Hi, I'm
Oleg Sotnikov Fractional CTO & Startup Advisor
I replace 10-developer teams with 1–2 AI-augmented engineers that ship 3× faster, using Claude Code, Codex, my own GitLab/Sentry platform, and a "how to work" framework. Payroll drops 60–80%. Proven at AppMaster: 25 → 2.
- 25 → 2
- team at AppMaster
- 60–80%
- payroll cut
- 3×
- faster shipping
Oleg Sotnikov is a fractional CTO and startup advisor with 25+ years in engineering leadership. He replaces 10-developer teams with 1–2 AI-augmented engineers who ship 3× faster, cutting payroll by 60–80% — the rebuild he ran at AppMaster, where the team went from 25 people to 2. Two ways to start: the fixed-price $5,000 Team & AI Audit, five business days, or a fractional CTO retainer at $5,000–10,000 per month.
Recognized by
- Forbes Technology Council
- Gartner Cool Vendor
- Product Hunt · #2 Product of the Day
- G2 High Performer
By the Numbers
How I Help
One flagship offer (a leaner team that ships faster) and everything needed to support it.
AI Team Optimization
The flagship. I map what AI can take over, rebuild the team around 1–2 AI-augmented engineers, and set up the tools and workflow. Done at AppMaster: 25 people to 2.
See pricingCost & Infrastructure
Payroll is the headline, but the audit also covers cloud and tooling: right-sizing infrastructure from someone who runs a production startup on $650/mo AWS.
Cloud cost optimizationTechnical Architecture
End-to-end architecture reviews, technology selection, and scalability planning. From monolith to microservices, built for your stage, not Silicon Valley's latest trend.
Architecture reviewFounder Sounding Board
Technical co-founders often feel alone. I'm a sounding board, a strategic partner, and sometimes a technical therapist, because good decisions need a clear head.
Technical advisorDrop the busywork
Tool sprawl and extra seats go where they belong, and the work moves faster without them.
OlegMost clients drop Jira and other task trackers. Finishing the task is often faster than writing it up in one.
The Fractional CTO Model
Senior technical leadership without a full engineering department, at a fraction of the cost.
1 senior engineer + my frameworks & platform
Typically 3–5× lower engineering cost, and you keep senior-level leadership.
How Much Is Your Team Overspending?
Drag the sliders and see what the lean AI-augmented model would save you.
Your payroll now
$800,000
per year
Lean model
$280,000
per year
You save
$520,000
−65% · per year
At least $50,000/year in identified savings — payroll, cloud, and LLM bills — or the audit is free.
Lean model = 1 senior engineer at your average salary + me as fractional CTO at the top of the published range ($10k/mo). This is an estimate, not a quote.
Mentoring a Vibranium.VC startup cohort on building products right — Silicon Valley
Presenting G1 Software at a US–Kazakhstan business roundtable
With Emmanuel Straschnov, co-founder of Bubble — BubbleCon
With Vlad Magdalin, founder of Webflow
With Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum
Plug and Play Tech Center, Sunnyvale
Pitching AppMaster at a Silicon Valley startup event
With Bagdat Mussin, then Kazakhstan's Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry — Consulate General of Kazakhstan, San Francisco
Presenting AI-first development at Z-Park Silicon Valley
Google campus, Mountain View
Presenting AppMaster at a PeopleConnect event
AppMaster booth at TechCrunch Disrupt, San Francisco
Presenting AppMaster — fastest-growing on the G2 no-code grid — church venue, Palo Alto
Expert session for a Vibranium.VC cohort — building products and technical teams
Invited expert at Zain Great Idea — alongside Stanford, Carta, TSVC and AWS leaders
Sam Altman on stage — OpenAI keynote
"Our AI Journey" talk — San Francisco AI Meetup, Great Star Theater
Startup Grind Global 2023 — Fox Theatre, Redwood City
With Arsen Tomsky, founder & CEO of inDrive
With Andrew Feldman, co-founder & CEO of Cerebras
With Landy Wang, Microsoft Technical Fellow — architect of the Windows kernel memory manager
With Laurence Moroney, AI lead at Arm — Arm × NVIDIA event
With Cliff Click, architect of the HotSpot JVM C2 compiler (Sea of Nodes) — LinkedIn office
On stage at a Google Gemini event, Google Sunnyvale — privacy in the age of vibe coding and LLMs
Demoing Ray-Ban Meta + on-iPhone streaming face recognition — Google Gemini event, Sunnyvale
Judge at Hacker Dojo Startup Pitches — Silicon Valley, June 2026
TechCrunch Disrupt — with the Astana Hub team
TEDx San Francisco
Founders Floor, San Jose
School 42, Silicon Valley
Samsung Developer Conference 2019, San Jose
CES, Las Vegas
At Grishin Robotics
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev personally inspecting our fintech product Feebme — Astana
SaaStr Annual
Pitching AppMaster
With Dmitry Panov (Whillet) — SaaStr Annual
FlutterFlow Developer Conference
FlutterFlow Developer Conference
With Matt Graham (RapidDevs) and FlutterFlow partners — FlutterFlow DevCon
AppMaster booth — TechCrunch Disrupt, San Francisco
With fellow founders — TechCrunch Disrupt
TechCrunch Disrupt, San Francisco
TechCrunch Disrupt, San Francisco
TechCrunch Disrupt, San Francisco
Demoing my Face ID & document verification for public service centers (TsON) to Askar Zhumagaliyev, then Kazakhstan's digitalization minister
Kazakhstan delegation — official roadshow visit to Kyrgyzstan
Showing our innovative tech to Askar Zhumagaliyev and Dauren Abaev (the First President's press secretary)
Official demo of my Feebme superapp for HOA management to government entities — Astana
Security innovation demo for PM Bakytzhan Sagintayev, Askar Zhumagaliyev and Dauren Abaev
Demoing document recognition & identity verification to Askar Zhumagaliyev, Defense Minister Nurlan Yermekbayev and CIS guests
Brazilian Startup House event, supported by Link School
AppMaster booth — TechCrunch Disrupt, San Francisco
With the G2 team — SaaStr Annual
SaaStr Annual
SaaStr Annual
Pitching AppMaster — church venue, Palo Alto
TechCrunch Disrupt, San Francisco
With Zamir Shukhov (Vibranium.VC) — Startup Grind
With Yasmeen Butt — event at the Tesla showroom, San Francisco
With medical-device founders — pitch competition
Stripe Sessions
Pitching AppMaster on stage — Great Star Theater, Chinatown, San Francisco
With friends and founders — AI Silicon Valley
After a session with Vinod Khosla (Khosla Ventures) — Stanford
Medical startups & innovation conference — Stanford
Speaker lineup — Great Star Theater, Chinatown, San Francisco
Unicorn Battle pitch competition — San Francisco
What People Say
Recommendations from leaders I've worked with.
“I'm really grateful to Oleg for the way he helped us at FluxoPay. One of the biggest wins was reducing our team costs without creating chaos, and that gave me room to move more budget into marketing, which I was very happy about. I was honestly quite worried about introducing AI into the product because we are in financial services, so for me this was a sensitive thing, but Oleg approached it very carefully and in the end my fears were not justified at all. He set things up really well, made the whole process feel much more manageable, and had a real impact on the business.”
Maria Silva
Founder, FluxoPay
“Oleg was great to work with. He quickly got up to speed with our setup, spotted where we were overspending on AWS and helped us reduce those costs by nearly 50%. He's knowledgeable, practical and communicates in a very straightforward way which made the whole process easy for our team.”
Mohammed Al-Marri
Director, Tech Solutions LLC
“Oleg Sotnikov was a great support to our team as Fractional CTO. He helped us shape the architecture of an ERP system for a mental health clinic and stayed involved throughout the development process, helping us make better and more efficient decisions. We truly appreciate his contribution.”
David Cohen
QueueStone
“Oleg is one of the most talented technology specialists I know. His deep technical knowledge combined with managerial skills make him an exceptionally valuable professional. He consistently delivers results that exceed expectations and approaches every challenge with remarkable creativity and dedication.”
Valery Zubanov
Managing Director, Kaspersky Lab
“Oleg combines rare technical depth with a clear strategic vision. His ability to translate complex technology decisions into business outcomes makes him an invaluable advisor for any startup navigating the challenges of scaling.”
Sergey Filin
Director, Institute of Directors
“Working with Oleg was a transformative experience for our organization. His expertise in blockchain and distributed systems, combined with his practical approach to problem-solving, helped us build a robust technology foundation that continues to deliver value.”
Ruslan Gabitov
Director, Blockchain & Big Data LAB
“An exemplary leader and visionary who stands as a real-life archetype of the innovator we strive to develop through our national technology programs. I consider him among the country's top 1% of executive leaders in digital product development.”
Ablaikhan Ospanov
Vice Minister of Digital Development, Republic of Kazakhstan
“Without question, one of the most significant and influential technology leaders in Central Asia. His vision has been of utmost importance in establishing Kazakhstan as an innovator in the smart city concept at a worldwide level.”
Andrey Beklemishev
Vice President Central Asia, IDC
“His ability to envision a technology-optimized future and then bring that vision to reality is exemplary and unique. I consider him among the top 1% of digital product executives and innovators anywhere.”
Sergey Bogdanov
CEO & Founder, YellowRockets
“One of the dominant executive leaders setting the pace for technology innovation in Central Asia and, in fact, the world. An undeniably talented individual at the very top of his field.”
Marek J. Bergander, Ph.D.
President, Magnetic Development Inc.
“A top-level technology executive and entrepreneur of obvious and extraordinary ability. He stands among the elite of such professionals globally.”
Nick Mitushin
Founder & CIO, ABRT Holdings SA
Latest Insights
From the blog: engineering leadership, AI teams, and startup practice.
Scale Your Startup Without the Overhead
Let's discuss how fractional CTO leadership can accelerate your growth.
Start with the $5,000 Team & AI Audit. At least $50,000/year in identified savings — payroll, cloud, and LLM bills — or the audit is free.
