Focused reviews
I examine a defined problem and explain what I found, the evidence behind it and what I recommend doing next.
Engineer, founder and technology leader.
I’m Dan Williams. I’ve spent my career building software, teams and technology organisations—as a software engineer, founder and CTO, consumer technology CTO, and Head of Engineering at a YC-backed company. Today I lead applied-AI work at Scale AI. Through The Startup CTO, I help startup leaders, investors and advisors think clearly about difficult engineering, technology and AI decisions.
From technical detail to company-level decisions.
I’ve written software and designed systems. I’ve also hired and led teams, shaped organisations and set technology direction.
That range matters because engineering problems rarely sit in one place. I can follow a problem from the code and systems, through the way the team works, to the business decision behind it.
The work behind the advice
Each role changed how I see engineering problems—and the questions I ask first.
- Software engineer
Building products and systems, making technical choices and living with them in production.
- Founder & CTO
Balancing product, technology, customers, cash, hiring and the constant need to decide with incomplete information.
- CTO in consumer technology
Leading an established engineering organisation while managing delivery, quality, people and technical direction.
- Head of Engineering at a YC-backed startup
Leading engineering as the product and team grew, improving how work was organised without adding unnecessary process.
- Applied AI engineering leader at Scale AI
Today I lead applied-AI work at Scale AI, working with engineering teams serving complex public-sector customers and governments around the world. The work covers tool and workflow choices, organisational guardrails, team adoption and measurement across customers with different constraints, stakeholders and levels of readiness.
You’ll work directly with me.
The Startup CTO is my independent advisory practice. I do the work myself, from the first conversation through to the recommendation. Alongside my current role, I take on focused reviews, advisory and clearly bounded follow-through. Tell me the decision and timing you have in mind so we can discuss a suitable scope.
Dan on LinkedInAdvisory
I provide an experienced second opinion when a leadership team or investor is working through an important technology, organisation or hiring decision.
Follow-through
For the right, clearly bounded problem, I can stay involved to help leaders and teams put the recommendation into practice.