CTO 这一档卖的是大多数早期公司缺的那个职能:自己这边的技术。有实力的甲方从来不让乙方先报价——预算自己先做,需求分析和估算是内部的事,跟乙方谈的是"这个数能做到哪一步"。没有这个职能的公司只能把方案和报价一起外包,收回来几份互相不可比的报价,凭感觉选,选中的往往是报得最低、也估得最错的那家。没有自己这边的技术,验收就是走过场。
联席 CTO 就是这个职能。agent 保证 100%——常驻、不下班、记得住你全部的技术上下文;真人叠 10%–100%——需求怎么写、该花多少钱、找谁做(外包还是招人)、合同里技术条款怎么定、做完了怎么验。CTO 不替你写代码:CTO 的价值在决定怎么做,不在动手做。加起来是 110%–200% 的 CTO 投入。预算到位,可以派一个 CTO 专门负责你的专项。
内部 IT 也在这一档里。每个团队都要面对一长串选型:用 Mac 还是 Windows,服务器怎么选,网络和 VPN 怎么搭,哪些 AI 工具和模型值得用、数据放在哪。多数团队是谁先碰上谁拍板,最后攒出一套没人说得清的系统。联席 CTO 帮你把内部的 IT 和信息系统架构搭起来,让团队用 IT 这件事变得科学、专业、说得清。
怎么开始。先在 Beagle 里免费问一个问题。要继续,CTO 档从 10% 起,$1,000/月,随时停——第一个月的活往往就是把预算和该做什么定下来。我们不投标、不做总包、不免费出方案。
按投入时间计费,不按结果。按结果,我们得把你所有的不确定性定价进去,只会更贵;而需求一变——它一定会变——按结果的合同就开始吵谁该承担。按时间,你每个月都能停,压力在我们这边:每个月都得值这个钱。
The CTO tier sells the one function most early companies are missing: an engineer on your side. Serious buyers never ask vendors to quote first — they set the budget, do the requirements and the estimate in-house, and ask vendors "what does this number buy." Without that function you outsource the plan and the price together, get back bids that cannot be compared, and pick on feel — usually the lowest bid, which is the worst estimate. Without your own engineer, acceptance is theater.
A joint CTO is that function. The agent holds 100% — always on, never off the clock, never losing your context. The person adds 10%–100% — what to build, what it should cost, who should build it (a vendor or a hire), what the technical clauses in the contract must say, and how to accept the result. The CTO does not write your code: a CTO earns their keep deciding how the work gets done, not doing it. Together that is 110%–200% of a CTO. Fund it properly and one is assigned to your project outright.
Your internal IT is part of it. Every team faces a long list of choices: Mac or Windows, which servers, how the network and VPN are set up, which AI tools and models are worth using, and where the data lives. Most teams let whoever hits the problem first decide, and end up with a system nobody can explain. A joint CTO sets up your internal IT and information-system architecture, so the way your team uses technology is deliberate, professional, and explainable.
How to start. Ask one question in Beagle, free. To go on, the CTO tier starts at 10% — $1,000 a month, stop any month — and month one is usually spent settling the budget and what to build. We do not bid, do not take turnkey builds, and do not write proposals for free.
Billed by time, not by result. Priced by result we would have to charge for all of your uncertainty, so it costs more — and the first time the requirements change (they will), a fixed-price contract turns into an argument about who pays. By time, you can stop any month, and the pressure is on us to be worth it every month.
