Two Fish LabsHello.Every technical decision still runs through you.
When a company's growth outpaces its technology, things start breaking. I step in as a fractional CTO and put the systems, team, and leadership in place so the business can scale without the founder in the middle of it.
I work with founders at every stage, from an idea and no technical team to a company of a few dozen people or more. Sometimes I work with agencies and product studios. Some founders are technical and ready to hand off the CTO role. Others are non-technical and need a partner they can trust to run the technical side.
Does that sound like you?
Sound familiar?
Delivery dates slip
And nobody can say why.
One hero engineer
Holds it all together, and you worry about the day they leave.
Inconsistent execution
It varies from team to team and project to project.
A client might notice
You're afraid they will before you fix it.
How I help
Most teams lose a large share of every day to work about work: status updates, handoffs, hunting for information. Part of what I do is find the robot work and take it off people's plates, often with AI, so they can spend their time on what only they can do.
Diagnose the bottlenecks
A fast technical and process audit to find where work is actually getting stuck.
Build a repeatable delivery system
Lightweight engineering process that makes delivery predictable.
Stabilize the team
Mentor, upskill, reset expectations, and put the right roles in place.
Reduce technical risk
Clean up unstable architecture and remove dangerous tech debt.
Give you clarity and control
Reporting and a roadmap that show what's happening and what's blocked.
Scale with confidence
Hire, reorganize, or expand the team to match the growth curve.
Track record
The engineering team I built at T3 contributed to the agency's largest revenue gains in a decade.
Grew from 17 to 53 people.
Led 50 engineers across four countries, delivering innovative solutions to global brands, internal incubation teams, and startups alike.
frog.
Helped startups and established companies rearchitect and replatform, whether for growth or acquisition.
frog.
Built a platform adopted by 450 institutions across North America.
Acadeum.
Led the UI platform team behind the retail site and mobile app.
Amazon.
What people say
Nelan has a calm-in-the-storm demeanor with a straightforward but detailed approach to technology. Integrity, pride, and certainty in a job well done are hallmarks of anything he touches.
Chris Wooster, Executive Creative Director, T3 (now Material)
Nelan has the knowledge, the skills, and most importantly the ability to think through any solution to its tiniest details. He has the charisma to lead and the communication skills to keep the team in the know of what is the destination.
Ivan Karpan, Managing Partner, OneReach.ai
Nelan is extremely thoughtful of his approach, very thorough on what he is conveying, and takes the time to think through the best case scenario for all sides.
Carolyn Connolly, CMO, Austin PBS & Austin City Limits