Anton Shubin — Fractional CTO & Lead Architect
One accountable technical lead from architecture through production
- —Fixed-price milestones with clear scope
- —Architecture decisions explained in plain English
- —You own the code, infrastructure, and root keys
I default to open-source and self-hostable stacks — FOSS preferred for cost discipline, performance, and portability. I work with managed services (AWS, GCP, Supabase) when the business calls for it. Bare-metal on Hetzner when the workload justifies it. Single technical owner with the keys, not a vendor middleman.
No pitch. 3 concrete improvements in your inbox within 48 hours.
Are you a non-technical founder who's been burned by developers?
Overpromised, underdelivered
You've hired devs who promised the world and delivered a nightmare. I've fixed those messes.
Infrastructure chosen by habit
Infrastructure cost should follow actual load, recovery needs, compliance, and your team's capacity — not a default stack.
No ownership, no clarity
You need a technical partner who owns the outcome — not a time-tracker who owns the hours.
Architecture That Still Works After Launch
Product architecture includes deployment, observability, recovery, security, cost controls, and clean handoff. My obsession with cost discipline, performance, and lean stacks shapes every decision — dedicated Hetzner when the workload justifies it, managed cloud when the business calls for it, hybrid in between.
I bring the same operational mindset whether you operate on a fresh laptop, a $50/month Hetzner box, or a managed AWS fleet. The decisions are about your product, not my preferences.
See how I architect production →How I Deliver — The Terms of Engagement
Zero micromanagement. Complete transparency.
14-Day Mutual Alignment Guarantee
If we're not a perfect fit within 2 weeks, I issue a 100% refund — no questions asked.
Async-First Execution
One weekly alignment call. All daily updates async via text or Loom. You pay for engineering throughput, not meeting bloat.
Clean Handoff & IP Sovereignty
You hold the root keys and own 100% of source code from Day 1. No proprietary lock-in, no vendor hostage.
Fixed-Price Milestones
Once a milestone is funded, scope is locked. New ideas go into a V2 Backlog — quoted after launch.
30-Day Code Warranty
I patch any bugs within the delivered scope for free for 30 days post-launch.
No Jargon Guarantee
Every technical decision gets a plain-English explanation. You'll never hear "we need to refactor the microservices layer" without a clear translation of what it means for your product, timeline, and budget.
Who This Is For
Founder
You have the idea. Need one technical partner to ship it.
- —Driving the vision, not the codebase
- —Idea, napkin sketch, or pre-seed traction
- —Want one accountable owner, not a dev agency
CTO
Need a senior pair of hands on architecture and AI tooling.
- —Tech debt slowing velocity
- —Architecture review or security audit
- —Want AI / MCP integration without lock-in
Scaling Founder
Post-PMF with a team. Need fractional leadership.
- —Funded SaaS, in-build or scaling
- —AWS bill climbing, perf degrading
- —Want predictable delivery and plain-English comms
AI-augmented execution with human-owned architecture + spec-driven development. See how I work
How to Work Together
Strategy Session
60-minute deep-dive with actionable roadmap and tech stack recommendations.
$350 — 60 minCTO Advisory Retainer
Ongoing fractional CTO partnership — strategy, architecture, team leadership. Weekly calls, async execution.
$3K–$5K/mo — MonthlySaaS MVP
Full MVP from idea to live deployment.
- ✓Auth (email + social login)
- ✓Stripe payments + webhooks
- ✓REST API + admin dashboard
- ✓Docker deploy + 30-day warranty
Free Architecture Audit
Send your tech stack or idea. I'll send back 3 concrete improvements within 48 hours. No cost.
Free — 48 hoursRather just talk? Schedule a free intro call
Production Systems & Engineering Proof
Client production ownership first, backed by public systems you can inspect.
SmartLite
Real-time IoT control platform for about 200 lamp poles at Gardens by the Bay, in production since 2024. Built from zero to production in three months: operator web app, backend, AWS infrastructure, deployment pipeline, alerts, and role-based access with 2FA.
Production Infrastructure Lab
Sanitized infrastructure case study covering versioned delivery, observability, backup integrity checks, retention and restore tooling, and identity controls.
caldav-mcp
Native Deno MCP server for CalDAV events and tasks. Zero npm dependencies, single binary, and public source.
TodoApp (CalDAV PWA)
Self-hosted task manager talking to any CalDAV server. PWA, no vendor lock-in. Built because Tasks.org had no web UI.
rostok
One-command scaffolder for a self-hosted homelab. Curated catalog of services, sensible defaults, age-encrypted secrets you can commit.
Deno Platform Template
Reusable Deno baseline for SaaS: API, SPA, MPA, worker, persistence, and offline sync. Distilled from 80+ client projects, no product code.
Content & Writing
AI-augmented architecture, deterministic LLM pipelines, MCP tooling, and startup engineering from a Fractional CTO who ships them.
SaaS architecture, production patterns, and lessons from 80+ shipped projects.
What Clients Say
"Anton was a terrific partner to me in developing an MVP of a web app I've been dreaming of for ages. He is a highly skilled developer, a super resourceful problem-solver, and a conscientious and communicative collaborator."
Startup Founder
MVP Development
"He isn't one of the type of developers that just says 'sure, I can do that.' He's thoughtful and will give his honest feedback and advice on everything. Overall, 12/10 of a developer. I really got lucky with Anton."
Product Owner
Tech Lead • $55,749 • 7+ months
"On an hour consultation, he killed it. He didn't just talk, we got work done during the call. He was very knowledgeable on pretty much everything I needed and I'll certainly be going back more than a few times."
Startup Founder
Technical Consultation
Outside Work
🛠️ Infrastructure & IoT
- →Self-hosted production environment on Fedora + Hetzner: Traefik, Docker Compose, PostgreSQL, Restic backups, Authelia SSO
- →Full stack architecture and operating practice
- →Custom ESP32 air quality sensor feeding into Home Assistant
- →Open-source finance tracker (double-entry accounting, PWA)
🏍️ Adventure
- →Enduro, skiing, and scuba diving
- →Traveled 25+ countries across Asia and Europe
- →Currently based in Da Nang, Vietnam
Also available through my Singapore-based agency NeatSoft PTE LTD