Non-technical founders
Is this quote, this code, or this timeline any good?
You are making decisions on agency and developer estimates without anyone to translate.
I speak fluent tech.
Clear answers for your biggest tech decisions.
Independent, honest guidance on tech, AI, hiring, and vendors. I have spent 25 years building software and leading engineering teams. Now I help founders and small businesses decide what to build, buy, and who to trust. No hype, no jargon, and no question too basic.
The free CTO Starter Kit is being prepared: a practical guide to the decisions founders face.
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free, and no spam. promise.
25 years building software
Multi-startup tech founder
AI strategy and architecture reviews
Taught AI at the University of Michigan
Sound familiar?
Big tech decisions, and nobody senior to ask.
you’re in good company
Small businesses
Which software and AI tools are actually worth it?
Every vendor sounds like a genius. You need someone who is not selling it to you.
Startup teams
Who owns architecture, process, and the next senior hire?
You deserve thoughtful answers without paying for a full-time CTO.
Solo founders
When is it time to bring in real developers?
You have gotten impressive results with AI and no-code. Now the next step is showing.
The tech translator
What they said, and what they meant.
bookmark this for your next dev meeting
They said
“That’s technical debt.”
They meant
We took shortcuts, and they are starting to cost us time. Ask which ones matter now.
They said
“We’ll connect it with an API.”
They meant
Your apps need to talk. Ask who is connecting them and writing down how it works.
They said
“It needs to scale.”
They meant
They expect more people to use it. Ask how many, and what would actually break.
They said
“Two weeks, tops.”
They meant
That is the estimate before testing, feedback, and the real scope show up.
How it works
Start small. Go as deep as you want.
no question is too basic
Free · CTO Starter Kit
The Free CTO Starter Kit
The 10 tech decisions every founder faces, with checklists and plain-English explanations. In preparation; downloads are not available yet.
Get the kit →Playbooks · Course
Playbooks and course
Decision guides and templates, plus a practical course for making stronger tech calls without becoming a developer. The course is in development.
See the course →Ask Sara
Ask Sara
A place for straight answers to real questions about tech, AI, hiring, and vendors. Ask Sara is in development.
See Ask Sara →Review · In development
Async reviews
Share your tech stack, architecture, code, vendor proposal, or AI plan. Get clear recommendations and practical next steps.
See reviews →Independent, on purpose. I don’t run a dev shop or take referral fees, so the only thing I’m selling you is good advice.
no upsell. pinky promise.
Inside the free CTO Starter Kit
The 10 tech decisions every founder faces.
- Planned: A decision guide to build vs. buy, hiring, hosting, security, and AI
- Planned: A tech stack checklist to sanity-check what you have or what you are being sold
- Planned: A 10-minute video on how a CTO thinks through each choice, jargon translated
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Checklist 03 · Before you sign
Is this dev quote any good?
Is the scope written down?Y / N
Do you own the code?Y / N
Does “done” include testing?Y / N
ask these before you sign anything
Hi, I’m Sara
Serious about tech. Not so serious about everything else.
I turn ambitious ideas into technology people can actually use. I've designed and built platforms from scrappy first products to large-scale systems, and built and led engineering and product teams to bring them to life. Today I bring that same builder's mindset to AI: finding where it makes a real difference, then turning possibility into something that works.
Building is only half the fun. The other half is helping someone discover what they can create. I've taught in classrooms from middle schools to universities, and helped working professionals build software engineering skills and make the leap into tech careers. Here, I share the systems I use, the experiments that surprise me, and the lessons worth passing on, so you can spend less time figuring out where to start and more time building.
Who I build for
Consulting
Good advice should be on your side.
Independent reviews of your tech stack, architecture, code, vendor proposal, or AI plan. Clear recommendations and practical next steps, with no development work to sell and no referral fees.
Work with mesee what I’m working on at /now
Experience
25 years across startups and enterprise.
From first commit to scale, as an engineer, engineering leader, consultant, and teacher.
Industries I’ve worked in
AI strategy · Development · Architecture design and reviews · Engineering leadership · Teaching
Startups I’m building
Rise & Shore
Travel and hospitality · Founder
AI-powered search for beach vacation rentals, booked direct with local agencies.
TaxDedux
Fintech and tax · Technical co-founder
AI tax planning and deduction discovery for freelancers, the self-employed, and CPA firms.
I make the same calls I help you make
From Ask Sara
Real questions, straight answers.
Question
Should I hire an agency or a freelancer to build my app?
Choose based on the scope and how much coordination you can own. Compare deliverables, code ownership, support, and who makes the day-to-day decisions.
Question
How do I know if a development quote is fair?
Ask for an itemized scope, timeline, assumptions, and exclusions. Compare estimates against the same requirements before you decide.
Question
Where should a small business start with AI?
Start with one repetitive task, not a chatbot. Check whether the time saved is worth the cost and whether the data is safe to use.
Independent advice, no jargon
Make your next tech decision with confidence.
The free CTO Starter Kit is being prepared: practical guidance for the choices that shape your product, team, and budget.
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