Advice Is Not Delivery: Making the Fractional CTO Decision
A fractional CTO buys judgment, not delivery. Use this framework to diagnose what you actually need, when to hire one, and when it will not help.
Better Software
Better Software
You know what could be better. Let's build the software to make it work.
For the customers you serve, the people doing the work and the business you are building. We bring product thinking and engineering, and work with you to understand what needs to change.
Talk about your business30 minutes with Jai, Better's founder.
The people we work with have come from
Who We Work With
You know the business. You see what could work better.
01
Improving a business you already run
You want to serve customers better, make the work easier for your team or support the next stage of the business. We work through where software can help, including what your existing systems should continue to do.
02
Building something your industry needs
You have seen the problem firsthand and have a view of what should exist. We help turn that experience into a product, testing the assumptions with the people who would use it.
You bring the experience and judgment of the business. We bring product and engineering judgment, and take the time to understand the work with you. The product takes shape through that exchange.
How We Work
Understand the business. Build with the people in it.
01
Understand what should improve
We look at who the change is for, how the work happens today and what a useful result would mean. That includes customer experience, staff workload and the economics of the business.
02
Build a useful first version
We choose a scope that can be tested in practice, with the necessary integrations and operating responsibilities understood. The first version should answer a real question about whether the approach works.
03
Stay close as it is used
We review what happens with the people using the software, address what gets in their way and decide what to improve next.
Product Builders work through the product with you and build it. Senior Engineers review the engineering and architecture. We own the delivery; you remain involved in business decisions and priorities.
The first conversation is about the business, what you want to improve and what you already know. We will discuss whether we can help and what we would need to understand next.
The work, in our clients' words
“They have always been receptive to feedback, which is the most important thing for us.”
David Hanson
CIO · Apex Dental Partners
Reporting and business operations across a dental group
Read the case study
“The quality of work they deliver is very impressive and a step above their peers.”
Jonathan Hsu
CTO · Valon
Embedded engineering on a mortgage servicing platform
“Good pool of talent. Easy to work with. Their culture is in alignment with ours.”
Siddhartha Gupta
CEO · Nesh
An AI platform over oil and gas data
Read the case study
“The items were delivered on top, and any issues that arose were quickly addressed.”
Tommy Kranwinkle
Co-Founder · Kizuna
A platform helping caregivers build community visibility
Read the case study
Industry Experience
Experience across different kinds of businesses
Our work includes healthcare, energy and finance, alongside businesses in commerce, facilities, agriculture and other fields.
Founder-Led
Founder-led, with a small number of ongoing partnerships
We work closely with a small number of clients, often over several years. That gives us time to learn the business and continue building as its needs change.
We hold ourselves to 5–7 engagements at a time.
Former Microsoft and Google Engineer. IIT alumnus. 9+ years of building products.
Helped build platforms contributing to $100M+ cumulative revenue. Leading a 40+ team of engineers and product builders.
Selected Work
Products and platforms we've helped build
Across healthcare, energy, finance, commerce, facilities, agriculture and other fields.
Valon
Embedded engineering on a mortgage servicing platform
Fintech
Sunny Energy
A sales platform for a solar installation business
Clean Energy
Apex Dental Partners
Dental network operations platform
Healthcare
Avenue 7 Media
Agency operating experience turned into software
E-commerce
Nettle
Autonomous data processing platform
AI/ML
Spynpay
Debt management, Techstars-backed
Fintech
Academia
Explore and share research papers
EdTech
UTR8
Trading firm in Hong Kong
Finance
AllOptions
Netherlands-based trading firm
Finance
Nesh
AI knowledge graph for enterprises
AI/ML
PastureMap
Ranch management for US ranchers
AgriTech
Recco
Social recommendation platform
Social
Included
Diversity & inclusion for enterprises
Enterprise
Caterspice
MVP for US-based catering chain
F&B
Pinch
Facility management software
PropTech
Kizuna
Community visibility for caregivers
Healthcare
Picwipal
Social betting for sports events
Gaming
Ambee
Uber for ambulance, funded by Uber
Logistics
Peer Street
Home mortgaging platform
Fintech
Woven Money
Credits for healthy spending
FintechOur Standards
Engineering practices behind the product
We use clear code structure, automated checks and review to make changes easier to understand, test and maintain.
Commit
every change tracked
Review
every line, second look
Automated tests
verified before live
Ship
release reviewed changes
Object-oriented design and SOLID
Responsibilities and boundaries
Type safety
Assumptions checked before it runs
Clean code
Readable and handed over
Automated testing
Regressions caught before release
Interface quality
Reviewed across screen sizes
Broken window policy
Defects addressed early
Developer tooling
Consistent setup and tasks
Code review
A second engineer, before merge
Our Own Work
We don't just build for clients
The same practices go into what we build for ourselves, from an open-source starter to products of our own.
Open Source · Web Starter
Flask-React Template
Our open-source starter for Flask and React applications.
FlaskReactTypeScriptDocker
Product · AI SRE
Operate
A self-hosted AI SRE that investigates production issues, gathers evidence and drafts proposed fixes for human review. Nothing merges without human approval.
Self-HostedRoot Cause AnalysisHuman-in-the-Loop
Let's Work Together
Start with the problem, not the spec
We'll discuss what you want to improve, what you already know and whether we can help. Where scope or technical dependencies need investigation, we'll explain what we need to understand next.
Book 30 minutesThe AI Question
Building with AI first? That can be a useful start.
AI tools can help you make an idea tangible and test an early version. Before people depend on it, someone still needs to take responsibility for its behavior, data, security and ongoing maintenance.
Where AI tools are genuinely good
- Exploring an interface
- Testing an idea with potential users
- Learning what is worth developing further
Worth doing. It tells you what is actually worth building.
What needs checking before people depend on it
Behavior
Do complete journeys work, including errors, exceptions and recovery?
Maintainability
Can another engineer understand the code, test a change and see what else it affects?
Operating requirements
Are permissions, records, integrations and review responsibilities accounted for?
We build with AI. We just don't let it build alone
01
Coached, not vibe-coded
We use AI every day, with skills, prompts and guardrails we keep improving. Every change is still read by a senior engineer before it merges.
02
Architected feature by feature
Every feature starts with the data model and an architecture decision. Then AI speeds up the build.
03
Two layers of judgment
Product Builders build what your users need. Senior Engineers keep the code and architecture solid underneath.
We use AI in development. Our team remains responsible for product decisions, engineering review and testing. We can assess an existing prototype, keep what works and identify what needs further work.
Notes
What we think about
Case Studies
Healthcare Technology
Kizuna
A platform helping caregivers build community visibility and connect with people seeking support.
Read case study
Financial Services
High-Growth FinTech Company
A secure, compliant, and modular financial foundation strengthened through senior engineering augmentation, built to handle high-volume transactions, strict regulatory controls, and rapid feature delivery without compromising stability.
Read case study
Multi-Location Dental
Apex Dental Partners
A custom web application for reporting, payroll, time management and business operations across a dental group that has grown past 45 practices.
Read case study
Oil & Gas
Nesh
Engineering work on an oil and gas information platform, including data pipelines, document processing and search.
Read case studyLatest Blog
Notes on building and running software
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about working with us
Can't find what you're looking for? Book a call and we'll answer directly.
Product definition and engineering for businesses that want to improve how they operate, or build a product their industry needs. We take responsibility for the build; business rules, priorities and the approvals your organisation is responsible for stay with you.
Get Started
What would you like to make possible?
A better experience for customers. Less avoidable work for your team. A product your industry needs. Tell us what you have in mind and what you know about the problem.
Book 30 minutesWith Jai, Better's founder.
Join Us
Join the team
We're always looking for builders who ship with care and want to help owners and founders turn what they know into working software.