Tech leadership for non-tech businesses.
Make the right tech calls, and get them done, without hiring a team.
Your business runs fine. You just don't have anyone who actually knows the tech.
You don't need a department. You need one person whose judgement you trust. Without them, this is what it quietly costs you.
Tech falls on whoever's handiest
Usually your sharpest person, already busy with their real job, and operating at a fraction of what someone who truly knows this would bring.
The cheap wins never surface
The fixes with the highest return are quick and cheap, too small for a vendor to bother with, and no one inside has the eye to catch them.
You judge offers you can't read
You lean on outside firms and hope for the best. Is the price fair? Is it a black box you'll never get out of? You're saying yes on faith.
A senior tech person on your team, without the hire.
Someone you feel as your own, even at a few hours a month: who learns exactly how your business runs, spots the opportunities in it, and whose only incentive is to make your company better, not to sell you a project and disappear.
What that looks like in practice.
A clear overview, then the right calls
A plain-language picture of where you actually stand: what your tools really do, what that system the competition supposedly has really is, and whether it matters. Then what's worth doing: build, buy, automate, or leave well alone.
The cheap wins no one else flags
The small, high-return fixes vendors rarely raise, because there's no margin in them, and no one inside spots. Found, and set in motion.
A clear, fair path when something needs building
We define exactly what to quote. You take it to your own providers first, and I read their offers like an owner: fair price? a black box you can't leave? a server that could vanish next year? scope you don't need, or just smoke? I only quote building it myself if they can't deliver, or charge too much for what you'd get.
I'm a fit for some companies, and honestly not for others.
This is for you if…
- Your business is stable, profitable and growing.
- You see the value of having someone on the inside.
- You're the one who decides.
It isn't, if…
- You're still fighting to survive.
- You already have a tech team.
- Every decision goes through a committee.
Smart, on your side, and safe to rely on.
Three things set this apart from anyone who drops in for a single project.
I know how your business actually runs
Because I stay involved, the advice is built on how you really work, not generic best practice from someone who arrived yesterday. That's also what catches the small, high-return fixes everyone else walks past.
My advice isn't a sales pitch
I make my living from the ongoing relationship, not from selling you projects. So I'll happily tell you to buy it off the shelf, automate it cheaply, use the providers you already have, or do nothing. When something does need building, you get quotes first and I'm the last resort. My only incentive is your company getting better.
Keeping you free of lock-in
It's something I work at actively. Both with other vendors and my own projects. Nothing should become a black box or a risky dependency you can't leave. Whatever we put in place should be understandable and easy to continue.*
* Sometimes a little lock-in is the smart trade, when a product is so cheap and so right for you that it's worth it. The difference is we choose it on purpose, eyes open, instead of stumbling into it.
Simple, and built to last.
Senior judgment for the long run. No contract ties you in, and you can stop whenever you want. But it's meant to last, not to be picked up and dropped month to month: the longer I know your business, the sharper the calls get.
For companies where important decisions are happening regularly.
For companies moving fast, who want a technology person consistently in the conversation.
For long-standing clients in quieter moments, or keeping in touch after building their own team.
A good way to start: an intensive first month at Embedded pace to get me up to speed on your business fast, then settle into Regular.
Senior judgment for less than a junior would cost, and no one to manage.
Projects, only when they're worth it
Most of the value is the ongoing judgment. When something genuinely needs building, it's scoped and quoted separately, only ever when it's the right call.
Think this is what you've been missing?
Tell me a little about your business and we'll work out, honestly, whether I'm a fit.
Get in touch