I help startup leaders make better technology decisions, improve engineering delivery and turn AI adoption into useful team practices.
Advice from Dan Williams: former founder, CTO and Head of Engineering at a YC-backed startup. Meet Dan.
A few lines are enough. I’ll read your message and reply personally.
See if one of these situations sounds familiar. You do not need to know the cause yet; what you can see in the business or team is enough to choose where to start.
Delivery is slow, quality is inconsistent, ownership is unclear, or Product and Engineering are not working well together.
Starting point: Engineering Health Check—an independent view of delivery, quality and ownershipArchitecture, technical debt, infrastructure, build vs buy, a vendor choice, a senior technical hire—or an investor needing an independent view of technology risk.
Starting point: Technical Strategy Review—options, risks and a clear recommendationMove beyond scattered usage. Improve how work gets done, spread effective practice, set clear boundaries and measure business and engineering outcomes.
Flagship starting point: AI Engineering Review—better workflows, clear guardrails, team enablement and measurable adoptionHiring, team structure, management, progression, performance, quality and leadership expectations.
Starting point: Organisation Review—clear roles, structure and hiring prioritiesI have been responsible for code, engineering teams and technology decisions at company level, including as Head of Engineering at a YC-backed company. I can work through the technical detail and still account for the team, the constraints and what the business needs.
Software engineer Founder & CTO Consumer technology CTO YC-backed Head of Engineering Engineering leader working with AI
About Dan and The Startup CTOBring me the decision or problem in front of you. We’ll look at the evidence, challenge assumptions and work out what needs attention first.
An independent examination of a specific problem. I’ll explain what I found, the evidence behind it and what I recommend doing next. Reviews can cover AI adoption, team health, delivery, organisation, technology strategy or hiring. Bring the evidence you already have. You do not need to diagnose the problem first.
Regular access when a leadership team or investor wants an experienced second opinion on an important decision or difficult problem.
Call me before you make the expensive decision.For the right, clearly bounded problem, I can stay involved to help leaders and teams put the recommendation into practice.
The AI Engineering Review looks at how AI is being used across the team, where it is improving the work and where it is adding risk or inconsistency. I identify which workflows need to change and set expectations for using AI safely. The 90-day programme helps the team adopt those practices. We agree the outcomes that should improve and track those alongside adoption.
Teams should understand why the work matters, own the outcome, maintain high standards and avoid unnecessary process. These are strong defaults, applied with judgement.
If one of these problems sounds familiar, a few honest lines are enough. Tell me what changed, what you can see and which decision or outcome is at stake.