About Halcrow
I spent 16 years solving technology problems. I found a common pattern.
The technology is rarely wrong. The team is rarely the problem. The outcome just doesn't have an owner who is both technical and business-minded.
Before technology, I spent ten years on large construction projects for clients such as Lendlease, Multiplex, Stockland, Grocon, the NSW Government. Construction taught me something software later confirmed: the work goes wrong in the distance between the people deciding and the people building.
In the 16 years since, I've led infrastructure projects, SaaS builds, enterprise transformations and early-stage products across 253 companies. After enough of them, the pattern is hard to ignore.
Projects don't fail because the technology is wrong. They fail because no one who's technically experienced is also accountable for the outcome (not the activity or milestones, the outcome) and close enough to the work to carry it there.
That's the gap I built Halcrow to close. Halcrow is how I think a technology partner should work.
I sit on your side of the table as your fractional CTO and I stay there. I don't sell the relationship and hand you to an account manager; the person who scoped the problem is the person accountable for solving it.
Behind me is a team of 26 software and cloud engineers and we've been doing this for over 16 years, so the judgement and the build come from the same place, and one of us answers for both.
We measure ourselves the way you do: did the number move, did the business change, would you make the decision again.
Plain language, honest calls (including the ones that cost us work) and outcomes over activity, every time.
Most consultancies finish projects. We solve problems. If that's the kind of partner you've been looking for (or the kind you were promised last time and didn't get) I'd like to meet you.
Sam Halcrow
Founder & Fractional CTO
Thank you for getting this sorted for us so quickly. It is very much appreciated.
Kelvin Kenney, CEO Bow Wow Meow
Track record
This is the experience I bring to your company
- 253 companies I've stepped into as a fractional CTO
- 253 companies
- I've been leading technology projects for over 16 years
- 16 years
- One million engineering hours delivered under my technical leadership
- 1,000,000 hours
Values
What I believe about doing this work
Be in the room, not on the sidelines
Advice from a distance doesn’t fix anything. I’m always right there with you.
Tell the truth, even when it's awkward
If something's not working, you'll hear it from me before you find out the hard way.
Capability close to the problem
The right person solving the right thing, not a committee solving the wrong thing.
Build it properly or don't build it
Shortcuts cost more later than they save now.
Thirty recommendations for your project. Hand-written by me.
I spend a session inside your project: your project management systems, technology, and team. Then I personally write up 10 things I'd keep, 10 I'd stop, and 10 I'd start, with the reasoning.
I take on a few each month, for companies actively building.
The session is free.
Or call me on 🇦🇺 0431 197 004