From R30k/month
Advisory
A few hours a week
Sounding board, architecture reviews, hiring support, and clear senior input when the team needs a sharper technical lens.
WHO THIS IS FOR
Senior technical leadership for a specific kind of pressure
Ithrekhi is built for founders, leadership teams, and investors who need clearer technical judgment, stronger delivery control, and better decisions around risk.
You have a dev team you can't properly evaluate
You need senior technical judgment to assess delivery quality, trade-offs, and whether the team is actually moving the business forward.
Your junior tech team needs senior leadership
You need someone to turn scattered effort into a roadmap, make better technical calls, and raise the standard of execution.
You are in a technical transition or a rewrite is failing
When a CTO leaves, a product stalls, or a rewrite goes off the rails, you need experienced leadership quickly without a permanent hire.
You need an independent technical read before a deal
Investors, acquirers, and boards use technical due diligence to understand risk, team quality, architecture, and what will need fixing.
HOW ENGAGEMENTS WORK
Choose the level of involvement the business actually needs
The model ranges from light-touch advisory through to embedded leadership and project-based technical due diligence.
From R45k/month
Fractional CTO
1-2 days a week
Embedded leadership for roadmap ownership, engineering management, delivery oversight, hiring, and board-level technical input.
From R80k/month
Embedded
2-3 days a week
For transitions, crises, fundraising prep, or periods where the business needs heavier senior involvement for a defined window.
R75k-R200k per engagement
Technical Due Diligence
1-2 week project
Independent review for investors, acquirers, boards, or founders who need a clear view of architecture, team risk, security, and delivery reality.
ABOUT
A fractional CTO practice, not a generalist technology agency
Ithrekhi is led by Martin Paul Lippert, a South African and German technology leader with three decades of software experience and more than a decade in senior technical leadership roles across South Africa, the Netherlands, and the UAE.
The work sits at the intersection of technical strategy, engineering leadership, due diligence, and operational clarity. A degree in Computer Science from Wits and a degree in Psychology from UNISA shape how it gets done: technical problems are rarely only technical.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Questions founders ask before bringing in senior technical leadership
Straight answers on timing, scope, team fit, and where AI or automation actually belongs in an engagement.
When should I hire a fractional CTO instead of a full-time CTO?
A fractional CTO makes sense when the business needs senior technical leadership now, but not enough of it to justify a full-time executive salary. It is often the right fit during growth, transition, or when a founder needs a credible technical counterpart.
How long do engagements typically run?
Most retainers begin with a defined initial period so the core issues can be diagnosed and the operating cadence set. Some engagements stay advisory, while others deepen for a period and then step back once the team is stable.
Do you work with non-technical founders?
Yes. That is one of the main situations this practice is built for. The work often involves translating technical complexity into business decisions a founder can act on with confidence.
Will you replace my existing development team?
No. The aim is to improve leadership, decision quality, and delivery clarity around your current team or partners. If implementation support is needed, that is scoped separately rather than smuggled into a leadership retainer.
Where do AI and automation fit in?
AI and automation are part of the toolkit, not the pitch. They are used when they materially improve the business outcome, not because they sound fashionable in a proposal deck.
How do you handle conflicts of interest and confidentiality?
New engagements that substantially conflict with an existing client are declined up front, and active engagements are disclosed during scoping so both sides can do an informed conflict check. All client IP, code, data, and strategy remains the client’s; nothing produced inside one engagement is reused or referenced inside another.
Do you work with companies outside South Africa?
Yes. International clients are welcome provided we can agree on a workable time zone overlap and a sensible payment arrangement. Past roles in the Netherlands and the UAE mean cross-border engagements are familiar territory.
CONTACT
Get in touch
Outline the situation below and we will set up a short call to see if there is a real fit.