Founder-led, pre-CTO
You're past the technical-cofounder phase and the codebase is now bigger than your evenings. You need senior eyes on architecture, hiring, and security — without committing to a $300k hire and an equity grant.
Fractional CxO
Squatch.CC's fractional-CxO practice gives small and mid-stage companies the same kind of senior engineering and product judgment a full-time CTO provides — without the salary, the equity grant, or the hiring risk. One person, every week, in the seat that needs filled.
Who shows up
Tom Rankin — founder of Squatch.CC. 20+ years engineering. Former CTO / VP Engineering at Hearo Technologies (2018–2026), where the team shipped remote-support software for IDD providers. USMC veteran. B.S. Computer Science, Missouri State.
Squatch's bench supplements Tom for specialist tracks (security, mobile, hardware, HIPAA boundary work).
What it is
Fractional CxO with Squatch.CC is a monthly retainer per company, governed by a Master Fractional-CxO Agreement and a per-entity Schedule A. You get a defined recurring scope, a stated overflow hourly rate, and a clear off-ramp.
We don't do success fees, equity-only deals, or "we'll figure it out as we go." Every engagement starts with one of three tier shapes (Starter / Standard / Studio), then a Schedule A is written for your specific situation.
Retainer covers leadership time and recurring work. New initiatives, migrations, or hours above the ceiling are billed separately as a project SOW or at the overflow rate. The retainer is not a blanket unlimited-work bucket.
Who it's for
You're past the technical-cofounder phase and the codebase is now bigger than your evenings. You need senior eyes on architecture, hiring, and security — without committing to a $300k hire and an equity grant.
Your last technical lead left. You're not hiring the next one for 6–12 months. You need someone holding the seat, making calls, owning incident response, and writing the job-spec for the eventual full-time hire.
You run several entities (a clinical practice, a product company, a 501(c)(3), three brand sites). You don't need a CTO at each one. You need one fractional CxO across the portfolio, with per-entity Schedule As so the books stay clean.
Sample scopes
Below are anonymized shapes of recent and active Squatch.CC fractional engagements. Names withheld; structure is real.
Healthcare-adjacent SaaS
One-year takeover of an existing Django + DRF + React codebase. Authentication hardening, HIPAA boundary audit, BAA review, vendor consolidation, hire spec for a permanent technical lead. Retainer covers steady-state; the takeover phase ran on a separate project SOW.
Multi-entity owner-operator
One Master Agreement, four Schedule As: clinical practice (M365 migration + ops), product company (engineering leadership), 501(c)(3) (infrastructure + monitoring), brand sites (site maintenance retainer). Monthly status report covers all four tracks on one document.
Healthcare-tech operator
Eight years as CTO / VP Engineering at Hearo Technologies, building remote-support software deployed across 300+ homes serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Not a fractional engagement — included here because it's the operator history the fractional practice draws on.
Pre-CTO founder
Weekly 1:1 with the founding engineer, monthly architecture review, hands-on review of any change that touches auth, payments, or the data model. 8 hours / month, with overflow billed hourly. Goal: keep the team shipping without the founder having to be the architect-of-last-resort.
What it isn't
If you already know the shape, start the retainer. If you want to talk first, send Tom an email and we'll book a 30-minute call.