Brian Aznar

CTO as a Service

I’m an outcome-driven Fractional CTO who helps startups shape and execute their engineering strategy—and supports VCs in evaluating technical teams and products.

I work closely with founders to expedite engineering leadership experience, build and coach engineering teams, turn ideas into proof of concept, launch MVPs, and scale products to meet market demand. I also partner with VCs to assess the technical viability of early-stage companies.

My experience spans both high-growth startups and established organizations like Major League Soccer and Condé Nast, giving me the range to navigate everything from product-market fit to enterprise-scale delivery.

I know you have questions…

  • A part time engineering leader that fills a gap in a C-suite lacking an experienced engineering leader. Although fCTOs are part-time, they should function and be embedded as a regular CTO. Fractionals exist for most practices (Operations, Product, Marketing, Finance, etc.)

  • The Fractional designation applies mostly to leadership positions across various practices that function similarly to their full-time counterparts only at a part-time engagement. Therefore, fractionals are embedded with everyone in the company and have no fixed end date.

    Consultants are full-time and can apply to any level in an organization.

    Interim CTOs have a fixed end date and Advisors interact only with C-Suites and the board.

  • Usually fCTOs are employed by startups for the following reasons:

    +limited in funds - you can get a fCTO for a rate cheaper or as much as an engineer

    +don’t have full-time need for a CTO

    +founders do not have a deep technical background or do not have time / resources to focus on engineering leadership and oversight.

    +founder is an engineer/ic and needs a experienced CTO coach to helpfill some gaps

  • Contact me at brian@baztec.net and we will schedule a 15 to 30-min meeting to discuss your company’s needs and if there is a fit between us.

    For some clients that are unsure, I also offer a free weeks’ worth of discovery and gap analysis where I would sit with your team and understand your business, platform architecture and resources.

    From there, I will produce a technology road map that I would execute on if I were to come aboard and you are free to choose if we move forward. If not, no worries and you get a free tech roadmap ;)

  • Fractional rates are between 2k and 10k a month depending on the level of engagement and your company’s resources.

Areas of Expertise

Organizational & Process Assessment for VC Firms – Evaluate engineering teams and workflows to optimize efficiency, scalability, and execution.

Technology & Platform Due Diligence – Assess system architecture, technical debt, modernity, and intellectual property differentiation.

Hybrid, Remote & Offshore Engineering Leadership – Build and manage distributed teams for high performance and collaboration.

Vendor Selection & Management – Evaluate vendors, negotiate contracts, oversee execution, and transition capabilities in-house.

Technical Program Management – Drive complex technical initiatives from concept to execution with structured planning and execution oversight.

Solutions Architecture – Design scalable, secure architectures for mobile, Web2, Web3, and cloud infrastructure.

Budgeting & Cost Optimization – Manage engineering budgets, optimize cloud spend, and align investments with business priorities.

Executive & Board Advisory – Provide strategic guidance to founders, C-suite executives, and boards on technology and product strategy.

Recent Projects

Republic.com - private investments & rwa

Clearingbid.com - securities as a service platform

Mystandard.io - decentralized job search platform

Web3 Stealth - decentralized identity & social media platform

Experience & Eduation

Fulltime CTO - 2024-Now

Grow engineering team and platform towards blockchain and crypto

Fractional CTO for Clearingbid, Mystandard and Stealth Web3 - 2022-2024

Help startups find product market fit and scale by defining technology strategy matched to company business goals and life stage; Strengthen software development standards through gap analysis of SDLC, architecture, infrastructure, process and communication

VP of Engineering at 21.co. - 2021

Doubled growth of company's innovative crypto exchange traded products (ETP/ETF) in Swiss, Australian and Middle Eastern markets by driving scale and evolution of digital assets management API, increasing product offering from 10 to 30 ETPs and AUM from $1B to $2.5B

VP of Engineering at Block.one / Voice - 2020

Executed a strategic high growth plan for engineering dept by hiring 90 globally distributed engineers and launched an innovative first of its kind blockchain-based social media content platform powered by hybrid decentralized Web2 / Web3 architecture

Head of Engineering at Major League Soccer - 2015 - 2020

Built MLS engineering dept and led teams powering 40 separate branded consumer web and mobile products bringing realtime soccer experience to fans

Head of Engineering at Conde Nast - 2010 - 2015

Led Condé Nast's digital transformation by building engineering dept and executing against a cloud native api first technology vision which produced a new content platform powering a fresh suite of web and mobile consumer digital products for wwd.com, style.com, footwearnews.com and vogue.com

Software Engineer, Tech Lead, Architect, Hands on Manager - 1998 - 2010

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science - 1998 - 2010

Virginia Tech University

Dean’s List

A good engineering practice is agile, aligned with the company's goals and delivers iteratively and consistently with impactful outcomes.

Engineering Philosophy