Justin McKelvey
CTO · 15 Years in Product

I help founders ship products that actually grow.

Fractional CTO and AI co-founder for founders and business owners who need senior technical leadership — without the $300K hire.

National sports platform → 40% faster AI startup → 95% cost cut 50+ products shipped

Strategy call is free. No pitch. Just figuring out if there's a fit. Or grab any of my 8 free tools and checklists instead.

Results, not resumes.

Production AI systems. Real traffic. Real money.

Head of Product

National Sports Platform

40% Faster

Aging platform losing users to faster competitors.

Led product strategy across web and mobile — peer-to-peer matching, coaching, and a gamified LMS. Rebuilt the core platform on Rails 8 and now leading AI strategy.

Product Strategy Web + Mobile

CTO

AI Lead Scoring Platform

95% Cost Cut

Manual lead qualification team that couldn't scale.

Built an ML model to score and qualify leads as CTO. Managed media buying and lead gen for a top-3 global auto manufacturer. Replaced a manual team with an ML-powered scoring engine.

Machine Learning Architecture

Founded & Built

LocalCall AI

Zero Missed Calls

Contractors losing leads to voicemail after hours.

Built an AI phone agent that answers calls, qualifies leads, and books appointments 24/7.

Founded & Built

Uplo

Idea to Revenue

Fitness pros spending hours creating social content.

Built an AI content platform end-to-end — product design, AI integration, go-to-market. Paying customers within months.

format_quote
“Justin doesn't just write code; he thinks like a CEO. He understands the business impact of every technical decision, which is rare in this industry.”
Lindsey B. · Co-Founder, SaaS Collective

How I work with you.

Pick the engagement that fits — or book a call and I'll tell you.

AI Readiness Assessment

$2,500 Flat · 2 Weeks

Two weeks of focused work on your specific business. I audit your workflows, rank the AI opportunities by impact and effort, and write you a 15-25 page 30-60-90 day roadmap. Credited in full against any install or build within 90 days.

Best for: business owners and founders who want a clear written plan in two weeks — not another six-month strategy deck.

Start the Assessment east
The Core Offer

Claude for Small Business: Done-For-You Install

From $4,500 · ~2 Weeks

Anthropic gives you the engine. I build the brain that runs your business. A done-for-you install built on the "Business Brain" — your voice, offers, ICP, and sales motion captured once and used by every Claude workflow forever. Training call and 30 days of Slack support included; optional $1,500/mo retainer after.

Best for: business owners who turned on Claude and noticed it sounds generic. You want it to sound like you and actually know your offers.

See the install east

Vibe Code Rescue

$25K–$50K · 4–8 Weeks

You shipped an MVP with Lovable, Cursor, Replit, or Bolt — and now it's breaking in production. I stabilize what works, fix what's dangerous, and get you shipping again. Starts with a free 20-minute repo audit.

Best for: founders with a vibe-coded app that has real users and real problems.

Get the free repo audit east

Ongoing fractional CTO work is available for long-term clients after a first engagement. Something custom that doesn't fit above? Book a call and I'll scope it.

No decks. No frameworks. No long-term contracts. If I'm not adding obvious value, fire me.

You might be wondering.

“Can someone who's only here 8 hours a week actually move the needle?”

Yes — because the job isn't writing code. It's making the 3-4 high-leverage decisions per week that determine whether your product succeeds or wastes 6 months. A focused CTO for 8 hours beats an unfocused one for 40. I've been doing this for 15 years across 50+ products. I pattern-match fast.

“How is this different from a consultant who gives me a strategy deck?”

I don't give decks. I sit in your product meetings, review your PRs, pair with your engineers, and build things. If the AI strategy says "build an internal tool to automate lead qualification" — I'm the one scoping it, architecting it, and making sure it ships. You get a co-founder in the room, not a PowerPoint.

“What does this actually cost?”

A fraction of a full-time CTO hire — significantly less than a $300K+ full-time salary. Book a call and I'll give you exact numbers for your situation.

“I've been burned by contractors before.”

I hear this a lot. The difference: I'm not a contractor you hand a spec to and hope for the best. I help define the spec, challenge bad assumptions, and own the outcome with you. No long-term contracts either — if I'm not adding obvious value, you can walk away anytime.

Not ready for a call? Start here instead.

download Free: AI Content Playbook

5 copy-paste prompts + a content system for 36 posts/month.

Here's how it works.

1

30-min strategy call

We talk about your situation. No pitch, no pressure. I'll tell you honestly if I can help — and if I can't, I'll point you to someone who can.

2

One-page scope in 48 hours

If there's a fit, I send a clear scope: what we'll do, how long, and what it costs. No 30-page proposals. One page.

3

We start within a week

No onboarding decks. No kickoff meetings about kickoff meetings. I embed with your team and we start building.

Justin McKelvey
Justin McKelvey
Austin, TX

15 years building software. CTO at an AI startup, Head of Product at a national sports platform, founder of my own companies. I've helped partners generate $53M+ in revenue.

Let's talk.

30-minute call. No pitch. Just figuring out if there's a fit.

Book a Call