Your fractional CTO for hardware
Your problem is our problem.
We think along with you, represent your interests towards factories, labs and suppliers, and pick up the phone when something breaks. Senior hardware leadership, without the full-time hire.
Hardware mistakes are cheap to make and expensive to unmake
Most startups don't need a full-time hardware CTO. They need one on the days it matters.
First time through the whole loop
Your team can build the thing. What nobody there has done yet is take it through certification and into production, where the mistakes get expensive and slow to undo. We've run that loop many times.
Suppliers set the agenda
Your manufacturer says it can't be done, or quotes extra tooling, and you have no way to judge whether that's true. So quotes go unchallenged and timelines slip.
Slow answers, expensive detours
Certification, supply chain, firmware architecture. You can spend a week googling every question, or twenty minutes asking someone who has answered it before.
One number to call for everything hardware
We sit on your side of the table. Not the factory's, not the lab's.
Firmware & production
Architecture and code reviews, debugging help, production issues, yield questions. From board bring-up to batch three.
Certification
CE, FCC and the new cybersecurity rules. We plan certification into the design, so lab time is a formality instead of a lottery.
Supply chain
Component choices, shortages, second sources and cost-downs. We read the quotes before you sign them.
Your manufacturer, managed
We run the day-to-day with your factory or ODM: asking the right questions, challenging DFM feedback, chasing whatever stalls.
Testing & hardware-in-the-loop
Test plans, HIL setups and production test fixtures, so regressions surface on your bench and not in the field.
Security reviews
Firmware and device security reviews, and a straight answer on what the Cyber Resilience Act means for your product.
How the retainer works
Light on process, heavy on availability.
An agreed number of hours a month
Reserved senior capacity, set with you up front and spent where it helps most that month: reviews, supplier calls, debugging, planning.
A check-in every two weeks
Strategy call and brainstorm. We come prepared with updates on every open item, so you never have to chase us.
Call or WhatsApp any time
A question shouldn't wait two weeks. Send it when it comes up and you'll get a short answer fast.
Three months to start
Long enough to prove it works. After that it's monthly cancellable, so we have to stay useful.
Who you get
No juniors, no account managers. The people on the call do the work.
Michael Devid
Founder, Head of Technology
Hardware, production and certification. Has taken IoT products from first schematic to mass production, and knows the Shenzhen factory floor first-hand.
Koos Habte, M.Sc
Co-Founder, Embedded & Edge-ML Engineer
Sensor fusion, low-power firmware and machine learning that runs on the device itself. The person you want reading your firmware.
We've had these problems ourselves
A fair share of the grey hairs came from hardware. We'd do it all again.
The retainer
One flat fee, everything above included.
- An agreed number of senior hours each month*
- Bi-weekly check-in, strategy call and brainstorm
- Prepared updates on all ongoing items
- Direct line to both of us, call or WhatsApp
- We represent you towards factories, labs and suppliers
* Depending on the capacity we have available at the time.
Three months to start, monthly cancellable after that.
Bigger chunks of build work, like a board respin or a test fixture, are scoped separately as projects.
Questions we get
Want someone senior in your corner?
Book a free intro call. We'll tell you honestly whether a retainer makes sense for where you are.