Fractional CTO, available now
When nobody can make the call
If your company lacks clear technical ownership, I step in to fill that role. I make decisions, execute the work, and take responsibility for delivery.
$2,500 diagnostic / one week
What you are probably worried about
Situation 01
The last developer is gone.
The product continues to operate, but no one remaining understands its workings, and each change carries significant risk.
Situation 02
The agency keeps billing.
You receive monthly invoices but cannot assess the quality or pace of the work.
Situation 03
Nobody can tell you if the code is any good.
Whether you are preparing to raise capital, sell, or rebuild, you face unresolved technical questions.
Situation 04
The board meeting is coming.
Stakeholders will ask about your product and team, but currently you lack clear answers.
How it works, and what it costs
All pricing is listed on this page. You begin with a fixed-price week, and subsequent work is quoted based on the findings from that week.
Step 1
The diagnostic
- What you get
- During the first week, I provide a written scope, a plan you can argue with, a fixed quote for the build, and a straight account of what is still broken.
- Terms
- Fixed price. No minimum beyond the week.
- If you do not find value in the week's work, you will not be charged.
- Credited against the build if you go ahead.
- Good fit
- Something is stuck and you need to know what it will take before you commit money to it.
- Not a fit
- You already know exactly what to build and only need more hands.
Step 2
A fixed-price build
- What you get
- The work identified during the diagnostic is built and delivered for a single, pre-agreed price.
- Terms
- The exact price comes out of the diagnostic.
- Support after a build from $1,500 a month.
- Good fit
- The diagnostic found a defined piece of work with an end.
- Not a fit
- The scope changes every week. That is the seat, not a build.
Step 3
The seat: fractional CTO
- What you get
- I assume technical ownership: making decisions, executing the work, and ensuring successful delivery.
- Terms
- Approximately 15 hours per week, with a three-month minimum commitment.
- After the three-month minimum, either of us can end it with two weeks' notice.
- Good fit
- You need someone making technical decisions every week while you raise, hire, or replace a team.
- Not a fit
- You want a developer to take tickets, or an advisor who never touches the work.
This is not a default rewrite. If your system is functioning and the issue lies elsewhere, the diagnostic will identify this within the first week, not after six weeks of billing.
Where I have done this
2026Volunteer
PostSecret Searchable Archive
- The situation
- A collection of approximately 14,000 anonymous postcard secrets was unsearchable, and the founder had decision-making authority but lacked technical expertise.
- What I did
- I designed and built the archive as volunteer technical lead and primary engineer, collaborating with Automattic's Special Projects team. The system enables search by text, feeling, or meaning, unified into a single ranking. Each card is classified across six facets, with a moderation pipeline of 27 labels in three severity tiers, all managed behind one visibility gate. The platform includes over 300 tests.
- Result
- Live at search.postsecret.com (opens in new tab), where the About page credits the development team.
Jason led the technical development of the PostSecret Searchable Archive. This complex project required coordinating a small team and technical expertise for six months. He helped us navigate many challenges and completed a complex natural-language searchable database that has received many positive reviews. I would not hesitate to bring Jason back on another PostSecret team endeavor.
2019 to 2025Melee.gg
From the only developer to EVP of Product
- The situation
- No platform and one developer, me, for an online tournament business.
- What I did
- I built the platform and led product and development teams for six years, overseeing payments, real-time event operations, and a migration from Azure to AWS.
- Result
- This global platform grew to serve hundreds of thousands of players and thousands of organizers, including teams at Wizards of the Coast, Ravensburger, and Star City Games.
2026Co-Founder and CTO
NILmetrics
- The situation
- I co-founded and serve as CTO of a company that independently values college athletes' name, image, and likeness deals. This is my own venture, not a client project.
- What I built
- The platform includes a scoring engine with dollar projections run as scheduled jobs, automated ESPN data ingestion for approximately ten thousand Division I men's and women's basketball players and hundreds of teams across 32 conferences, authenticated admin and backfill tools, and a public site plus dashboards for four buyer types: collectives, brands, agents, and coaches.
- Built on
- Next.js, Auth.js, PostgreSQL and Drizzle, on Vercel.
2026-10Current, paid
Christmas Cheer, for Onslow Community Outreach
- The situation
- A North Carolina nonprofit's Christmas program needed its platform for the 2026 season.
- What I am doing
- This fixed-price project, delivered through Mythic Works LLC, is being built from an empty codebase using Next.js, PostgreSQL, and Vercel. It features entry screens families use with an assistant at the Christmas Cheer Center and supports sign-in via passkeys, authenticator apps, or a family phone code.
- What they keep
- The code is maintained in a GitHub organization under the nonprofit's name, ensuring full ownership.
The full record: Christmas Cheer, for Onslow Community Outreach
2011StarCityGames
Concierge
- The situation
- Previously, registration at large Magic: The Gathering events relied on shared Google Docs, resulting in lines that ran the length of the building.
- What I did
- Designed and built the system staff ran events on: registration, seating, staffing, badges, and cash reconciliation.
- Result
- At its first event, a line of approximately 100 people was processed in about ten minutes. The system ultimately served around 100,000 attendees.
What you have when I leave
- The thing actually shipped.
- A written record of what was decided and why, so nobody re-litigates it in six months.
- Someone on your side who can carry it forward.
- A straight account of what is still broken and what it will cost.
How it ends
My engagement concludes when the problem is resolved or a successor is in place. After the three-month minimum, either of us can end it with two weeks' notice. During the final weeks, I provide a comprehensive handover: every decision is documented, the person who carries it on has worked beside me, and nothing is left that only I understand.
Who is taking the seat
Since 2008, I have developed operational software for organizations. At StarCityGames, I built Concierge for event management. At Foresite, I created tools that cut manual work in security log review. In 2019, I launched Melee.gg as the sole developer and later served six years as EVP of Product, leading both product and development teams.
I designed and built the PostSecret Searchable Archive as a volunteer. Currently, I am developing the Christmas Cheer platform for Onslow Community Outreach under a fixed-price contract, and I serve as co-founder and CTO of NILmetrics, my own company.
Cash engagements only. I do not take equity in client work.
Tell me what is stuck
Please describe your situation in a brief paragraph. I will let you know if I can assist, or recommend someone who can.
Prefer to talk? Book 15 minutes (opens Google Calendar in a new tab).
Based in Roanoke, Virginia. Remote by default; on site across Virginia and the DC metro.