We put a proven CTO on your business in a week, not the 6 months a full-time hire takes. 400 software projects shipped. Two companies built and acquired. Strategy, security, and AI-powered operations, documented so no single person can hold your business hostage. Your technology answers to you now.
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STRATEGY. SECURITY. AI-NATIVE OPERATIONS.
Proof from the CTO seat, not from the sidelines.
I served as CTO. I scaled engineering operations, built hiring and delivery systems, and ran the technology org behind a national brand.
I served as CTO through acquisition. I built the platform, the team, and the technical documentation that survived due diligence.
I served as CTO through acquisition. I led product architecture and engineering from build to exit.
I delivered 400 software projects over 10 years across mobile, crypto, AI, and ecommerce, with engineering teams of up to 40 people.
I incubated eleven companies as CTO, from idea to operating product.
Mariem Akrout
CEO — AI.Energy
Ryan was our CTO at AI.Energy Inc. for three years, and he's one of the most effective technology leaders I've worked with.
He led our core AI product from concept through to acquisition, keeping a multi-disciplinary team focused through constant pivots and never missing a critical deadline. His leadership stood out most during that acquisition. He held the technology organisation together through a genuinely uncertain period, managed the technical due diligence, and protected both our roadmap and our client commitments.
What sets Ryan apart is how well he understands the way engineering and operations teams in heavy industry actually work. He mastered our operational technology and data pipelines, listened to the people doing the work, and proposed AI that fit existing workflows instead of forcing overhauls, delivering practical, measurable gains without overpromising.
If you need someone who can bridge data science and field operations and guide a team toward AI that actually works, Ryan is who I'd call.
Start with no commitment. Continue on a longer engagement when you're ready.
One-off work. Book it, use it, and decide if you want more.
No Commitment
$200 USD/hr.
One-off strategy calls, second opinions on architecture or vendor proposals, code and contract reviews, investor Q&A prep, and a read on the cloud bill.
No commitment. Book an hour, use an hour.
Front Door
$4,000 USD, fixed price, 2 weeks.
A complete, written assessment of your technology, delivered whether or not I ever work with you again.
Fully credited toward any retainer if you continue.
Add-on: Security Audit, +$1,000 USD
Vulnerability scan, access and permissions review, dependency and patch audit, backup and recovery test, cloud configuration review, OWASP fundamentals check. Written findings, ranked by severity.
No Upfront
20% success fee. No upfront.
I help you organize the evidence, timesheets, and preplanning so you can claim SR&ED every year. You pay only if the claim succeeds.
Hourly
$200 USD/hr.
I find the areas to optimize how you commercialize your service: pricing, packaging, sales motion, and the systems that turn delivery into repeatable revenue.
Retainers and scoped engagements for founders who want me in the seat.
Retainer
$4,500 USD/mo.
Your CTO on call. For founders with a working team who need senior judgment on tap.
Retainer
$9,500 USD/mo.
Your CTO in the building. I run technology for you.
Fixed Scope
$30,000 USD per quarter.
Fixed scope. Three months. CTO leadership plus the build team under one roof: architecture decisions and the hands that execute them.
Zero conflict of interest because the IP is yours. We keep server and cloud cost down as we ship.
100% IP transfer. I build. You own. Period.
Pre-Seed Only
$3,000 USD/mo + 1–2% equity minimum.
Advise, not implement. Use Ryan’s credibility with your company, execution partners at arm’s length, and a check before every expensive turn.
We keep you out of technology debt and on track. The partners you need to skyrocket execution are already known, introduced at arm’s length, so the person steering is never the shop billing the build. Cloud-cost mistakes get caught before they eat the runway.
If you're a Canadian company on a 12-month retainer, we also prepare and submit your SR&ED tax claim at no charge. No consultant fee. No percentage of your refund. It's our bonus for working with us.
SR&ED consultants typically charge a cut of your refund and that's before the months of reconstruction, chasing developers for what they built in March. Ours is different because we're inside your technology all year: experiments logged, failures recorded, results documented as they happen. When claim season comes, the file already exists. No scramble. And it's the kind of file that survives a CRA review.
I write these claims firsthand for my own companies, not just clients.
I wasn't advising from the sidelines I was in the seat. Three companies, and two of them were acquired.
Ten years, 400 software projects, engineering teams as big as 40. Whatever your technology problem is, chances are I've already solved it.
I wrote AI for Business and I've been on CBS, NBC, ABC, and The CW. That credibility comes with me when I sit down with your board or investors.
I host quarterly C-suite dinners, and that network is now 1,500 strong. If you need a hire, a vendor, or a partner, it's one message not a three-month search.
For my own companies, not just for clients. I don't recommend anything I don't do myself.
Whatever stage your company is at, I've been there eleven times.
I wrote AI for Business: a practical way to use AI to boost productivity for decision makers. It's available now. Get your copy below.
Read on AmazonTrusted by business leaders across industries.
Ryan has proven to be the unicorn that everyone in tech is looking for, but doesn't know about yet. The man knows how to manage people, knows how to hire people, fire people, scale engineering operations, fix technical issues - I could go on. We've been hiring engineers and engineering for a combined 30 years and Ryan is Tier 1.
Over the years Ryan has been a source of not just problem solving, but inspiration. They asks questions beyond the scope. This has been a consistent value added benefit to Call Steward. As our products grow with the needs of our clients, we take Ryan with us, getting prepared for what comes next.
I hired Ryan to build my MVP. Their knowledge was deep and wide to select the technology to use. Their expertise with AWS development was impressive. They gave me a clear proposal that was reasonably priced and delivered according to the proposed timeline. He also has a team to delegates the lower value work, which helps him competitively budget a project and also deliver in a timely manner. We are already planning on our next phase of the MVP development and I would recommend him to anyone for requirements similar to ours.
Ryan's a tech whiz, blazing through solutions with impressive speed. When he commits to a project, consider it done. His systems thinking and operational know-how are top-notch.
After spending years bouncing from one unsatisfying experience after another with different technology professionals, I finally found Ryan. Since then, they has handled ALL of our technology needs and provided excellent solutions to every single problem that has come up. Our business is much more successful now because we focus on growing it and Ryan makes sure our technology can deliver.
I hired Ryan to build out our member portal after working with other engineers who didn't accomplish our vision or timeline. Let me start by saying that Ryan blew me away and I will never use another developer than him (if he'll have me). I looked for a few things and here's how Manaknight Digital compared: Communication: Top Tier, terrific, always on time, available and made things so simple that anyone can follow along. Quality of Work: Best in class. Enough said. Execution: He did EXACTLY what he promised and his process/workflow is exactly what is optimal as a client so you're never left in the dark. 1000% highly recommend.
