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Have you hit the Complexity Ceiling?
More engineers. Less Velocity. Endless debates. Zero shipping.
I know exactly what breaks and how to fix it.
Your Engineering Team has hit a Wall
You used to ship fast. Now every decision takes three meetings and a Slack debate. Your best engineer is your biggest bottleneck. And you're debugging production when you should be talking to investors.
I've already made the expensive mistakes you're about to make.
Let's cut the BS.
If you are overworked, underwater, and continually fighting fires, I can probably help you.
And I will quickly tell you if I can't.
My promise to you - I'll give it to you straight, even if it costs me the engagement.
I'm Mark Alcazar, former Microsoft VP of Engineering. I've led teams from 10 to 250+ engineers. I've watched 200 engineers burn two years on something everyone knew would fail – but nobody would articulate why. That $60 million lesson taught me that your engineers already know what's broken. They talk about it at lunch. But somewhere between their insights and your decisions, the truth gets lost.
You've hit the complexity ceiling – that brutal point between 20 and 50 engineers where everything that worked suddenly doesn't. I've been there before. I know exactly what breaks next and how to fix it without destroying what made you successful.
I'm a roll-up my sleeves, get things done engineer. I love building stuff and solving problems. I've seen it all, and I have the scars to prove it.
I can help you apply my learnings to your team before you make the same costly mistakes.
top-rated FRActional cto
Your tech team has grown. So have the stakes.
Fractional CTO support for Founder-CTOs & CEOs to take your business to the next level
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THE PROBLEM
Do any of these sound familiar ?
Every Technical Decision Needs Your Input
Your calendar is wall-to-wall reviews. Architecture debates that should take hours take weeks. You're the bottleneck you swore you'd never become.
Your Brilliant Team Is Stuck
Sprint commitments are fiction. That "2-week task" is on week 6. Your engineers are debating perfect architecture while customers wait for basic features.
Something's Wrong But You Can't Name It
Maybe it's those shortcuts from the early days. Maybe it's technical debt. Maybe your scrappy college hires aren't scaling. You know something's off, but every expert speaks in jargon that makes your eyes glaze over.
The Firefighting Never Stops
Monday: production issue. Tuesday: missed deadline. Wednesday: team conflict. Thursday: board wants a strategy update. Friday: you realize you haven't talked to a customer in weeks.
Your Leaders Aren't Leading
You promoted your best engineers. Now they're mediocre managers still trying to code everything themselves. Meanwhile, real leadership decisions pile up on your desk.
Can you handle the Truth ?
Every growing tech company hits this wall between 20 and 50 engineers. The ones who break through know it's not about hiring better people or adding more process. It's about fundamentally changing how engineering operates.
The Fulcrion Method
From Chaos to Velocity
Instead of a linear journey, I pull three levers simultaneously
Technical Strategy
Technical Strategy
Leadership Systems
Execution Rythm
Together, we'll cut through deadlocks and endless debates by first diagnosing the real issues, then crafting a right-sized technical strategy: architecture, org design, and development practices.
And we'll produce clear decision documents outlining the plan, with aligned stakeholders. aligning your team.
You'll have clarity, strategy and a plan.
We'll build and develop your bench of leaders to break the bottleneck. Your team has the technical skills, but need some learning how to deal with your challenges.
You'll finally have the leadership team that lets you focus on the big-picture instead of daily firefighting.
We'll implement just enough structure: sprint rhythms, decision frameworks, escalation paths to get your team shipping consistently.
Proven patterns from Microsoft, scaled for your reality.
And I don't just create a plan and leave. I roll up my sleeves to execute, mentor, and lead.
We'll implement the plan together. Your success is my success.
Clarify the Foundation
We assess your current tech stack, team structure, and product vision to surface what's working—and what’s holding you back.
Design a Scalable Path
Together, we craft a right-sized tech strategy: architecture, org design, and development practices that align with your business goals.
Embed Mature Leadership
We roll up our sleeves. Whether fractional or advisory, we partner with your team to execute, mentor, and lead—with clarity and speed
MEET THE FOUNDER & CEO
Mark Alcazar
Why I Do This Work
I've spent over 25 years solving the exact problems keeping you up at night. At Microsoft, I led teams through impossible transitions: shipping Windows 11 innovations while maintaining compatibility for 1.4 billion users, transforming 40% of my engineering team to create AI innovations, and turning around products to gain share and restore confidence and trust.
But here's what I learned: Your 50-100 person engineering team doesn't need Microsoft's processes. It needs Microsoft's hard-won principles adapted to your context. The patterns that work at scale can be right-sized for growth stage reality.
I specialize in one thing: helping engineering organizations navigate the complexity ceiling that hits around 50+ engineers. Not product strategy. Not fundraising advice. Pure engineering leadership and organizational transformation.
My goal is simple: build systems and leaders that thrive without daily intervention.
Recommendations
Mark is a leader for all waters calm or choppy
Mark is a leader for all waters calm or choppy. This unique trait makes him an asset to anyone looking to build stable long running organizations.
I worked with Mark for over 6 years during which I observed him scale from small to large teams, he led innovation, migration, transformation and did so with a steady hand. Furthermore he ran this with a portfolio approach managing high churn, medium churn and low churn products with different leaders and differing styles.
His experience since has been deep in building a variety of developer platforms at Microsoft which allows him to be unique in this field and expertise that others can benefit from.
I was lucky to work with and learn from Mark and am sure anyone collaborating with him will feel the same way!
- Akhil Kaza, Head of Engineering, Atlassian
Mark brings a calm and composed approach even in the toughest situations,
I've had the pleasure of working with Mark Alcazar, and I've been consistently impressed by his remarkable leadership and collaborative spirit. Mark brings a calm and composed approach even in the toughest situations, setting a tone that inspires trust and focus within the team.
He leads by example, demonstrating a direct and transparent communication style that fosters open dialogue and drives results. Mark is notably open to feedback, using it as a catalyst for growth and improvement - a true hallmark of a continuous learner.
What stands out about Mark is his ability to balance collaboration with decisive action, making him a valued partner and leader. I've seen firsthand how his approachability and willingness to listen strengthen team bonds and drive collective success.
One standout example was when Mark navigated complex Windows releases across consumers, developers, and a plethora of devices - the "construction management" required for such a release was immense, and he handled it with remarkable poise and effectiveness. His ability to orchestrate and communicate across multiple stakeholders was critical to the release's success.
I highly recommend Mark Alcazar for any leadership or collaborative role - his blend of calm leadership, openness to feedback, and commitment to learning make him an exceptional professional.
- Brijesh Bhatia, VP Wearables Engineering, Reality Labs @Meta
Why a Fractional CTO is the Smart Move
A Fractional CTO gives your team immediate access to seasoned leadership - without the delay, risk, or cost of a full-time hire.
At Fulcrion, I focus on helping growing engineering organizations restore velocity and momentum through proven leadership patterns and technical clarity.
And with over 25 years of experience leading large-scale teams and platforms, I don’t just advise. I help you build, mentor, and implement. The result? An upgraded engineering team executing with velocity.
Engagement Options that Scale
Whether you need clarity, strategy, or transformation, there's an option for your business
With every engagement focused on delivering measurable ROI
If you need results quickly...
Half-Day Workshop
With a focused 4-hour session with your leaders, we’ll tackle your top tech blockers, and define the next steps to accelerate your growth and fix your top problems.
The goal is to come out with an immediate punch list of issues to address, a list of gaps, and an initial roadmap. These workshops require a couple of weeks of prep via email or zoom ahead of time.
Not ready for a workshop ? Let's just talk. Book a 30-minute call and I'll tell you if I can help.
Technical Strategy Document
This is targeted at teams deadlocked on critical technical decisions. In 2-3 weeks, I'll analyze options and requirements, interview stakeholders, and deliver a decision document that ends the debate and makes a clear recommendation.
I've successfully used this at Microsoft for many key engineering decisions, often involving dozens of unaligned stakeholders. It's an invaluable tool for contentious technical issues. It takes time and effort, and it works.
Concrete examples: microservices vs monolith, framework selection, build vs buy, technology roadmap, database architecture.
If You Need Hands-On Leadership
Engaged CTO
I build and lead your technology strategy hands-on. I start with a complete assessment of your team's architecture, structure and rhythm. I then make concrete recommendations, and guide your team on execution. Not consulting, actually leading. Making decisions, running meetings, fixing problems.
And my goal is to build durable systems and leaders so your team levels up, and success becomes sustainable.
Advisor CTO
This option provides post-transformation oversight. With bi-weekly check-ins to keep you on track, and a trusted sounding board for critical decisions.
Contact Us
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