Here’s the typical early-stage startup flow:
1. Founder has an idea
2. Raises pre-seed
3. Hires a product manager to spec it out
4. Brings in a CTO or dev agency to build the MVP
5. Launch → test → scale (or pivot)
Let’s zoom in on step 4. Traditionally, the CTO or dev lead reads a long spec doc and starts crafting the system architecture.
Now? I gave that same spec to AI.
It returned a full system design in 20 minutes: microservices layout, tech stack, cloud setup, even DB entity suggestions.
It was honestly super impressive—a task that normally takes weeks.
But when I looked deeper, things fell apart:
Misaligned with real user journeys
Bad assumptions about scaling paths
Poor judgment in tech stack trade-offs
Here’s the truth:
❌ AI can’t:
* Hire or manage engineers
* Catch business-specific edge cases
* Make strategic technical decisions based on experience
✅ AI can:
* Speed up research
* Suggest configs or alternatives
* Help teams move faster—but not smarter
You still need a CTO.
Even a fractional one. AI helps—but doesn’t replace—leadership, context, and judgment.
If you still need a CTO, please book a meeting with me here: https://calendly.com/eladdive