channel

Book Discovery Call Talk to Ro First — $99

Fully refundable if we don't work together.

YOUR CTO

Not an advisor.
A builder.

Ro Parikh

Founder · Product Leader · Builder

10 years building at Amazon AI and leading product at a company acquired for $525M. Columbia MBA.

Every product in my portfolio was built with my own hands — not managed, not spec'd, built. Most fractional CTOs hand you a slide deck. I ship the fix that night.

Ex-Amazon AI

Columbia MBA

$525M Exit

Talk to Ro LinkedIn

10+

Years in AI

$525M

Exit Value

1 TB

Local Compute

Questions

A consultant gives advice and leaves. I embed in your team — attending standups, reviewing code, talking to investors, managing vendors. I'm accountable for outcomes, not just opinions. And I can actually build the product, not just draw diagrams about it.

No. Month-to-month. Most clients start with an AI Readiness Audit ($1,500) and upgrade to a retainer once they see the value. Cancel anytime — no lock-in.

I build production software on a private AI compute cluster. I use frontier models and modern stacks daily. I'm not managing from a slide deck — I understand your codebase because I can read and write it.

This is exactly what ZeroCTO was built for. Instead of spending 6 months searching for a technical co-founder and giving away 5% equity, I start this week at $3–5K/mo. If you eventually find a full-time CTO, I help you hire them, onboard them, and step back gracefully.

All of them. I have deep expertise in health/wellness, creator economy, and AI — but ZeroCTO works for any non-technical founder with a product to build. Real estate, legal, e-commerce, professional services — the technical leadership model is the same.

Check out productprinter.ai — our AI product studio. Fixed-price builds from $2K. Same founder, same quality.

Your startup needs a CTO.
Not a $300K salary.

Not just advice. We build, ship, and run it.

AI Web & Mobile Apps

AI Platforms

High-Performance AI Agents

Why founders choose ZeroCTO over the alternatives.

You're building. But nobody's leading.

You don't need a CTO job posting. You need a CTO this week.

Everything a CTO does. Plus they build it too.

You don't need a CTO job posting. You need a CTO this week.

From first call to CTO on your team. One week.

Discovery Call

AI Readiness Audit or Retainer

Build & Lead

Flexible. Transparent. No equity. No lock-in.

Not an advisor.
A builder.

Ro Parikh

Questions

Not ready for a call? Start here.

Stop searching. Start building.

Not just advice. We build, ship, and run it.

AI Web & Mobile Apps

AI Platforms

High-Performance AI Agents

Why founders choose ZeroCTO over the alternatives.

You're building. But nobody's leading.

You don't need a CTO job posting. You need a CTO this week.

Everything a CTO does. Plus they build it too.

You don't need a CTO job posting. You need a CTO this week.

From first call to CTO on your team. One week.

Discovery Call

AI Readiness Audit or Retainer

Build & Lead

Flexible. Transparent. No equity. No lock-in.

Not an advisor.A builder.

Ro Parikh

Questions

Not ready for a call? Start here.

Stop searching. Start building.

Not an advisor.
A builder.