Fractional Hardware CTO

Executive-level product strategy, without the cost of a full-time hire.

Trusted by

our expertise

Where we shine.

Executive-Level Leadership

C-Suite level guidance and insights for your product, technology, and development teams. Your investors and stakeholders will feel confident with a experienced Fractional Hardware CTO on-board.

Cross-Functional Alignment

Ensure that technical, business, and design teams are all working toward the same milestones — translating strategy into measurable progress and keeping projects on time and on budget.

Product & Portfolio Strategy

Make informed decisions about which products to pursue, which to retire, and how to allocate technical resources for the greatest impact.

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We've commercialized over 120 products.
Let us bring our experience and perspective to your organization.

Our Fractional CTO capabilities

Product Roadmapping

NPD Team Hiring

R&D Portfolio Management

Development Planning

NPD Process Implementation

Regulatory Strategy

Technical Due Dilligence

Executive-Level Strategy

Learn More

Product Road-mapping

We guide early-stage and scaling companies through the creation of clear, achievable product roadmaps that align with business goals, market timing, and technical constraints. Our approach helps prioritize development efforts, reduce risk, and drive alignment across engineering, marketing, and leadership teams

NPD Team Hiring

We help you identify and hire the right technical talent to execute your product vision—whether that means building your first in-house engineering team or augmenting your current team with new capabilities. We provide role definition, vetting support, and onboarding guidance to ensure technical hires are productive from day one.

R&D Portfolio Management

SGW’s fractional CTOs help leadership teams make informed investment decisions across multiple product lines and R&D initiatives. We implement tools and frameworks to evaluate opportunity cost, technical risk, and resourcing—ensuring your portfolio is balanced and supports long-term strategy.

Development Planning

We bring structure to chaotic early-stage or stalled product development efforts by defining technical milestones, identifying interdependencies, and building practical timelines. Whether you're launching an MVP or scaling a product line, we ensure your development plan is grounded in technical reality.

NPD Process Implementation

We design and deploy product development processes that are right-sized for your team and product complexity. This includes stage-gate or agile hybrid approaches, documentation standards, and decision checkpoints that improve speed, transparency, and product quality.

Regulatory Strategy

Especially in medtech, industrial, and connected hardware markets, regulatory missteps can delay or derail entire programs. We help define compliance pathways early, such as FDA, CE, or FCC, and ensure your design and documentation processes support successful certification or approval.

Technical Due Dilligence

Whether you're raising capital, evaluating an acquisition target, or vetting suppliers, we provide objective technical due diligence services. We assess design quality, system architecture, scalability, IP risks, and development team maturity to support confident business decisions.

Executive-Level Strategy

We provide C-suite support on technology direction, product differentiation, and competitive advantage. As a fractional CTO, we act as a bridge between technical execution and business vision, helping you allocate resources, communicate with stakeholders, and future-proof your roadmap.

Testimonials

What our clients are saying.

"These guys get it. They are a rare blend of creative and technical talent. Honest, flexible, fun to work with and incredibly competent. As a designer, they make me look good, bringing my ideas to life through their insight and experience."

Preston Lewis, Co-Founder & CCO

"I have worked with the team at SGW on a handful of projects, and I continue to be impressed with the depth and breadth of talent and capabilities they bring to the table. SGW is easy to work with, competent, and they operate with integrity. They make you want to do more business with them. Highly recommend!"

David Sheehan, Engineering Manager

"The team at SGW Designworks was able to identify and test multiple solutions to a complex development challenge in a short period of time, then carry those findings over to a full development effort. This had a real impact on the speed of our development project."

Calvin Allan, Senior Program Manager
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Looking for more support?

Mechanical engineering, Electronics & Embedded Systems, Prototyping, Manufacturing setup

How we engage...

Projects

Have SGW execute a project. End-to-end development, specific development stages, or targeted scopes of work.

Dedicated Capacity

Receive dedicated capacity by technical discipline to add to your project team.

Consulting and Coaching

Get connected with an SGW staff member to support your development strategy and decision making.

Recent Projects

Spartan Radar

Radar Startup Product Development

Spartan Radar hired SGW Designworks to provide comprehensive product development support for their radar sensor and display hardware. This involved establishing a robust physical system architecture, managing the complex hardware project, and executing the mechanical design, while also guiding the client's green electrical engineering team. The goal was to quickly develop functional prototypes to showcase their software to OEMs.

Black Box VR

VR Gym Equipment

SGW Designworks helped Black Box VR develop mechanical hardware and VR game controllers for its immersive workout machine.

AMT

Robotic End-of-Arm Tools

SGW Designworks provided system engineering and design for a highly configurable box grabber system that would fit a wide range of products.

AllTerra Arms

Precision Bolt Action Engineering

AllTerra had developed prototypes of an advanced, high-precision bolt-action rifle. But tolerance requirements in the action design made cost-effective manufacturing impossible.

choose your adventure

Get started with our development service in 3 steps...

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Meet with us

Discuss your current development projects, approach, team, and goals

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Get tailored development help

Project help or dedicated capacity by discipline

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See results

Realize the benefits of an award winning team focused on your project

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Don’t settle for development that’s too slow or doesn’t deliver. Put SGW to work and develop the right products on the right timeline.