CTO Compass turns company financial targets into technical execution. Four levels of cascade, four sentinels of reporting, one defensible color-coded narrative.
Hit $5M ARR by year end
Launch Enterprise Tier
Ship SSO, audit log, role-based access
The methodology
Every plan in CTO Compass walks the same four levels, in the same order. Targets are why. Objectives are what. Actions are how. Sentinels are how you report.
01
The why.
A measurable company financial goal for the year. Revenue, gross margin, NRR. With a start value, a target value, and an industry benchmark to sanity-check.
02
The what.
What the business will do to hit the target, named in Verb + Noun. Each objective has a structured measurable: Verb + Noun + From + To + Unit. No vague "improve performance".
03
The how.
The engineering work that delivers the objective. Quarter, scope, and a brief on each of the four sentinels: how Speed, Stretch, Shield, and Sales will move because of this action.
04
The how-we-report.
Four colors, four meanings, every action, every month. Green on track, Yellow difficulties, Red showstopper, Blue complete. Rollups produce the briefing narrative on demand.
The sentinels
Every technical action is reported against four sentinels. Same four every month, every quarter, every year. The discipline is what makes the briefing defensible.
Delivery requirements and execution velocity.
Example
Ship SSO by end of Q2.
Capability acquisition, growth, and team learning.
Example
Hire a staff platform engineer.
Security, risk, and operational resilience.
Example
Pass SOC 2 Type II audit.
Org alignment, translating technology into revenue.
Example
Land two enterprise design partners.
An action is Red if any sentinel is Red. Blue (complete) only when all four sentinels are Blue. No half-finished narrative.
Built for
You run engineering inside one company. The board meets quarterly. You spend two days every quarter rebuilding the same status narrative.
You run engineering across three to six companies. Each one needs a defensible narrative. Each one is a different stage and a different metric set.
Pricing
Run a full sentinel cycle on the house.
CTOs proving the methodology on one quarter, one company.
Free
For CTOs running quarterly cycles in earnest.
Full-time CTOs at one company tracking financial and operational metrics.
$49/mo
For fractional CTOs and multi-company operators.
Fractional CTOs running multiple engagements, or CTOs needing team performance management.
$199/mo
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