Two former M&A lawyers wanted to build an AI contract review tool. They had the domain expertise, the market validation, and the funding — but no technical team.
Two former M&A lawyers had pre-seed commitments of $920,000 conditional on demonstrating a working AI contract review product. They had 18 months of market validation. What they lacked was any technical capability whatsoever.
Our fractional CTO stepped in as technical co-founder equivalent — full CTO capability without equity. In the first two weeks, we made foundational decisions: LLM selection (Claude API for context window depth and accuracy on legal text), infrastructure approach (AWS with SOC 2-ready architecture from day one for law firm security requirements), and MVP scope (three contract types: NDAs, MSAs, employment agreements).
We sourced and managed two developers and a machine learning engineer, oversaw prompt engineering and evaluation framework design, built the customer onboarding flow, and launched a beta programme at month three with 12 law firms. We also led the security review process to address law firm information security requirements, which became a key differentiator in early sales conversations.
The MVP launched publicly at month six. Contract review time for the three supported contract types averaged 82% faster than manual review. 47 law firms were active in the pilot. The pre-seed closed in full.
You do not need a technical co-founder on your cap table to build a great technology product. You need senior technical judgment in your leadership team — and that is exactly what a fractional CTO provides.
Book a free call with a CTO who has 27 years of hands-on experience — and a track record of measurable outcomes.