Marin County was behind schedule, over budget on vendor costs, and running out of runway.
We reset the project, launched a working system in thirty days, and have been their technical partner ever since.
Rudder embeds with mission-driven organizations as your senior technical leadership — bringing the expertise that usually takes years to hire, without the cost of a full-time executive.
We take on a limited number of engagements at a time. Each one gets our full attention.
Who This Is For
You're a public agency, nonprofit, or mission-driven organization with real technology decisions to make. You have developers. You have vendors. What you don't have is someone senior enough to cut through the noise, make the calls that matter, and hold everyone accountable to results.
Without that, technology decisions get delayed, vendor relationships drift, and the gap between your mission and your systems keeps growing. That gap is expensive — and it compounds.
What You Get
A Technology Strategy That Fits Your Mission
We help you understand what you have, what you need, and what you should stop doing. We build a roadmap that fits your organization and your budget — not a vendor's roadmap for you.
Architecture and Decision-Making
Every technology decision you make today shapes what's possible tomorrow. We're in the room for the ones that matter — platform choices, vendor contracts, build vs. buy, infrastructure tradeoffs.
Vendor Accountability
We've been on both sides of the table. We know what a good engagement looks like and what a bad one costs. We evaluate your vendors, review their work, and make sure you're getting what you paid for.
Senior Partnership, Not Staff Augmentation
We work alongside your team — improving how they work, not replacing them. Your developers move faster with clearer direction and better decisions upstream.
How We Work
Fractional CTO engagements run on a monthly retainer. Most organizations work with us for a minimum of three months, with many continuing long-term.
We talk to your leadership every week. We write down what we decided and why. You know where things stand.
What We've Done
Marin County
Behind schedule on a technology migration with an immovable deadline. We reset the approach, launched a working system in thirty days, and migrated 21 departments over the following nine months. Still working together.
Read the case study →MTA
During COVID, the subway shutdown left essential workers stranded. We built and launched a ride-request system in six days. Twenty thousand rides in the first four months.
Read the case study →City of Boston
Our co-founder, Matthew Crist, led the build of boston.gov as the city's Lead Developer. The platform was designed around what residents actually needed, not the agency's org chart. The code went open source. Other cities forked it.
Pricing
Starting at $8,000/month
Scope varies based on your organization's size, the complexity of the technology landscape, and the pace of work. We'll tell you honestly what fits.
Book an intro call →A Note on Fit
We work best with organizations serious about getting technology right — not the fastest or cheapest, but right. We'll tell you when something doesn't make sense. We'll push back when a vendor is overselling. We'll give you an honest read on what you can actually accomplish with the resources you have.
If you want someone to execute a spec, we're not your match. If you want a senior partner who tells you the truth — let's talk.