You will get One-Hour CTO Strategy Call - Architecture, Stack, and Technical Direction
Project details
You have a technical decision to make and no one on your team to pressure-test it. Stack selection, architecture direction, scaling concerns, build-vs-buy, security posture, vendor lock-in, team structure, or if the platform you've been sold actually fits your problem.
I'm a CTO with 25+ years across healthcare, legal services, and enterprise SaaS. I've built production platforms handling payment processing, identity verification, regulatory compliance, and complex workflow automation. Before technology leadership I spent 20 years in operational roles — I understand what it means to use the system, not just design it.
You get a focused call where I listen to your situation, ask the questions your team hasn't thought of, and give you direct, opinionated answers. No hedging, no "it depends without a conclusion." Within 24 hours you receive written action points you can hand to your developers or share with investors.
Most clients come with one question and leave with clarity on three things they hadn't considered. Some come back for a full architecture review or technical blueprint. Some don't need to — the call was enough.
Either way, you leave knowing what to do next and why.
I'm a CTO with 25+ years across healthcare, legal services, and enterprise SaaS. I've built production platforms handling payment processing, identity verification, regulatory compliance, and complex workflow automation. Before technology leadership I spent 20 years in operational roles — I understand what it means to use the system, not just design it.
You get a focused call where I listen to your situation, ask the questions your team hasn't thought of, and give you direct, opinionated answers. No hedging, no "it depends without a conclusion." Within 24 hours you receive written action points you can hand to your developers or share with investors.
Most clients come with one question and leave with clarity on three things they hadn't considered. Some come back for a full architecture review or technical blueprint. Some don't need to — the call was enough.
Either way, you leave knowing what to do next and why.
Industry
Ecommerce, Financial Services, Health & Medical, Legal, SoftwareWhat's included
| Service Tiers |
Starter
$250
|
Standard
$400
|
Advanced
$750
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery Time | 2 days | 2 days | 3 days |
Live Consultation (Minutes) | 60 | 90 | 180 |
Frequently asked questions
5 reviews
(5)
(0)
(0)
(0)
(0)
This project doesn't have any reviews.
BM
Brunhilde M.
Oct 1, 2023
Project Lead with Technical Background For Managing App Development
AC
Adrianne C.
Sep 29, 2023
Part-time Webmaster with WordPress Experience
Richard completed a number of WP website projects for us successfully (server migration, add-ons, streamlining a booking process, etc).
He is a good critical thinker and will offer multiple options for solving issues which was much appreciated. I highly recommend him.
He is a good critical thinker and will offer multiple options for solving issues which was much appreciated. I highly recommend him.
JD
Joy D.
Nov 30, 2022
Content migration specialist needed to build and maintain media library
Richard was a delight to work with. If I had to do this project again, I'd certainly give him a call.
JD
Joy D.
Nov 30, 2022
Content migration specialist
Richard was prompt and thorough. He communicated his findings well and was proactive in developing solutions.
DO
Damien O.
Jun 27, 2022
Website/Wordpress/WooCommerce admin person needed (ongoing)
Richard was brilliant, very very detailed and took a step by step approach when approaching any task or project.
About Richard
Fractional CTO | Zoho, Laravel, WordPress | Compliance & Payments
Drinia, Cyprus - 10:40 pm local time
Most platforms break when payment logic, compliance rules, or user permissions get complex. I build the ones that don't.
I lead technology for a legal services company operating across the US, EU and UK. My work sits in regulated domains where "it depends" is the actual business rule.
KEY DELIVERABLES
Government application platform. Citizenship, residency, applicant category and gender determine which forms generate, which documents are required, which legal wording applies and what the client pays. 148 valid output combinations through a rules engine. Stripe payment lifecycle with HMAC-verified webhooks. AES-256 encrypted document processing where decrypted content never touches disk. Four-tier SLA escalation. A multi-role admin model so each operator sees only what they need.
NHS Supply Chain. Owned product and led the web team for the NHS and DHL joint venture. 6 million products. Over 20 distinct user types, from legal and nursing to procurement, warehouse and drivers, each needing a different view of the same catalogue. Migrated off Sitecore. The largest WordPress deployment in the UK.
RS Components. Master data and taxonomy at scale. Hundreds of thousands of products imported weekly, with search and filtering across the full catalogue.
Law firm client portal. Encrypted messaging, document exchange, self-serve engagement letters and signing. Integrated with Dropbox, Zoho and MS365.
Zoho analytics layer. Trend, projection and what-if analysis across 50+ custom fields. Plus a time tracker built inside Zoho and a client intake system bridging WordPress and Zoho.
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
Zoho. Zoho One as a build platform, not as an advisor pointing at it. CRM, Books, Desk and Projects. Custom Deluge scripting, JavaScript extensions, cross-module workflows, third-party integrations.
WordPress and WooCommerce at scale. WP Multisite, Windows-hosted enterprise deployments, custom Magento builds with separate public, schools and local authority views, custom price books, single-to-bulk pricing.
CMS and PIM. Pimcore, Stibo STEP, Agility PIM, Sitecore, Drupal, including custom PIM-to-Magento integrations.
Stack. TypeScript, Vue, Node, Supabase, Kubernetes on DigitalOcean, PHP/Laravel, React/Next.js, PostgreSQL, Python, Go.
AI. Production integrations on the Anthropic and OpenAI APIs for document ingestion, case summarisation and multilingual document checking.
Integrations. MS365 across SharePoint, Teams and Outlook. Dropbox, Zapier, Stripe, Calendly, Bookly. Gravity Forms with pixel-perfect PDF generation. E-signature and engagement letter workflows. AG Grid Enterprise billing running time capture through to invoice.
COMPLIANCE AND SECURITY
Regulations. GDPR, UK GDPR and CCPA in current production use.
Security. Encrypted storage, secure document delivery, audit logging, retention controls, capability-based access.
Payments. Webhook lifecycle, idempotency, refunds, disputes, reconciliation, and the tooling your team needs when something fails at 2am.
Rules engines. Outcomes that depend on location, category, jurisdiction or history. Legal services, visa workflows, insurance, clinical intake, underwriting.
APPROACH
Architecture first. I review or blueprint before anything gets built. I don't quote a full build blind.
Operational admin. Role-specific dashboards, batch operations, pipeline management, print queues, escalation tooling. Interfaces built for the people living in them all day.
Background. Before technology I spent 20 years in healthcare. I qualified as a dispensing optician and worked across clinical practice, practice management and regional operations in multi-site networks. It still shapes how I build. I know what it is to use the system, not just design it.
Mindset. I'm happy to be wrong, and if the evidence says my architecture isn't right I'd rather find out early than defend it. And I push. Projects in regulated domains die in the last 20% where the edge cases live. That's usually where I'm most useful.
SECTORS
Legal, professional services, insurance, healthcare and e-commerce.
AVAILABILITY
Based in Cyprus. Daily overlap with US, UK and European hours.
Message me with what you're building. I'll tell you how I'd architect it, not send a sales deck.
Steps for completing your project
After purchasing the project, send requirements so Richard can start the project.
Delivery time starts when Richard receives requirements from you.
Richard works on your project following the steps below.
Revisions may occur after the delivery date.
Pre-call review
I review your brief and any links or documents you share so we spend the call solving problems, not explaining context.
Strategy call
Live video call focused on your specific questions. Architecture, stack, scaling, security, build-vs-buy — whatever you need clarity on.