Startup architecture
Build, acquisition, integration
Helped shape a startup’s architecture and technical positioning through its acquisition, then led integration of the acquired platform into the parent environment.
Fractional CTO advisory with Rajesh Chawla
Make your next technology decision with confidence.
For B2B, data-intensive businesses with an existing technical team or delivery partner: get senior, independent guidance on a costly workflow, conflicting data, or an AI initiative without a safe path to scale.
Relevant experience
Senior architecture judgment grounded in real delivery contexts
Across 25+ years in enterprise software, cloud architecture, data platforms, and applied AI/ML systems:
Distributed engineering
Enterprise data platforms
Led engineering and architecture teams across the United States and Europe, including large-scale ETL and data integration platforms at SAP/Sybase.
AI and ML systems
Designed for evaluation and operations
Architected agentic decision-optimization workflows with evaluation and verification, and a Kafka/Redpanda streaming anomaly-detection platform using machine learning.
These examples describe experience and architecture work, not guaranteed client outcomes or claims that every system reached production.
When the next move is unclear
You should not have to fund a guess.
Reports disagree, manual handoffs consume time, or an AI demo looks promising without a safe route into daily operations. It is frustrating to be accountable for the result when the options, owners, and evidence are still unclear.
Your investment deserves a decision grounded in the work your people actually do—not pressure to adopt a fashionable tool.
A simple plan
A focused path from question to action
- Frame the decision. Identify the sponsor, urgency, and evidence needed.
- Agree on scope. Confirm deliverables, timing, and price before paid work.
- Equip your team. Leave with a recommendation and a practical route forward.
Which situation fits you?
Choose the path that matches the decision in front of you
Urgent decision
We need a strong recommendation before committing budget
Get an independent review of one vendor, architecture, automation, or AI decision before committing time or money.
Fragmented workflow
Our data, reporting, and handoffs are not reliable
Map a cross-system workflow, clarify ownership, and prioritize the most practical improvements.
AI pilot
We have a prototype, but not a production path
Assess permissions, controls, evaluation, reliability, cost, and accountable ownership before scaling.
Ongoing leadership
We need senior technical guidance without a full-time CTO
Get a regular senior partner for roadmap priorities, architecture choices, vendor reviews, and delivery risks.
Ways to work together
Get only the level of help your decision requires
Focused decision
Architecture Triage
One high-stakes question, a working session, and a concise written decision memo. $2,000 fixed fee.
See an illustrative memo outlineTwo-week sprint
Decision Automation & Data Readiness
Identify one valuable workflow, its data and handoffs, and a realistic 90-day direction. $7,500–$10,000, scoped in advance.
Two-week sprint
AI Agent & ML Production Readiness
Assess one existing initiative’s controls, evaluation, and path to a staged rollout. $7,500–$10,000, scoped in advance.
Ongoing leadership
Fractional CTO & Decision Systems Architect
Reserved senior decision and architecture guidance for your leadership and delivery teams. Pricing depends on the agreed scope and capacity.
Book a call to discuss scope and pricingIllustrative sample
What a decision memo is designed to clarify
This generic outline is not a client deliverable or a claim about a specific engagement. A scoped memo may organize the decision around:
What changes for you
Make a defensible call before committing more budget.
Know whether to pilot, strengthen the foundation, change direction, or stop—with the tradeoffs and validation criteria made explicit.