Fractional CTO · AI-Native Product Studio
In plain terms: a senior tech partner who runs your product and engineering — without you hiring a full-time CTO — plus a team that actually ships. Month to month. You own the code.
For funded founders, CXOs, and operators who need to move in weeks, not quarters.
Led by Piyush Pathak — Founder of CommerceUp (Acq. Aspire), ex-Head of Product & Engineering, 14+ years building 100+ brands.
Work from the team behind
The Problem
Your first engineer takes four months to hire. A CTO takes longer. Meanwhile your runway burns, investors lose patience, and your market window closes.
We plug in this week. A senior fractional CTO, a handpicked team, shipping from day one. You get a full product org without the hiring tax — or the agency bloat. We do this three ways.
Senior technical leadership. Part time. Immediate.
We embed as your fractional CTO. Architecture, hiring, product strategy, investor technical diligence. Stand-in leadership until you're ready to hire — or longer if it's working.
Best for
Pre-seed and seed founders needing senior direction and credibility.
A full product org, dropped into your company.
Fractional CTO plus a senior team of engineers and designers — AI-native from day one. We ship weekly. You focus on customers and capital. Everything from architecture to release management, owned end-to-end.
Best for
Seed founders with a validated thesis ready to build and ship.
A shipped product in 6–8 weeks. Fixed scope.
Built for e-commerce and D2C founders who need to launch, not prototype. Shopify builds, custom storefronts, mobile apps, backend integrations. 100+ commerce launches in our track record.
Best for
Funded commerce founders who need v1 in market, fast.
Month-to-month engagements. Cash, cash + equity, or hybrid — aligned to your stage.
Where we've shipped most
E-commerce / D2CSaaS / B2BMarketing techMarketplacesDigital publishing & creatorsApp development
Why GK Tech Ventures
GK Tech Ventures
Hiring in-house
Typical agency
GK Tech Ventures
Time to first ship
Seniority of the team
AI-native tooling
Commitment shape
Code & IP ownership
What you pay for
Hiring in-house
Time to first ship
Seniority of the team
AI-native tooling
Commitment shape
Code & IP ownership
What you pay for
Typical agency
Time to first ship
Seniority of the team
AI-native tooling
Commitment shape
Code & IP ownership
What you pay for
What's at stake
Without a senior tech partner
Roadmap in slides
Decks get refreshed quarterly. Production doesn't. The thing your investors funded is still mostly theory.
Six-month hiring loop
CTO search drags. Agency hires cost more in cleanup than the original build. Headcount lags the ambition.
AI “on the roadmap”
Tools your competitors are shipping with are still a Q3 evaluation. Your team uses them at home, not at work.
Founder writes the JIRA tickets
Year two looks a lot like year one — same backlog, more debt, fewer reasons to believe the next quarter is different.
With GK Tech Ventures
Shipping in week one
Senior leader plugged in within days. First deploys inside the first sprint. The roadmap meets the repo.
No hiring tax
A senior team that's already worked together. No 6-month search, no junior-into-senior gambles.
AI-native by default
Claude Code, Cursor, model APIs baked into how the team plans, builds, reviews. 3–5× output, same headcount.
Founders back to selling
You're running customers, capital, and category — not standups. Year two: an org that compounds, not one that catches up.
Free · 24-hour turnaround
Tell us what you're building. We'll come back with a custom plan — what to ship first, what to skip, recommended stack, rough timeline, and budget range. No pitch.
Delivered by Piyush · usually within a business day · we hold one of this quarter's 2 slots for you for 7 days while you review.
About
I'm Piyush Pathak. Founder, CEO, CTO — whatever hat the work needs on a given day.
Since January 2012— more than 14 years — I've been building and leading engineering teams in technology. In 2017 I started Notation Software, a services studio that shipped commerce builds for dozens of brands across India and the UAE.
In 2020 we turned that services book into CommerceUp — a full SaaS platform that eventually served 100+ brands. Acquihired by Aspire in 2023, where I then ran product and engineering globally across India and North America. Today I'm building Convertly and running GK Tech Ventures.
GK Tech Ventures is where I bring that entire playbook — building teams, shipping product, winning customers — to funded founders who need it now.
Founder, CEO & CTOEx-Head of Product & Engineering, AspireFounder, CommerceUp (acq. 2023)Founder, Notation Software (2017)Founder, Convertly100+ brands shipped
Partner Network
We don't sell a fixed team. We assemble senior operators we've worked with for years — the right people for your specific problem, not the ones sitting on the bench.
Engineering Partner
Senior engineer with deep experience across backend systems and product infrastructure.
LinkedIn →Product Partner
Product leader with a track record of shipping consumer and commerce products from zero to scale.
LinkedIn →Marketing Partner
Growth and marketing operator specializing in B2B and commerce go-to-market.
LinkedIn →Design Partner
Product and brand designer with a deep portfolio across commerce and consumer products.
LinkedIn →20+
The Bench
Beyond these four, we have 20+ senior engineers, product managers, and designers on call.
Assembled per engagement based on what your product actually needs — not a fixed squad you have to pay for whether you use them or not.
FAQ
A senior engineering leader who runs your tech org part-time — typically 2–3 days a week — instead of joining as a full-time hire. You get the judgment, team-building, and architecture decisions of a CTO without a $300k salary and a 12-month search. They're not an advisor (who only talks) and not a contractor (who only codes). The right fit for most funded founders in the first 12–18 months.
AI-native across the stack — Claude Code, Cursor, and model APIs are baked into how we plan, build, review, and test. Same senior team, 3–5× the output, meaning fewer people on your engagement and a faster ship cadence. We also advise on where AI fits in your product (and where it doesn't — that part's usually underrated). We don't sell 'AI strategy' as a standalone — it's table stakes for good engineering in 2026.
We cap at 3–5 active engagements at any given time. Not because we can't scale — because we won't. Senior-only, founder-led work requires real attention, and we'd rather say no than spread thin. If we say yes, you get the real thing.
Agencies sell hours and hide juniors behind senior titles. We sell shipped product with a senior-only team, led by a founder who has built, scaled, and exited companies.
Yes — for the right engagements. We offer reduced cash rates in exchange for equity with standard vesting. Alignment beats transactions.
For pre-seed and seed stage, often yes — and usually better than a first-time CTO hire. As you scale past Series A, we help you hire and transition to a full-time leader.
Pre-seed to Series B funded founders, CXOs at established companies scoping a digital build or AI-native rebuild, and bootstrapped operators with real revenue. The common thread: capital to spend, a real thesis, and a willingness to ship in weeks. We don't take ideation-only engagements without capital.
Two weeks from signed agreement to shipping. Often faster.
Both. We have entities registered in the US and India, so we can contract, invoice, and ship from whichever side suits you — US founders get US contracts and USD billing, Indian founders get GST-compliant invoices and INR. The team is global.
Get in touch
Tell us about what you're building. Free build plan in 24 hours, and a chance to schedule a call once we've got the details.
Accepting 2 new engagements this quarter
