Currently taking on new clients
Technical leadership
without the full-time hire.
I'm Matt Hemmings, a fractional CTO who joins your team to sort out the technology, fix what's broken, and get the important things done. Based in South Wales, working with businesses across the UK.
// What I do
Fractional CTO services
I give growing businesses senior technical leadership on a part-time basis. You get the experience without the £200k salary. No fluff, no 80-page strategy decks. Just someone who gets stuck in and makes decisions.
01
Technology strategy
Helping you choose the right technology and set it up sensibly, based on what actually works for a business like yours, not whatever's trending online this week.
02
Building your tech team
Hiring, onboarding, and putting the right habits in place so your team can get on with the work without you having to check up on them.
03
Reliable infrastructure
The systems behind the scenes that keep your product running and stop it falling over. I've run platforms handling more than 20 million visits a month.
04
Fixing what's holding you back
I review what you already have, work out what's actually slowing the business down, and lead the work to put it right. I'm currently running exactly this kind of clean-up on a large platform.
05
Getting ready to scale
You've found something that works and customers want more of it, but the cracks are starting to show. I help you go from getting by to being ready for serious growth.
06
Due diligence
Independent technology assessments for investors, buyers, and boards. Honest answers about what's really going on behind the scenes: strengths, risks, and whether the team can deliver.
// Case studies
Real problems, anonymised
Names and identifying details are left out, but these are the kind of situations businesses actually bring me.
Getting a growing product ready for serious growth
A company had found genuine demand for its product, but the infrastructure behind it was a patchwork of quick fixes that was just about coping.
Read the case study → Fixing what's holding you backLeading a technical debt clean-up without stopping the business
Years of shortcuts across a large, multi-service platform had made every new feature slower to build and every release riskier than it should be.
Read the case study → Building your tech teamBuilding the first real engineering team around a founder
A founder had built the whole product himself and every technical decision, big or small, still had to go through him personally.
Read the case study →// Track record
Things I've built and delivered
Not a CV. Just proof that I've done this before and the things didn't fall over.
Large-scale content platforms
Built and run platforms handling 20M+ monthly visits. The kind of scale where small mistakes get expensive fast, and things need to work first time.
Freight and shipping platforms
Led the technology behind freight and shipping platforms used by franchises and their customers across the country. Complex operations, lots of moving parts, and no room for "it's probably fine."
Cleaning up a major platform
Currently leading a major clean-up programme across a large platform: working out what's actually slowing the business down, being ruthless about priorities, and getting it fixed. Not just writing a report and walking away.
Side ventures
I build things because I can't help it. Some of them even make money.
Managed websites for tattoo artists, built and hosted so they don't have to think about it. Because tattoo artists are brilliant at art and usually terrible at web hosting.
A home food inventory app for your phone. Built because nobody in my house tells me when the milk's run out, and I got tired of guessing.
Custom vehicle wraps and automotive art. A nice break from screens, and a lot more forgiving than a codebase.
// How I work
The fractional model
Fractional means part-time, embedded, and accountable. I'm not a consultant who writes a report and disappears. I get properly involved: in your meetings, in the detail, and in the work itself.
01
1–3 days per week
Embedded with your team on a regular schedule. Enough to make a real difference, without you paying for a full-time salary you don't need yet.
02
Hands-on, not just advice
I get stuck into the actual work alongside your team, not just handing down advice from the sidelines. A good strategy is worthless without someone to make it happen, and I do both.
03
3–12 month engagements
Long enough to make a real impact. Short enough that you're not locked in. Most clients stay towards the longer end because the value keeps building.
04
Advisory available too
Not every business needs someone in the weeds full-time. I also do lighter advisory work: reviewing your setup, supporting hiring, technical due diligence, or just being someone to sanity-check decisions with.
// Articles
Straight answers, no jargon
Written for business owners, not engineers. The questions I get asked most often, answered properly.
What a fractional CTO actually does in the first 90 days
Curious what actually happens when you bring in a fractional CTO? A realistic, roughly week-by-week look at what the first 90 days of the engagement involve.
Read →How to hire your first engineers without a technical background
Hiring your first developers without a technical background of your own is daunting. Practical, non-technical advice for judging who's actually good.
Read →From early traction to scale: what breaks first
When a small company suddenly gets a lot more customers, certain things break first, technically and organisationally. What to expect and how to get ahead.
Read →Preparing your business for technical due diligence
Facing a technical due diligence process during an investment round or acquisition? What it actually involves and how to prepare your business properly.
Read →// About
A bit about me
I'm Matt. I live in the South Wales valleys with my three kids, who we home-school. That means my office is rarely quiet, but it's also taught me to stay patient and keep several things going at once.
I've spent my career building and running the technology behind growing businesses. I like things that just work, reliably, without drama. The best decisions are usually the boring ones: the kind nobody notices, because nothing goes wrong.
Outside work I'm into cars, barbecue and smoking meat (I take my brisket seriously), gardening, and the odd gaming session once the kids are in bed. I also build side projects, because I'm not very good at sitting still. Beeinked, Beestocked and Croen all started as a "what if I just..." and turned into real things.
I'm not a corporate CTO who learned management from a textbook. I still get properly hands-on with the work, and I know how to build and lead a team around it. If that sounds like what your business needs, let's talk.
// Get in touch
Let's have a conversation
No sales funnel, no booking widget to fight with. Just drop me a message and I'll get back to you, usually within a few hours. Tell me what you're working on and where you're stuck.