You earned your role through talent and dedication, yet every day feels like the most demanding job you've ever had. Figuring it all out on your own is doable, but costly. I've been where you're going: I'll spare you my many mistakes, review your plans the way you'd review code, and give you the confidence to act on what your gut already tells you.
Remote or in person, weekly or every other week
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Pick your role to see the challenges I most often work on with clients like you.
The technical side of the CTO role came naturally. The people side is different: giving hard feedback, holding someone accountable, making calls that affect careers. No one hands you a manual, and most first-time CTOs learn this slowly and expensively.
I help you apply your instincts to decisions that set precedents: identifying who has leadership potential and how to develop it, setting the technical and process foundations that define what great looks like, and learning to measure your own success through what your team produces, not what you do yourself.
The flat structure works until it doesn't. You'll see it: communication breaks down, priorities blur, AI adoption turns sporadic, and you're in everyone's calendar. The question is how to add structure without losing the people who built the team with you.
I help you navigate the split: how to think about an organization with more leaders, both in management and in tech leadership; how to structure AI-native adoption so it keeps speeding you up; and how to balance product roadmap work with keeping the lights on and getting ready for scale.
Seasoned VPEs arrive at this role one of two ways, each with its own trap. If you were promoted from within, exec team pressure can pull you toward protecting your people rather than meeting the business's needs. If you came in from outside, a lack of depth in the real problems makes it hard to rally the team around what needs to change. Either way, today's CEOs expect you to reinvent how the org operates as an AI-native one, not just keep it running, which raises the stakes further.
I help you build an operating model that scales without you being in every meeting, starting with what an AI-native org actually looks like for your team. From there: org structures and OKRs that align your engineering leaders around business goals rather than just reporting upward, and the judgment to know when a team's problem needs coaching, structural change, or a harder conversation.
Most VPEs spend more time defending Engineering's capacity than shaping the priorities that create the pressure. The real gap isn't execution; it's influence: whether you're part of company-level decisions, or just handed the outcome. That gap shows up sharpest around AI, where most companies still treat "going AI-native" as Engineering's job alone.
I help you understand the business well enough to offer options for how goals get achieved, not just execute against a plan. That means mutual accountability with your exec peers, and working with Product, Sales, Customer Support and Marketing as a driver of company outcomes, rather than a downstream dependency. Becoming AI-native is where that starts: not an engineering initiative handed down, but a company-wide effort the exec team drives together. The result is a seat at the executive table earned through contribution, not granted by title.
Your CTO or VPE is the most technically capable person on the team, and that's exactly what's holding them back. They rely on your business judgment, seeing their role as the voice of Engineering. This split blurs priorities and erodes trust. Is Engineering getting its dopamine hits, and is it because the business is winning? You'd rather grow that judgment than replace the person who has the skill but not yet the altitude.
I work with your leader on exactly that shift: from advocate to owner. This means taking accountability for outcomes instead of holding on to every decision, and delegating real responsibility to a team they know how to grow. It also means building plans anti-fragile enough to flex as the business changes, instead of forcing the business to hold still for the plan. The result is a leader whose priorities you don't have to double-check, because Engineering's wins and the business's wins are finally the same thing.
A new business opportunity, an upcoming fundraise, or a possible acquisition: whatever is raising the stakes, you need Engineering to operate like the strategic asset it actually is, not just execute quietly in the background. You want quality and delivery expectations to land in Engineering as something the team owns and drives, not something imposed from above.
I work with your engineering leader on the fundamentals of engineering excellence: how work gets decided and prioritized (including where AI changes what's actually possible), how it becomes shipped, monitored impact, and how that impact is measured in terms the business can see. The result is a leader who comes back with a plan and real numbers, not just a status update.
Every engagement starts by defining what success looks like: the leader you're becoming, and what that changes for your company. We shape it together, and it's sharpest when your CEO, or whoever is investing in your growth, weighs in too. That picture becomes our North Star.
From there, we meet regularly, one on one, and work on what's most pressing: strategic, organizational, or personal. Each session looks back at what happened since we last met and ahead to what's coming next, so every step climbs toward that North Star.
What I bring is pattern recognition earned across dozens of companies, and the ability to see your reality for what it is and tell it like it is. I won't apply generic recipes, and I won't shy away from saying what needs to be heard. Every company is different, but the leadership challenges are remarkably transferable.
CTOs, VPs of Engineering and Heads of Engineering, from seed-stage companies all the way to engineering orgs of 100+ people.
Personal mentoring sessions, remote or in person, typically weekly or every other week, at the intensity your goals call for.
We start with a 4 to 6 month retainer, and continue as long as it's valuable.
We talk through your situation and where you want to get to, and see if there's a fit. You walk away with a first sense of what success could look like, and how I can help you get there.
We agree on what success looks like for you and for your company, and how soon you need to get there, ideally with your CEO's input. That sets both the direction and the intensity of our work.
We meet weekly or every other week, working on what's most pressing while keeping each step pointed at the North Star. You stay in control: when your priorities shift, we adjust the plan with you.
From CTOs I've mentored, and CEOs who brought me in.
...he didn't try to impose a textbook management framework on a structure that didn't fit one. He understood our organization, worked within its realities, and helped [our Head of Engineering] become the kind of leader AI21 actually needed.
What I value about Anton is that he never simplifies people problems. He helps me see the full picture [...] and then helps me take action that's bolder than I'd have managed alone, and fully mine to own.
That balance - getting the most out of the current situation while preparing honestly for what comes next - is rare. Most consultants either push too hard for change or avoid the hard conversations entirely. Anton did neither.
Typically weekly or every other week.
We start with 4 to 6 months. After that, engagements run as long as they're valuable.
We start with a retainer that reflects how intensively we need to work to reach the goal we've agreed on.
Most of my clients work with me remotely, across the US, Canada, Europe and Israel. If you're in Vancouver, BC, I'd love to meet in person.
CTOs, VPs of Engineering and Heads of Engineering, from seed-stage companies all the way to engineering orgs of 100+ people.
Nothing. The exploratory call is free.
Yes. I work directly with you and your engineering leader on what the company needs from them, so Engineering's wins and the business's wins become the same thing.
Personal mentoring is built around you, your company and your goals. The peer group is a monthly meeting of engineering executives working through real dilemmas together.
Prefer working through it with peers? See the peer group.
If you believe you can benefit from a conversation, the first call is on me.
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