Fit

For owners who need the business to move.

Curavest – Fractional CTO Services are designed for owners, MDs and boards of growing UK businesses where operational complexity is beginning to limit performance.

The business may be successful already. The problem is that the way it works has not kept pace with its ambition.

A strong fit usually looks like this

The business is established and commercially serious.
Turnover is broadly in the £5m–£10m range.
Growth is being limited by a process, bottleneck or capacity constraint.
The owner or board wants a practical person to take responsibility.
There is no full-time CTO, or hiring one would be premature.
The business has capable people but not enough time or specialist judgement.
Decisions can be made without prolonged internal politics.
The leadership team is prepared to act on evidence.

Not every business needs this service

Has no clear appetite for growth or improvement.
Wants a software purchase without examining the process around it.
Expects advice to replace leadership decisions.
Is unwilling to involve the people doing the work.
Has a culture of entrenched departmental conflict.
Wants a one-off report with no implementation involvement.
Needs a large permanent technology department immediately.

Being clear about fit protects everyone’s time.

Sectors where the detail matters

Manufacturing

Improve production flow, capacity, quality, reporting and the systems around the factory floor.

Construction merchant and fixings specimen.

Construction supply

Reduce quote delays, improve product and service delivery, and identify opportunities hidden in how customers currently work.

Fire safety

Strengthen the processes, information flow and customer delivery mechanisms that support a safety-critical service.

Tool and fixings supply

Improve quoting, fulfilment, customer responsiveness and the connection between commercial and operational teams.

Outsourced product development

Create better visibility and control across the relationship between the customer, the product and the delivery team.

The common factor is not the product. It is a business where work moves through people, processes, equipment and systems — and where a constraint in one part affects everything else.

The work needs access and decisiveness

The owner or board does not need to understand every technical detail. They do need to explain what is creating pressure, provide access to the people and processes involved, be open to finding that the stated problem is not the real one, make decisions when the evidence is clear, and support the people responsible for adopting the change.