Perspective: Situation
I'm a scale-up CTO with 20 years of technology leadership experience, focused the last 15 years specifically on SaaS platform scale and transformation. I've held CTO roles at four NZ-headquartered scale-ups, Loyalty NZ, Plexure, Serko, and EROAD, building platforms used by hundreds of millions of people globally, including major brands like McDonald's and Booking.com. My expertise spans multi-tenant SaaS architecture, global platform operations, enterprise integration, hypergrowth management, and digital transformation. I've led listed companies and high-growth organisations through international expansion, platform modernisation, and structural change.
More recently, my focus has shifted toward agentic systems, AI strategy, protocol-native architectures, MCP and ACP, and the commercial shift from per-seat SaaS licensing to consumption-based, token-driven economics. I'm also the founder and author of Present Thread, where I publish my CTO Operating System and field notes on what I'm seeing in technology leadership and what I think is coming next.
I've recently taken a deliberate career break to step back, research, and refresh. I used that time to explore AI strategy, particularly in ecommerce integration and agentic systems, and to think clearly about the shift from per-seat licensing to consumption-based models. I'm now actively exploring opportunities where I can apply that thinking alongside my experience. I've also used that time to develop and document this, the CTO Operating System.
I'm looking for roles where I can shape strategy and grow or build something new, not just execute someone else's vision. I thrive tackling problems that haven't been solved before, novel challenges that require building confidence in stakeholders. I want to work at scale, with hundreds of millions of users, complex systems, real enterprise constraints. I want to export into international markets, develop talent, create opportunities for people.
I'm optimized for scale-up CTO roles, full-time or fractional. I'm also interested in board adviser roles and fractional CTO work at startups, and enterprise transformation work if the focus is genuine strategy partnership, not just execution. I'm fully open to relocation, domestic or international. I've worked across New Zealand, Australia, UK, US, Asia, and Europe. I understand cultural and market differences across geographies and thrive in international environments.
I lead as a co-leader and builder. I'm committed to high-trust teams built on integrity and character, transparent decision-making with team input and safe dissent, accountability for my own decisions, executive team alignment, and developing talent. I thrive in challenging, novel situations. I'm not a maintenance CTO, I'm built for transformation, scale, growth, and building confidence in uncertain situations.
What I need from an opportunity is straightforward. A CEO, executive team and board who value strategy partnership, not just execution. Executive team alignment and first-team principles, no fragmentation, no games, no information leaks. Autonomy to make decisions with accountability. A culture of high integrity and trust. The ability to be direct and honest, and to expect the same from others.
What energizes me is punching above our weight. Limited resources, compressed timelines, high stakes, and the right team finding a way. Constructive, positive energy even under pressure. Being part of something ambitious that wouldn't have happened without my involvement.
I'm a hands-on leader. I still code to learn, still design, still experiment with emerging technologies, including AI agents and agentic systems. I'm an active public speaker at industry events on technology leadership, culture, and AI strategy. I bring proven scale, strategic partnership capability, enterprise experience, deep transformation background, international exposure, and thought leadership to any role.
There is a downloadable markdown file for situation available on the Resources page. This markdown files can be used as a template for you to adopt and edit for you own uses and with the agents available on the same page.