How is this different from hiring an outside firm?

You have one accountable counter-party: me. No account managers, no junior devs learning on your budget. When more hands are needed, I bring vetted senior contractors under my engagement and my supervision.

How much of your time do I get?

Build engagements are typically the equivalent of 1–2 days/week with async availability. Oversight engagements are structured around weekly reviews and on-call escalation.

Do you work with non-technical founders?

Yes — that's most of my work. I translate between business goals and technical reality, and I own the technical side end to end.

What stacks do you work in?

AWS/GCP/Azure, TypeScript/Node, Python, Rust, Solidity, GraphQL, event-driven and multi-tenant architectures, and AI integration (OpenAI/Anthropic APIs). If your stack is unusual, ask.

Olu Akinwande

Services Case Studies Speaking Training About

The Fractional CTO Who Still Ships.

I take over technology leadership for funded startups and scaling companies — architecture, infrastructure, security, and engineering teams — and I execute hands-on. Built Ghana's first Bitcoin wallet. Built Malawi's first crypto exchange. 60+ products shipped.

See how I work

Trusted by teams in fintech, consumer, and enterprise — from seed-stage startups to globally recognized brands.

How We Work Together

Technical Audit & Due Diligence

2 weeks · Fixed scope

A complete assessment of your architecture, infrastructure, security, and engineering practices — the same process that surfaced 100+ findings for a global consumer brand's enterprise platform. You get a written report, a risk-ranked findings list, and a remediation roadmap. Also available to investors as pre-deal technical due diligence.

Learn more

Fractional CTO: Build & Modernization

1–2 days/week equivalent · Typically 4–6 months

I own your technology function through a critical phase: replatforming, launch, post-raise scaling, or stabilizing a system in trouble. Architecture, cloud infrastructure, security, hiring, and vendor decisions — executed hands-on, not just advised on. I've taken platforms from concept to production and from fragile to audit-ready.

Technology Oversight

Ongoing partnership

For companies whose build phase is done. I supervise your maintenance developers, review architecture decisions, run quarterly roadmap sessions, and act as escalation point for incidents — so the system your business runs on doesn't quietly degrade. Standard step-down from every build engagement; also open to systems I didn't build.

Recent Work

Globally recognized consumer brand

Enterprise ERP Modernization

Principal Architect & Technology Lead, 2026

A modernization roadmap and stabilized platform with improved reliability, auditability, and operational visibility for leadership. Engagement completed on scope.

Read case study

Global Settlement Network · globalsettlement.com

Post-Quantum Layer-1 Settlement Network (GSX)

Chief Architect, Infrastructure & Blockchain Engineering, 2026

Independent, self-operated network infrastructure and the core architecture documents driving broader network execution. Engagement completed on scope.

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MyStandard · mystandard.io

Web3 Employment & Data-Ownership Platform (MyStandard)

Chief Technology Officer, Feb–Nov 2025

Led engineering and platform delivery for a Web3-enabled employment and data-ownership platform. Architected a tokenized backend on Avalanche (ERC-20) enabling sovereign data ownership, with GraphQL microservices, strict RBAC, and wallet-integrated identity controls.

Read case study

Speaking

I speak about building financial infrastructure in emerging markets, AI's impact on engineering organizations, and what it takes to modernize enterprise platforms under pressure.

Signature topics:

Building the first: lessons from launching Ghana's first Bitcoin wallet and Malawi's first crypto exchange
The AI-leveraged engineering org: doing with 3 what used to take 12
From fragile to audit-ready: enterprise modernization in the real world
Stablecoins and payments infrastructure for emerging markets

Invite Olu to Speak Download speaker one-sheet (PDF)

Training & Education

I've taught engineers at every level — from beginners writing their first lines of code to senior teams adopting new architectures. Today I run focused training for companies and institutions:

Corporate engineering workshops

1–2 day intensives for teams: AI-assisted development practices, cloud architecture, secure deployment, blockchain/payments fundamentals.

1–2 day intensives

Executive & board sessions

Half-day briefings for non-technical leadership: understanding your technology risk, AI strategy, build-vs-buy.

Half-day sessions

University & bootcamp guest instruction

Lectures and curriculum consulting for institutions.

Lectures & curriculum

About Olu

I've spent 10+ years building financial and enterprise infrastructure in the places it's hardest to build. I was CTO of Ghana's first Bitcoin mobile wallet and built Malawi's first cryptocurrency exchange — production financial systems in markets with no playbook. Since then I've shipped 60+ products across fintech, AI, blockchain, and enterprise software, led engineering organizations from 1 to 12 engineers, and served as CTO or Head of Engineering for companies from pre-launch startups to globally recognized brands.

Most fractional CTOs advise. Most developers can't set strategy. My value is doing both: I make the architecture decisions and then execute them hands-on — cloud infrastructure, backend systems, security hardening, the code itself. Companies work with me because they get executive-level technology leadership with zero layers of overhead and one accountable person.

B.A.Sc., University of the District of Columbia · Certified Blockchain Engineer (ConsenSys) · Miami, FL · Remote engagements worldwide.

FAQ

Currently taking on 1–2 new engagements.

The fastest way to start is a 30-minute strategy call. Bring your hardest technical problem — you'll leave with a clearer picture either way.