April 2026: Meta cut 8,000 jobs, Microsoft launched first-ever buyouts, ~80,000 tech jobs gone in Q1 — 50% AI-driven. The bar moved. So should your portfolio.Read the Thesis →

// AUGMENTED CTO

The embedded CTO function for your portfolio.

Your portcos are running 2024 engineering cost structures into 2026 acquirers. Every quarter you don't restructure is a multiple-point haircut at exit. We are the operator layer that fixes it.

ONE SENIOR OPERATOR + AI PER PORTCO. FIXED PRICE. PROGRAMME ECONOMICS FROM £500K / YR.

// WHY NOW

The 2026 buyer benchmarks against post-restructure portcos. Q1 2026: ~80,000 tech layoffs, ~50% AI-driven. Meta cut 8,000 in April; Microsoft ran its first-ever buyout. Read the cited evidence →

// THE MODEL

One senior. Built like a team. Applied across your portfolio.

1

Senior Operator

Not a fractional retainer. Not an agency. A senior CTO with AI-native delivery, embedded into your portco — judgment, code and shipping in one person.

4-8

Weeks to Ship

Fixed timelines, fixed price. Production-grade V1 in weeks, not quarters. The cadence your LPs are now asking your portcos to hit.

50%+

Cost Compression

Typical engagement removes a £2-10M/yr engineering line and replaces it with a £250-500k fixed-price engagement. Same output, lower burn, faster decisions.

// WHO WE SERVE

Venture Builders / PE

Your portcos are running 2024 engineering cost structures into 2026 acquirers. Every quarter you don’t restructure is a multiple-point haircut at exit.

One senior operator + AI per portco. Diligence £25k+. Turnaround £35–250k. Programme £500k–1.5M / yr.

Founders / Portcos

Prototype code can’t pass DD, can’t scale, can’t onboard a real team. Your moat is no longer code volume — it’s how fast you reach defensible scale.

Rebuild your product into a fundable, scalable asset. Or ship a new AI-native product in one quarter. Fixed price.

// WHAT WE DELIVER

The work that actually drives multiples.

Six outcomes. Fixed price. One quarter, not one year.

Ship a new portco V1 in 6 weeks

From kickoff to a deployed product real users can pay for. Fixed fee. No standups, no sprints, no agency overhead.

Replace a 12-person team with a senior operator

Same shipped output. ~30% of the cost base. Removes the coordination layer that consumed the rest.

Diligence a portco before the next markdown

Codebase health, team capability, AI readiness, restructuring cost. £25k. We tell you which portcos to fix first.

Restructure an engineering org pre-exit

Re-shape a bloated eng org into AI-native pods before the next round or sale. Fixed fee, 8–12 weeks.

Standardise across the cohort

One playbook — diligence, build, turnaround — applied across every portco. One operating system, not bespoke consulting each time.

Add a defensible AI line to a mature portco

Production AI inside the perimeter, not throwaway prototypes. Customer-facing or internal productivity. £75–250k, 6–12 weeks.

50+
Companies Delivered
4-8
Weeks to Production
£500k+
Annual Programmes
Fixed
Price, Always

The Brass Ball Guarantee

If we don't deliver a production-ready codebase that passes an independent security audit within the agreed timeline, we'll make it right — or you don't pay the final milestone. Full terms in our service agreement.

Bring us your portfolio.

A 30-minute briefing. We map the engineering surface area across your portcos and show where embedded CTO leverage compounds first. NDA-ready, no sales pitch.