The Signal — Blog by François Fournier

Fractional ≠ Freelance

Sun, 16 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0200

“So what exactly do you do?”

The question comes up on every first call. For a long time I answered with a list — architecture, technical debt, team structure. It was accurate and it explained nothing, because it described activities rather than the thing being bought.

The useful answer is shorter. A freelancer sells time. A fractional executive sells decisions.

(If that sounds like a distinction without a difference, stay for the invoice.)

Six of eight AI projects should have been a Python script

Sun, 16 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Startup pitch: “We use AI to automate X.” Investors: “Wonderful. Here is €2M.”

Six months later: an AI budget of €120,000 — data scientists plus compute — and a model at 78% accuracy. Benchmark of a 200-line Python script: 74%.

Difference: four points. Cost: €120,000.

(If you think your AI project is different — it might be. The odds are against you.)

What eight audits showed

Project one, support ticket classification. Solution sold: fine-tuned LLM. Solution that works: regex plus ten if/else rules. Saved: €60,000.

The economics of no

Sun, 16 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0200

Nobody ever asked for them again.

The five features I pulled from the roadmap in Q3. Five features everyone wanted. That the VP had promised. That sales had negotiated into three deals.

Six months later: not one complaint. As if they had never existed.

(Before you explain why your case is different — it probably isn’t. Read on anyway.)

The problem nobody names

Marty Cagan puts it better than I can: most product teams are feature teams that believe they are empowered. They have a Jira board, OKRs, a standup. But somebody else decided the list. The team executes. And when it fails, nobody quite knows whose fault it was.

About

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

My name is François Fournier. I am a fractional CTO.

Twenty five years in tech: SaaS, scale-ups, architecture audits. What I do now fits in one sentence — I come in when the engineering team is stuck, I decide, and I leave when it’s done.

What makes this different

I built a fablab in rural France, a social-economy incubator. A shared workshop in a village of less than two thousand people, with a total budget of €23,000 and a team of volunteers.

Work with me

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I come in when the engineering team is stuck. Too much debt, too many features, not enough decisions.

I decide. I structure. I leave when it’s done.

What I bring

Decisions, not code. The call between rebuild and stabilise. A diagnosis in 72 hours. A roadmap in 30 days. Unblocking a team going in circles.

What I don’t do

Development. Hiring. Feel-good coaching. Audits with no follow-through. Slide decks with no implementation.