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Fractional CTO vs agency: what founders with an MVP actually need

When to hire a fractional CTO instead of another agency sprint — ownership, on-call, roadmap, and shipping for AI-built and early SaaS products.

The agency trap after the MVP

You shipped with Lovable, Bolt, Cursor, or a build shop. Users arrived. Auth, billing, and uptime became the job. Buying more tickets does not create a technical co-founder.

What fractional CTO ownership looks like

Algonix offers this alongside London SMB automation. Same studio, different path: /fractional-cto for product founders.

  • Someone senior owns the technical decisions
  • Weekly shipping without a full engineering org
  • Monitoring and fixes before customers notice
  • One short weekly call in plain English

How to choose

Choose an agency when scope is clear and you already have strong technical direction. Choose a fractional CTO when the product is live, you are the on-call, and you need judgement more than velocity theatre.

Questions people ask

Do I keep the code?

Yes. With Algonix your repos, infrastructure, and accounts stay yours.

Ready to automate the busywork?

Start with free AI onboarding — two automations in about a week, no payment to begin.

Book free AI onboardingSee automation

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