Fractional CTO · for founders
The fractional CTO who still ships.
You get a CTO's judgment without the full-time hire. I make the architecture calls, and I build the parts that have to hold.
Production software for Pluto TV Cigna The Block
Thirty minutes, free, no pitch. You'll know by the end if I can help.
This is real, shipped work with real users behind it.
I've built the hard parts.
Now I help founders build theirs.
I'm Michael Price, a senior software engineer. I build at The Block today. The Cigna insurance platforms I built enrolled over a million members, and I've shipped production software for Pluto TV. On my own I built Nexus City. I go deep in Rust and full-stack, and I ship.
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Cigna
I built several insurance enrollment platforms for Cigna. They signed up more than a million members and enrolled millions of policies. When healthcare enrollment has to work for that many people, zero is the only error rate anyone will accept.
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Pluto TV
I've shipped production software for Pluto TV, the free streaming platform. Production work on a consumer product, where the bar for "it just works" sits high.
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The Block
Senior engineer at The Block, a leading digital-assets news platform. Real traffic, real load. I know what gives way when the numbers get big, and how to keep it standing.
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Nexus City
A living cyberpunk city running in the browser: procedural buildings, sector streaming, a real-time economy, all in Rust, WebGPU, and Solana. I take the things people swear can't be done in a browser and I ship them. Whatever your hard part is, that's the part I want.
Sound familiar?
- You raised on a demo, and now the codebase buckles the moment real users show up.
- The roadmap keeps slipping, and you honestly can't tell if it's the team or the architecture.
- The one thing standing between you and the next raise is the exact part nobody on the team wants to touch.
How I help
Assess
Get a straight read on what's actually broken, or what's worth buying.
- Architecture & Code Review. One to two weeks. I read the system, talk to your team, and hand you a ranked list of what to fix first.
- Technical Due Diligence. A straight read before you raise, acquire, or commit real money to a direction.
Lead
Senior technical direction without the full-time hire.
- Fractional CTO & Advisory. I make the architecture calls, set the direction, and clear whatever's blocking the team.
Build
I build the hard part myself.
- Build Sprints. Time-boxed. I deliver the rewrite, the real-time or 3D piece, the integration that keeps stalling.
- Hands-on Development. I build the foundation your team keeps building on, so it holds when the load shows up.
Not sure which one fits? Book the call. We'll work out what you actually need together.
I'm not your guy if you want a junior to crank tickets, or a yes-man to rubber-stamp a decision you've already made.
How I think
- I build for the team that has to run this a year from now. Boring, documented, and easy to reason about beats clever every time.
- Most "we need a rewrite" is really "nobody wrote down what it does." I figure out which one you've got before anyone touches the code.
- The best architecture is the one your team can debug at 2am without calling you.
Questions
- What happens on the free call?
- Thirty minutes, no pitch. You tell me what's stuck. I tell you whether it's the architecture, the team, or the roadmap, and what I'd do about it. If I'm not the right person, I'll tell you that too.
- Do you actually write code, or just advise?
- I write code. Some weeks the job is making the call. Other weeks it's me in the repo at midnight shipping the thing. You get both.
- Can we start small?
- Yes. Most founders start with an architecture review or a single build sprint before anything ongoing.
- What does it cost?
- Depends entirely on what you need done. Tell me what's stuck, and we'll put real numbers to it on the call.
- Are you available?
- I only take a few engagements at a time, so the ones I take get my full attention.
Let's find out if I can help.
Free. Thirty minutes. No obligation, no pitch. If I'm not the right fit, I'll point you to who is. I take a few engagements at a time.