Your CTO is managing the product backlog
Product decisions consume time meant for engineering leadership, while the boundary between product direction and technical execution stays unclear.
Fractional Product Leadership
You have engineers and plenty of ideas. Nobody owns what gets built next.
I help founder-led teams turn competing requests into clear investment decisions, stable engineering priorities and a product function that does not depend on the founder or CTO.
Start with a focused four-week Product Foundation Sprint or bring me in as an ongoing fractional Head of Product when the business needs hands-on leadership.
Book a 30-minute fit call
No pitch, no pressure. If it's not a fit, I'll tell you.
A recent four-week engagement
50+ competing ideas → 9 recommendations → 4 approved bets
A 35-person company had seven projects underway, requests arriving through Slack and a CTO spending two days a week covering product. Nothing significant had shipped in three months.
In four weeks, the leadership team agreed three company goals, selected four items for delivery or discovery and established a recurring process for future investment decisions.
Read the full case studyProblems I help leadership teams solve
These problems often appear together when a company has engineers but no clear product leadership. Each one needs more than a new prioritisation template.
Leadership cannot agree on product priorities
Every initiative has a persuasive sponsor, but the team has no shared goals or evidence-based way to decide what should be funded and what should stop.
Engineering is busy but nothing important ships
Too much work is in progress, priorities change through side conversations and new requests arrive faster than the team can finish existing commitments.
Every product decision returns to the founder
The team can deliver, but it cannot resolve customer requests, trade-offs or roadmap questions without the founder stepping into every conversation.
Max Antonov
Product and technology leader · Sydney
I've taken companies from early traction through growth, improving how teams find the right problems and make faster decisions, then ship with consistency. Based in Sydney, available remotely worldwide.
What I change inside the business
I join the leadership conversation, review the current idea list with the team and make the cost, evidence and expected value behind each option visible. Together we separate genuine commitments from untested requests and narrow the list to a small number of priorities everyone can explain.
The result is a practical operating rhythm your team uses to make decisions and finish meaningful work. In an ongoing engagement, I stay close to delivery week to week while building the internal capability to operate without me.
When the CTO currently owns product
Bringing in product leadership should help the CTO succeed, not sideline them. I work with the CTO to clarify the boundary between choosing the right things to build and building those things well. Their technical knowledge and delivery experience stay central to the decisions.
Clear responsibilities
Leadership, product and engineering know which decisions they own and where they work together.
A shared decision model
Ideas are assessed using the same language for value, cost, evidence, confidence and risk.
More stable direction
Engineering can plan and finish meaningful work without priorities changing through side conversations.
Product capability that lasts
The team learns how good product decisions are made instead of becoming dependent on an external adviser.
Experience I bring
15+ years
Across product and engineering, from lead engineer to product director.
7 companies
HealthShare, Backpocket, Brighte, The Iconic, Hoyts, News Corp, Yahoo!7.
3 industries
Regulated healthtech, fintech, and large-scale ecommerce, across subscription, marketplace and transactional models.
Director level
Portfolio strategy, capital allocation and product governance, reporting to CEOs.
Most relevant if that looks like your situation now: product decisions spread across a founder or CTO who is already stretched thin, engineering busy but without a clear product owner and no one accountable for what gets built next.
I started as a software engineer before moving into product leadership. That helps me work credibly with CTOs and engineers while connecting technical investment to customer and commercial outcomes.
Is this the gap in your team?
Fractional product leadership works best when you have a capable team but no one clearly accountable for product direction and the decisions behind it.
Good fit
- You have a dev team but no product leadership function.
- You need to establish the function before hiring a permanent product manager.
- The founder or CEO is carrying product decisions and needs leverage.
- The CTO owns product by default and responsibilities are unclear.
- Engineers are busy but impact and priorities are unclear.
- You have too many good ideas and cannot agree what to stop.
- You're scaling and feeling the cost of slow or poor trade-offs.
Not a fit
- You're looking for a backlog owner or delivery manager.
- You want a framework to copy-paste without ongoing execution.
- Leadership isn't willing to change how decisions get made.
What changes when this works
The CTO gets time back
Product direction no longer consumes days meant for engineering and platform leadership.
Engineering finishes more
The team finishes meaningful work before new requests create another competing priority.
Investment decisions are visible
Leadership knows why engineering capacity is being spent before development begins.
Fewer decisions return to the founder
The team can resolve trade-offs without you sitting in every product conversation.
Customer requests are investigated
Large requests become evidence to assess, not commitments that automatically enter the roadmap.
Priorities remain stable
Leadership and engineering share a small set of bets they understand and can deliver.
How I work with teams
The Product Direction Review is the clearest starting point when you need to understand what is actually causing the prioritisation problem before committing to more. From there, a Product Foundation Sprint builds the roadmap and operating rhythm, and I can stay on as ongoing leadership if the business needs it.
Recommended starting point
Product Direction Review
Diagnose what is actually causing the prioritisation problem, work through the current portfolio with the CEO/CTO, and leave them with recommendations about what to stop and change.
A$999 + GST
Product Foundation Sprint
A four-week, two-days-a-week sprint that turns a messy idea list into an agreed, evidence-backed roadmap and the operating rhythm to keep it current.
- Week 1: Understand the business, team, goals and current decision dynamics.
- Week 2: Clarify responsibilities and introduce a lightweight idea evaluation model.
- Week 3: Triage the current idea list and establish a practical customer discovery approach.
- Week 4: Run the first investment review, agree the roadmap and recommend the product capability needed next.
2 days per week for 4 weeks. Fixed scope and fixed price.
Ongoing Fractional Product Leadership
I work hands-on with founder-led teams to build the product function, or step in as a fractional Head of Product when experienced leadership is needed now without committing to a full-time hire.
- The founder is carrying product and needs to hand it off.
- You have engineers but no one shaping what to build.
- The team needs hands-on leadership through discovery and delivery.
Usually one to three days per week, billed monthly.
Ongoing leadership pricing
- The starting price covers a typical engagement of 2 days per week.
- Engagements are month-to-month, with 7 days' notice.
- Most engagements run for 2-3 months and can extend from there.
You can move into ongoing leadership after a Product Foundation Sprint or start here when the need is already clear. A 30-minute conversation is enough to work out which path fits your situation.
Book a 30-minute fit call
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a fractional product leader and a fractional CPO?
Mostly seniority and scope. A fractional product leader typically operates at Head of Product level across discovery, prioritisation, and delivery. A fractional CPO adds executive responsibilities such as portfolio strategy, investor communication, and team design. For many founder-led Australian companies, the work overlaps and the title matters less than the mandate.
How is this different from product strategy consulting?
A strategy consultant usually delivers a recommendation or defined output. A fractional product leader stays embedded, makes decisions with the team, and owns outcomes week to week. A focused Product Foundation Sprint can solve a specific strategy and roadmap problem without requiring an ongoing engagement.
How many days per week do you work with a company?
Typically one to three days per week, depending on the scope and the team. I limit the number of simultaneous engagements so I can stay close to the decisions and delivery work.
What is the minimum engagement length?
Engagements are month-to-month, with 7 days' notice. Most engagements run for 2-3 months and can extend from there. The Product Foundation Sprint is a separate fixed four-week engagement.
Can you help with fundraising or board communication?
Yes. I can make product strategy legible to investors and boards through a clear narrative, a credible roadmap, and defensible prioritisation. I can also help leadership answer difficult questions about product direction, risk, and return.
Do you work in person or remotely?
Both. I am based in Sydney and can work in person with Sydney teams. I also work remotely with companies across Australia and internationally.
What does a focused product strategy engagement produce?
The Product Foundation Sprint produces an agreed, evidence-backed roadmap, clear reasoning behind the priorities, and a practical decision model and review cadence the team can keep using. The output is working material for the team, not a slide deck that sits unused.
Can you establish the product function before we hire a permanent product manager?
Yes. I can establish the initial decision process, clarify responsibilities, work through the existing idea list and help define the permanent role. If an ongoing hire becomes the right next step, I can help shape the role, assess candidates and support the handover.
Will this take product ownership away from our CTO?
The aim is to clarify responsibilities, not sideline the CTO. I work with them to separate product direction from technical execution, establish where those responsibilities overlap and give engineering better supported, more stable decisions to act on.
Do you work with non-tech businesses?
I work with tech-enabled businesses where software is central to how the company creates or captures value. If you are building a product or platform, the model is likely relevant even if the company does not describe itself as a technology business.
Writing
On product, AI and how the two collide.
AI & Product
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Faster Decisions
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How to Get Into Product Management
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Product Strategy
Most product strategies are roadmaps in disguise. Even your leadership team is probably us...
Let's talk
Tell me what is happening in the business and where product decisions are getting stuck. We'll work out whether an ongoing engagement, a focused sprint or neither is the right next step. No pitch, no pressure.
