I'm a fractional CTO and principal architect based in Austin. 15+ years building and leading engineering organizations — from edge AI on Raspberry Pi to supply chain systems processing millions of transactions at Wayfair, Hertz, Costco, and Chick-fil-A. I write about the decisions that actually matter when you're scaling: when to split the monolith, how to hire your first 10 engineers, what technical due diligence really looks like, and why most startups don't need a full-time CTO. Everything here is cross-posted from https://mdostal.com/blog where the original lives. If something's useful, that's where you'll find the rest. Currently running Firefly Events (eventtech) and leading engineering at Frontiers Market (edge AI + computer vision). Open to fractional CTO engagements — https://cal.com/mdostal/meet.