Playbooks
Practical guides for founders making technology decisions.
How to Stop Your Product from Becoming a Mess
Why codebases become unmanageable, when modularity matters, and how to keep your product clean without over-engineering it.
Build vs Buy: What Actually Matters for Startups
A practical framework for deciding when to build custom software and when to use existing tools — without wasting time or money on the wrong choice.
Choosing a Tech Stack That Won't Hurt You in 18 Months
How to make foundational technology choices that scale with your business — without overengineering for problems you don't have yet.
Do I Need a CTO Yet?
How to know when your startup has outgrown freelance devs and needs real technology leadership.
How to Evaluate Your Engineering Team's Performance
What 'good' actually looks like in engineering — beyond velocity charts, story points, and hours logged.
How to Hire Your First Engineering Team (Without Regretting It)
First hire sequencing, red flags to watch for, and how to avoid the most expensive mistakes founders make when building a technical team.
Scaling from MVP to Real Platform Without Breaking Everything
How to evolve your product from scrappy prototype to production platform — without a full rewrite or hiring an army.
What a Fractional CTO Actually Does (And Doesn't Do)
A clear breakdown of what a fractional CTO handles — strategy, architecture, teams — and where the role ends.
When to Rewrite Your Product (And When Not To)
The rewrite decision is one of the highest-stakes calls in engineering. Here's how to know if you're actually stuck — or just frustrated.
Why Your Development is Always Slower Than You Expect
The real reasons your engineering team moves slower than you think it should — and what to do about it.