You've invested in AI and the numbers haven't moved. For founders and small to mid-market teams, I embed as your Fractional CTO to change that. From architecture through production.
Serial founder, four exits. PhD. Oxford Executive Leadership.
The money is being spent. The pilots are running. The board slide has a roadmap. And the P&L hasn't moved.
of CEOs say AI has delivered no significant benefits
Only one in eight report improvements to both cost and revenue. The problem isn't the technology. It's how it's being deployed.
PwC Global CEO Survey, 2026
from working demo to production-grade system
The gap between an AI demo and a system that runs unsupervised at scale is enormous. Bridging it takes someone who has done it before, not someone who's read about it.
Observed across dozens of AI engagements
of AI users bring their own AI tools to work
38% of employees share sensitive work information with AI tools without permission. EU AI Act transparency duties have applied since August 2026. Shadow AI is your next audit finding. Or your next breach.
Microsoft & LinkedIn Work Trend Index · CybSafe & NCA, 2024
Most technology advisors have either the technical depth or the commercial experience. Rarely both. I've built production AI systems, led national-scale transformation, founded four companies, and exited all of them.
I work alongside your team, in your systems, with your data. The deliverable is a working system in production with measured KPIs, not a recommendation to build one.
Four exits. VC-backed. Built to profitability. I've sat in every seat at the table, not just the technical slice.
A seasoned CTO runs £200–350K plus equity. Fractional gives you the same architecture decisions, hiring guidance, and board presence. Without the overhead or the hiring risk.
Operated across AWS, Azure, GCP, and open-source stacks. The recommendation is always what fits your situation and budget. Not what earns a referral fee.
The short version of how I read this moment. Each one has the longer argument behind it.
AI writes the code now. The engineering was always the easy part. Leadership is what decides outcomes.
The argumentAgile is now the bottleneck. Stop planning the journey. Set a destination and navigate to it daily.
The argumentIf your AI strategy is just ChatGPT, you don't have one. The model is the commodity. The advantage is what you wrap around it.
The argumentMost failed AI pilots are recoverable. But don't let the people who built it be the ones to fix it.
The argumentDon't hire the AI consultancy first. Get the ownership in place before the delivery.
The argumentThe quality you can't see is the one that kills you. AI is brilliant at the quality you can see, and weakest at the quality you can't.
The argumentDifferent sectors. One standard: measurable outcomes from systems running in production.
Agentic AI in production at a European insurance brokerage. End-to-end case resolution, full audit trail, deployed under regulator-grade scrutiny.
Four companies built from zero, all exited. Pattern-level lessons about taking technology from PhD bench to acquisition.
Chief Product & Technology Officer at NHS Wales. Found the savings the operating model couldn't see, and the structural shape that would keep them.
From a fixed-fee diagnostic or knowledge audit to a full transformation sprint to ongoing fractional CTO work. Built for founders and small to mid-market teams. Pick the depth that fits.
Deep review of your stack, architecture, AI approach, and team. Delivered as an investor-ready technical assessment. The clearest way to know where you stand.
Map where your business's knowledge really lives, whether your systems agree, and where AI will pay first. Delivered as a Blueprint: a ranked list of what to automate and what to fix first.
Architecture decisions, hiring guidance, investor updates, AI roadmap, and board presence. Senior technical leadership without the full-time hire.
Audit your AI landscape, build the governance framework, deploy one system to production, and deliver a 90-day action plan with measured KPIs.
Quarterly technology reviews, investor call prep, and a senior external voice for board credibility. An independent technical perspective when the stakes are high.
Engineering leaders, legal counsel, and government clients who’ve worked with me directly.
“Rafal was everything an expert should be: enthusiastic, immensely knowledgeable, personable and totally reliable. I have no hesitation in giving him my unreserved recommendation.”
“Rafal swiftly transformed the team dynamics, effectively improving previously low morale. His unique ability to win over his team’s hearts and minds was amazing to watch.”
“Technically he is brilliant. He is able to balance the technology and the user needs very easily. Quality driven. Not satisfied until the product reaches the level of quality he expects.”
The whole picture in one place: what to build, who should lead it, how to keep it good, and how to avoid the expensive mistakes.
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Before any AI build, I audit a company's knowledge, not its tech stack. The five kinds of mess I look for, what a good audit shoul…
AI is now billed by use, not by seat, and token prices are falling while AI budgets overrun. Why the cost of an agent is really a …
Tell me what you're working on. I'll respond personally. If there's a fit, we'll take it from there.
