$2,500/ day
plus GST
Fractional Executive
Acting CTO, Chief Data Officer or equivalent, part-time or interim. Engaged by the day, usually one or two a week, for as long as the role is genuinely needed.
N·01 The approach
Scoped to the decision, not the calendar.
Rarely is the technology itself the hardest part. What's harder is the decision underneath it: too many options, unclear trade-offs, and a gap between what the business hopes for and what the technology can realistically deliver. Closing that gap, with you, is the work.
N·02 How it works
How an engagement runs.
Some engagements are a two-week diagnostic. Some are a day a week for six months. The right shape depends on what you're facing, so we settle it together once the problem is clear.
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01
The first conversation
Half an hour on whatever you're weighing up, at no cost and with no obligation. If something other than NivaLogic would serve you better, I'll say so gladly, and point you towards it where I can.
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02
Scope to the question
Together we shape the work around the decision that actually carries weight: what would need to be true, what evidence would settle it, and what a good answer looks like for you. It goes in writing first, so we both know what we are aiming at.
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03
The work itself
Structured and evidence-led, and shared with you as it develops rather than saved up for a reveal. We follow the few signals that matter through to what they genuinely cost or earn. Where something is honestly uncertain, I will say so, because a confident guess helps nobody.
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04
A decision you can defend
You get it in both languages, the board version and the engineering version, each true to the other. The aim is that you walk into your own next meeting feeling genuinely prepared, with the reasoning close at hand and the trade-offs clear.
N·03 What it costs
The rate, before you ask for it.
The shape of an engagement comes from the decision, not the calendar — but you should still know what a day costs before you commit to one. So: a day rate, nothing to sign, and no minimum to hit. Book for longer and it comes down.
$1,600/ day
plus GST
Engagements Up to a Year
A preferential rate, reduced from the $2,500 standard. Work booked a year ahead carries far less of the finding-and-starting overhead that a series of short engagements does, and the rate passes that saving straight on.
$1,400/ day
plus GST
Two Years or Beyond
The furthest horizon and the lowest overhead per day, so the most preferential rate — $1,100 a day below standard. It is the same independent judgment throughout: a longer booking buys continuity, never a softer opinion.
Rates are published for a straightforward reason: you should not have to sit through a conversation to find out whether this is affordable. If it is not the right fit, better that we both know in the first minute than the fortieth.
Expenses are at cost and agreed in advance. Anything unusual — a fixed-scope piece, an equity conversation, a not-for-profit — is worth raising; those get discussed on their merits rather than squeezed into the table above.
N·04 Who it's for
When the decision carries real consequences.
Scale-ups
Teams who would value executive technology leadership before they can justify hiring it, and would welcome an experienced hand alongside them while they grow into it.
Established organisations
Facing a specific data, AI or platform decision that will shape the next few years, and wanting a considered second perspective before committing to it.
Boards & investors
Who would like independent technical judgment on a bet: a careful look before the money is committed, from someone with no stake in whether the deal closes.
Leadership teams
Who would welcome a translator standing between strategy and delivery, fluent enough in both to be trusted by each.
N·05 Common questions
The things people ask first.
What does a fractional CTO cost?
NivaLogic publishes its rates. The standard day rate is $2,500 plus GST for fractional executive work. Engagements booked up to a year are $1,600 a day, and engagements of two years or beyond are $1,400 a day. Longer bookings carry far less finding-and-starting overhead, and the rate passes that saving on.
Is there a minimum commitment or a retainer?
No. Billing is a day rate with nothing to sign and no minimum to hit. Engagements are usually one or two days a week for as long as the role is genuinely needed.
What happens in the first conversation?
Half an hour on whatever you are weighing up, at no cost and with no obligation. If something other than NivaLogic would serve you better, you will be told so and pointed towards it where possible.
How long does an engagement last?
It depends on the decision rather than the calendar. Some engagements are a two-week diagnostic; some are a day a week for six months. The shape is settled together once the problem is clear.
Why is the day rate lower for longer engagements?
Work booked a year or more ahead carries far less of the finding-and-starting overhead that a series of short engagements does, and the rate passes that saving straight on. A longer booking buys continuity, never a softer opinion.
Are expenses charged on top of the day rate?
Expenses are at cost and agreed in advance. Anything unusual — a fixed-scope piece, an equity conversation, a not-for-profit — is discussed on its merits rather than squeezed into the rate table.
What does independence actually mean here?
NivaLogic has no product to push and no delivery bench to keep busy. That frees the advice to go wherever the evidence leads, including the quieter answers: wait for now, buy rather than build, or keep the system you already have.
N·06 The perspective
How the judgment is formed.
NivaLogic is a new practice, and it would be misleading to suggest otherwise. What is not new is the experience behind it: more than a decade in technology across regulated industries and enterprise SaaS, the last several years spent leading data and AI work at a senior level. That is one practitioner's track record rather than a firm's trading history, and the difference is worth being plain about.
That depth now sits alongside the commercial fluency of an MBA in progress: finance, marketing, managerial economics and negotiation, each instrumented with data. What you would be engaging is a person with that background, working independently, not an established firm with a bench behind it.
Credentials are only ever a proxy, though. What actually tells you whether judgment is worth having in the room is the reasoning itself, so NivaLogic publishes it openly and lets you decide. Every piece shows its evidence, names what remains uncertain, and gives the counter-argument a fair hearing.
How a view gets to the point of being shared
- Load-bearing claims are checked from scratch against primary sources, not a comfortable re-read of earlier notes.
- Two genuinely separate origins for anything the argument rests on, since the same source quoted twice is still one source.
- The counter-case gets a real hearing. An argument that has never faced the strongest version of the objection is not ready to act on.
- Uncertainty is named rather than smoothed over, because a confident number standing in for an unknown is how expensive decisions go wrong.
That is the same standard applied to a client engagement and to a published essay. It is the part worth judging.
The through-line is translation: making technical reality legible to boards and executives, and making commercial intent executable by engineering teams. At home in both rooms, fluent in both languages.
What independence means in practice
NivaLogic has no product to push and no delivery bench to keep busy. That frees the advice to go wherever the evidence leads, including the quieter answers: wait for now, buy rather than build, or keep the system you already have and put the money somewhere it will do more good. If you are weighing a fractional CTO in Melbourne, that difference is the one worth testing for.
The thinking is public by design
Points of view, whitepapers and analysis on data, AI and technology strategy, all published in the open. It is the most honest introduction a practice like this can offer: read a couple of pieces and you will know whether this is the kind of thinking you want alongside you. Read the thinking →
N·07 When it matters
Too consequential
to get wrong.
// that first conversation is free