Show notes
How do you make sure technology is actually helping you scale your business rather than simply giving you more things to spend money on?
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, Kevin Brent is joined by Tim Ng, an experienced technology leader and fractional CTO with more than 20 years' experience across startups, larger organisations and sectors including FinTech, Digital Health and MarTech.
The conversation explores what a fractional CTO actually does, why growing businesses need to think about technology as a strategic investment rather than simply a cost, and how the rapid adoption of AI is making good technology governance more important than ever.
Tim makes an important distinction between somebody responsible for developing technology and the role of a CTO. A CTO should be thinking beyond the code: understanding where the business is heading, deciding which technology investments will support those objectives, identifying risks and helping the leadership team make better decisions.
And AI has raised the stakes.
The opportunities are enormous, but so are the risks of adopting tools simply because they are available. Tim talks about rising AI costs, data security, shadow IT and the danger of replacing people with automation before the technology has actually proved capable of doing the job.
His approach is much more pragmatic: start with the business objectives, understand where technology can genuinely help and keep a human in the loop.
We also explore Tim's own founder journey and one lesson that will resonate with many growing business owners: delegate earlier.
Like many founders, Tim initially believed he needed to remain closely involved to maintain the quality of the work. Over time, he realised that this very instinct could become one of the biggest constraints on growth.
Tim also explains the thinking behind CTO in your Pocket, designed to make strategic technology expertise accessible to startups and SMEs that may not yet be ready for a full fractional CTO engagement. It combines AI-powered guidance with access to a human CTO and tools including code auditing and contract IP scanning.
In this episode, we explore:
• What a fractional CTO actually does and how that differs from managing software development
• Why technology spend should be connected directly to business objectives
• How AI can inadvertently scale problems as quickly as it scales productivity
• The growing risks around AI costs, data security and shadow IT
• Why businesses need a human in the loop when adopting AI
• Why regulatory considerations need to come before building technology
• The danger of replacing people with AI before proving the technology works
• Why founders can become their own constraint on growth
• Tim's lesson about delegating and expanding the team earlier
• How CTO in your Pocket is attempting to bring strategic technology support to smaller businesses
The standout message
Technology should follow the business strategy, not become the strategy.
AI makes it easier than ever to build, automate and experiment. But more capability also creates more options. Without clear priorities and governance, businesses risk spending faster, creating more complexity and scaling the wrong things.
The one key thing...
Don't use AI simply because you can. Start with what the business needs to achieve, then decide where technology can genuinely help you get there.
That means having clear objectives, appropriate guardrails and human oversight rather than allowing the availability of new tools to dictate your priorities.
From more, to less, to done
Before we get into it, most founders I speak to feel busy but frustrated. Plenty is happening, but they're frustrated that they aren't moving forward at the rate they want to. That's because their success leads to more options, pulling them and their teams in different directions.
Here's what more than 500 interviews on this show have taught me: the founders who scale choose less, and deliver all of it.
That's what the G90 Summit is for.
It's a structured half-day where we cut through everything competing for your attention, agree the three to five things that must happen in the next 90 days, and build the rhythm to make sure they do.
From the frustration and chaos of more, through the discipline of less, to the rhythm of done.
Quarterly. Virtual. £97 a seat.
Find out more at Smart90.co.uk/summit.
Tim can be found here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tkcng/
Technology Check on CTO In Your Pocket - https://www.ctoinyourpocket.com/scaleup
Resources:
Turn The Ship Around! By L David Marquet - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/turn-the-ship-around-a-true-story-of-turning-followers-into-leaders-l-david-marquet/0f7fc84166e13719?ean=9780241250945
Find Your Why by Simon Sinek - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/find-your-why-a-practical-guide-for-discovering-purpose-for-you-and-your-team-david-mead/6ac82c1a0e64188e?ean=9780241279267
The Chimp Paradox by Prof Steve Peters - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-chimp-paradox-the-mind-management-programme-to-help-you-achieve-success-confidence-and-happiness-the-million-copy-bestseller-prof-steve-peter/ee209c7d88f99365?ean=9781785042447
Claude - https://claude.ai/new
ChatGPT - https://chatgpt.com/
Notion - https://www.notion.com/
Obsidian - https://obsidian.md/