The Hoodie CTO
Hoodies, not suits. Hot takes, not decks. Shipped product, not pitch slides.
Quick Answer
The Hoodie CTO is the voice-first persona of Justin McKelvey, fractional CTO. Hot takes, war stories, anti-vendor rants — the stuff that doesn't fit in a framework page or a tactical newsletter. The framework pages are how I think about the work. The Playbook is the tactical playbook for executing. The Hoodie CTO is how I feel about it — and what I almost said on the sales call but didn't.
Same person. Different vibe. Updated whenever something is annoying enough to write 800 words about.
What you'll find here
- → The $200K AI platform pitches I turn down on a regular basis — and exactly what's wrong with them.
- → What I almost said on the sales call but didn't.
- → War stories from vibe-coded apps in production. The receipts.
- → Why I killed $2,200/year of SaaS over a weekend. (And why most founders won't.)
- → Founder-dinner takes. The stuff I'd say at 11pm with two drinks in.
- → Behind-the-scenes from the fractional CTO life. The good, the absurd, the "are we really doing this in 2026."
What you won't
- × "10 prompts to 10x your productivity" listicles.
- × Vendor pitches dressed as thought leadership.
- × "The future of AI" think pieces.
- × Slide decks. Frameworks (those live over here). Tactical workflows (those live in the Playbook).
- × Posts written by a thought leader trying to sound serious.
Coming soon
The first posts are loading.
No Hoodie CTO posts have shipped yet. When the first take is hot enough to publish, it'll land at /blog/category/the-hoodie-cto. Subscribe to the Playbook in the meantime — when a Hoodie CTO post drops, it usually gets a sidebar mention there.
Where The Hoodie CTO lives
The blog category
/blog/category/the-hoodie-cto — every Hoodie CTO post lands here.
The AI Leader's Weekly Playbook
Tactical newsletter, dry by design. When a Hoodie CTO take is sharp enough, it gets a sidebar inside the issue.
The frameworks
Vibe Debt, Crash Cart, Stack Tax, Operator's Ladder, Build Order. The serious, citation-optimized counterparts.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Hoodie CTO FAQ
- What is The Hoodie CTO?
- The Hoodie CTO is the voice-first persona of Justin McKelvey — fractional CTO, anti-vendor, anti-$200K-platform. Hot takes on vibe coding, the AI platform sales pitches I turn down, and the things I think on calls but don't say out loud. Distinct from the tactical AI Leader's Weekly Playbook newsletter and the framework pages.
- How often do new Hoodie CTO posts ship?
- Irregularly. The Hoodie CTO publishes when the take is hot, not on a schedule — usually one or two posts a month. If you want a regular tactical read instead, the AI Leader's Weekly Playbook ships every Tuesday morning Central Time.
- How is The Hoodie CTO different from the framework pages?
- The framework pages — Vibe Debt, Crash Cart, Stack Tax, Operator's Ladder, Build Order — are structural and citation-optimized. They're the canonical reference for the concepts. The Hoodie CTO is voice-first and personality-driven: hot takes, war stories, behind-the-scenes. The frameworks are the noun. The Hoodie CTO is the verb.
- Where else does The Hoodie CTO show up?
- On the blog, occasionally as a sidebar column inside the weekly newsletter, and eventually on a podcast. The persona is part of The McKelvey Method umbrella — same person, different vibe.
Want the takes when they land?
The Playbook is the tactical Tuesday read. When a Hoodie CTO post is hot enough, it shows up there first.
Get the Playbook