CTO Concierge
Fractional CTO

Your technical department.Without the hire.

I learn how your business actually works, rebuild the machinery behind it, and then make sure none of it ever becomes your problem again.

Book a call See the case study
Every system I run All nominal
intakeOK
automationOK
integrationsOK
reportingOK
monitoringON
Always in progress

Anticipating what breaks next and improving what already works. Every month, without being asked.

Next build openingAug 10
Before you read the rest

Hey, my name is Russ Ward.

You are reading this because somebody introduced us, so let me tell you who I am and why I do this. Then you can decide whether the rest of the page is worth your time.

I am a fractional CTO. I come into companies with messy tech stacks, rebuild the backend, integrate AI where it actually helps, and then make sure the whole machine keeps running.

I got here the long way. I have run paid traffic, built funnels, generated leads, written software, stood up call centers, and built AI systems for companies in solar, automotive, mortgage, and real estate. For years I sold leads and results. It paid well and I was good at it, and there was one part of it I could not stand. When a business did not close the leads I sent them, I got the call, and the call was always the same. Your leads are bad. This is your fault.

There was no version of that conversation where I got to be good at my job.

Then I started working with a company in the automotive space. I rebuilt their entire backend. Fifty two versions later it does not break, and when something does I fix it in minutes. They pay me every month, not for hours and not for leads. They pay me because the business runs and nobody there has to think about it.

Something happened this week that made all of it click.

One of their field technicians started that morning. He was completely overwhelmed. He called me because nothing made sense yet. We spent twenty minutes together getting his accounts set up and walking through the process, and by the end of the call he was confident enough to go do the job.

I used to dread calls like that.

I loved this one.

I am not paid because I know software. I am paid because an entire business can rely on its systems actually working.

I am not the AI guy. I am the reason the operation works. My job is not building software. My job is making sure nobody there ever has to worry about the software.

Every year I spent buying traffic, writing code, building systems, and standing in front of rooms was pointing at this. It took me a long time to see it. This is the thing I am actually built for, and it is the thing I love doing.

So here is what I am offering you. When it comes to your technical infrastructure, you never have to wonder who is responsible for it again.

The buck stops with me. And I love that it does.

Russ Ward
Fractional CTO

I build the machine your business runs on. Then I keep it running. Certainty is what I provide.

What I do
What a fractional CTO is

The technology leader you need, for the part you actually need.

A CTO is the person responsible for the technology a company runs on. Not the laptops and the wifi. The machinery that captures customers, moves them through your process, and tells you what is actually working.

Most companies your size have never had that person. Nobody is accountable for the systems. Things get bought, half connected, and then quietly stop working, and the only person who notices is you, months later, wondering why the numbers moved.

Fractional means you get that person without putting them on payroll.

  Hiring a full time CTO Bringing me in
Cost $140,000 and up in salary, plus benefits, payroll tax, and often equity $3,000 a month, no salary, no benefits, no equity
Time to start Three to six months of searching, then a ramp Running in two to three weeks
Who manages them You do, and you have to be technical enough to know if they are any good Nobody. That is the point.
What they arrive with Their own opinions, and a blank page An architecture already built fifty two times
If it does not work out A termination, and a system only they understood Thirty days notice, and you keep everything
The real reason fractional is the right shape

It is not that you cannot afford a CTO. It is that a business your size does not contain forty hours a week of CTO work. It contains a few weeks of hard building, and then it contains maintenance. Paying a salary for that shape is how good money gets wasted, and it is why most owners just never solve this at all.

What I am not.

Not this
  • Not an employee, and not on your payroll
  • Not in your daily meetings
  • Not managing your team or your vendors
  • Not a consultant who writes a report and leaves
This
  • One person accountable for your technology end to end
  • Available when something breaks, on the terms below
  • Building the next improvement before you ask for it
  • Here in six months, and in two years
What this is

Consultants recommend and leave. I build it and stay.

I am not a consultant and I am not an agency. I am the part of your company that makes sure the machine runs, gets better, and never goes down.

I did not know anything about car dealerships before I met my first client in that industry. I learned his business, rebuilt his entire backend, and I have now built it fifty two times. He pays me every month because it does not break, and if it ever does, it is fixed immediately.

Phase 01 · two to three weeks

The build

I learn your business and map how leads and money actually move through it. Then I rebuild the backend, deploy the AI layer, and stand up reporting.

You end up with a running machine, documentation, and a dashboard that shows you things you have never been able to see.

Phase 02 · ongoing

The certainty

It does not break. When something does, it is fixed inside the window below. It gets better every month, and I bring you ideas nobody asked for.

You are not paying for my time. You are paying for the absence of a category of problems you used to have.

Case study · Dealer Launch

Leads in a spreadsheet, and nobody calling them.

Dealer Launch runs Facebook ad events for car dealerships. The ads worked. Leads poured in. Then every one of them landed in a Google Sheet, and the dealership's own sales reps were expected to work the sheet, make the calls, chase the appointments, and close the deals on top of everything they already had to do.

The old path

Ad  →  Form  →  Google Sheet  →  a rep who is busy  →  hope

That is not a lead problem. That is a machine problem. So I built the machine.

  1. It lands somewhere real

    Every lead goes into a CRM built for this, and a copy still writes to a Google Sheet as a backup. Nothing depends on a person remembering to check a tab.

  2. The AI opens the conversation

    Inside Facebook Messenger, in seconds, while they are still holding the phone. It talks like a person and gets the number.

  3. A voucher hits their phone

    A text goes out with a professional voucher that gives them a reason to walk into the dealership. Something they save.

  4. The AI asks for the next step

    Come in, schedule a call, fill out a credit application, or best of all, get a call right now.

  5. Call me now means right now

    An AI voice that sounds like a person calls immediately and live transfers them to a sales rep while the lead is still hot. Not a callback list. A human on the line.

  6. Nobody falls through the cracks

    If they go quiet, texts and AI calls keep working them until they buy or they opt out. I call it buy or die. Nothing goes cold because somebody got busy.

Asset one

A database that grows forever

Every voucher installs into Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. Once it is on the phone, the dealership can message that person again and again, as many times as they want. A second database with a direct line, bigger every campaign, theirs permanently.

Asset two

A dashboard that shows everything

Leads, ad spend, cost per lead, dealership appointments, phone appointments, live transfers. All live, in one place they can read. And one button to change who gets alerted and who receives the transfers.

Then I got on a plane

Florida to New Jersey, to stand at a booth.

They had a trade show and the machine needed to perform on the floor, in front of people, in real time. I built the demo for that show. Then I flew up and ran it with them.

That last part is not a bonus. It is how I work. If you have an event where the machine has to perform, I am there.

Watch on YouTube
Try the demo Opens Facebook page. Send a message and start the demo

Go ahead and use it. It is live right now. Whatever it does for a dealership, it can do for whatever you sell.

Two new clients

That is what came out of the show for them. Same machine, pointed at a room full of people, with someone standing there making sure it did not miss.

Scope

Everything in, and everything deliberately out.

Included
  • Backend architecture, workflows, pipelines, and integrations
  • AI voice, chat, and follow up layers
  • Custom software and reporting dashboards where they help
  • Monitoring, maintenance, and fixes inside the support window
  • Tech support for you and anyone you bring in
  • Improvements I propose, not just requests you send
Not included
  • Any guarantee of leads, sales, or revenue
  • Media buying and ad spend management
  • Content, creative, and copywriting
  • Sales training or managing your team
  • Anything I would have to promise on your behalf
Support

Your people can text me. Any hour.

The fear is not only that something breaks. It is that your people cannot use it, and you become the help desk on top of running the company.

That does not happen here. Everyone who works for you gets my personal cell phone number. If something is mission critical, it does not matter what time it is.

Your team

Not just you

Managers, staff, field techs, anyone who touches the systems. They text me directly instead of routing everything through you.

Day one

New hires start working

Somebody starts Monday, I set up their accounts and walk them through it. They are productive that day instead of stuck waiting on somebody to have time.

Any hour

Mission critical is mission critical

If the machine is down, I do not care what time it is. That is the whole promise and it is why the commitments below are in writing.

No tickets

A person, not a portal

No queue, no support tier, no waiting for a callback from someone who has to look up your account first.

Being the person everyone calls is not the hard part of this job. It is my favorite part.

Support window

What fixed immediately actually means.

Most people in my position never put this in writing. That is exactly why it is here.

Response commitments Monitored continuously
DOWNThe machine is not running. Leads are not being captured or contacted.Immediate, any hour
DEGRADEDSomething is wrong but revenue is still moving.Same business day
REQUESTA change, an addition, or a question.Within the week
IMPROVEMENTSomething I proposed that you did not ask for.Monthly cadence

Your systems are monitored continuously, so in most cases I know something broke before you do. The fix nobody ever noticed is the actual product.

What it costs

No packages. No tiers. One number.

The buildDiscovery, architecture, backend rebuild, AI layer, reporting, documentation. Paid at signing.
$5,000one time
The certaintyMonitoring, maintenance, support, improvements, and the response commitments above.
$3,000per month
The termLong enough for the machine to prove itself. Month to month after that.
6 mominimum
For comparison

A technical hire who could do this costs a hundred and forty thousand a year plus benefits, and you would have to know enough to manage them. This is thirty six thousand a year, and the architecture has already been built fifty two times.

Your first three weeks

From handshake to running machine.

Days 1 to 2

Discovery

Half a day with you and whoever touches the systems. I map how leads and money actually move.
Day 3

The plan, in writing

What I am building, in what order, and what I need from you. You approve it before I start.
Days 4 to 18

The build

Backend, integrations, AI layer, reporting. Weekly progress you never have to chase.
Days 19 to 21

Live and documented

Testing, monitoring switched on, written documentation and walkthrough videos handed over.
From there

It just runs

You stop thinking about it. That is when you know it worked.
Fit

I will tell you on the call if this is not for you.

This works when
  • You own the business and can decide without a committee
  • Revenue is real and the backend behind it is held together with tape
  • You have already bought software or hired an agency that underdelivered
  • You would rather pay someone than manage someone
This does not work when
  • You want someone accountable for your sales number
  • You want leads bought and delivered
  • You need three approvals before anything can change
  • You want to pay only if it works
One build per month

The next opening is August 10, 2026.

Thirty minutes. I will ask how your business actually runs and tell you straight whether this is a fit.

Calendar not loading? Email me at russward@theleadking.com and we will find a time.