When a fractional CTO fits, and when a digital operations studio does.
A fractional CTO leads software development: architecture decisions, engineering hires and a product roadmap. A digital operations studio works with the tools a small business already runs on: automation, marketing systems and security. If you are building a product, you likely want a CTO. If you are running a business on existing software, you likely want a studio.
One builds software. The other builds on top of software you already have.
A fractional CTO exists for businesses that ship a product: a codebase, engineers, a roadmap. That is a different skill set from running a small business day to day, and most small businesses are not building software at all.
A digital operations studio does not write custom software. It works inside tools like Zapier, Make, n8n, QuickBooks and HubSpot, the ones you already pay for, and automates, connects and secures what runs on them. If your business runs on off the shelf tools, a studio is usually the right fit, not a CTO.
Fractional CTO or Satsuma.
General terms, not a quote. Every engagement is scoped to the business.
| Category | Fractional CTO | Satsuma |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | Technical leadership for a product: architecture decisions, an engineering roadmap and code review. | A team that builds and documents the operational systems a small business runs on. |
| Who does the work | Leads engineers, often hires more of them, and can write code. | Builds inside tools like Zapier, Make, n8n, QuickBooks and HubSpot. No custom software. |
| How it is priced | A retainer for part time technical leadership, agreed month to month. | A fixed fee for the review, then a fixed scope for each build. Monthly after that if you keep us on. |
| Time to first result | Weeks to plan, then a development cycle before a product ships. | A two week review, then a build usually 4 to 10 weeks. |
| What you own at the end | A codebase and an engineering plan, if the CTO stays long enough to hand it off cleanly. | Every account and every automation, documented, whether or not you keep working with us. |
| Best for | A business building or maintaining its own software product. | A business that runs on existing software and needs it wired together, automated and secured. |
When you need both.
Start with a two-week review.
Fixed fee. You finish with a ranked plan of what to fix first, what it saves and what it protects.
Prefer email? Write to hello@satsumahq.com