The technical
co-founder you
can't afford to hire.
I'm Igal Malisov. I've built companies from scratch, made the expensive mistakes early, and know exactly what breaks between demo and production. Now I do it for your startup.
Previously shipped at
Most AI products fail in production —
often for predictable reasons.
I work with a small number of clients at a time. If the left column sounds familiar and the right column sounds like you, we're probably a match.
What goes wrong
- Prompts & versioning. Every change is a risk; nobody knows what's live vs. tested.
- Cost & observability. Bills spike overnight with no dashboards, alerts, or ceilings.
- Reliability. Missing retries and fallbacks — one bad API call takes the pipeline down.
- Scale. What worked for ten users breaks at a thousand; rebuilds cost more than doing it right once.
This is for you if
- No technical co-founder. You need someone who owns architecture and outcomes — not ticket intake.
- Early-stage, real traction. Funding or paying clients; the gap is shipping correctly at the right pace.
- AI is harder than the demo. LLMs, agents, or data pipelines need to survive real users.
- Speed without debt. You can't wait six months for a CTO — but the foundation still has to last.
Three ways to work
together.
Depending on where you are and what you need. Every engagement starts with a real conversation — not a sales call.
Technical Discovery Sprint
2 weeks. I become your technical co-founder for a sprint — assessing what you've built, designing the right architecture, and giving you an honest roadmap. You leave knowing exactly what to build and in what order.
Embedded Technical Co-Founder
Ongoing. Fully dedicated to your product. Weekly syncs, async availability, architecture decisions, hiring input, incident response. Senior co-founder leadership — without the equity.
Full 0→1 Build
I take full technical ownership from whiteboard to production. Stack decisions, architecture, implementation, deployment — everything. I've done this multiple times. The speed comes from already knowing where the traps are.
AI Product Architecture
For products built on LLMs and AI agents. Prompt versioning, agent orchestration, cost controls, observability, retry logic — the layer between "it works in the demo" and "it works at 2am on a Tuesday."
20 years of building
the real thing.
From gaming platforms to AI-driven fintech. High scale, multiple industries, different kinds of hard.
Earlier: CTO at Wee.bo, Development Manager at Avantis Team — full history on LinkedIn.
Start small.
Commit when it's right.
No long contracts upfront. A scoping sprint means both sides know exactly what we're getting into.
Scoping Sprint
2 weeks · Flat fee
- 2-hour kickoff — deep-dive into your architecture, codebase, and goals
- Async Q&A throughout (Slack, same-day responses)
- Mid-sprint check-in to course-correct
- Technical assessment of your current state
- Recommended architecture and tech decisions
- Roadmap for what needs to be built — and in what order
- Risk register — what breaks if left unaddressed
Monthly Retainer
Ongoing · 3-month minimum
- Weekly 1-hour sync — strategy, decisions, unblocking
- Async availability Sun–Thu, response within 2–3 hours
- Dedicated Slack channel — direct access, no ticketing
- Up to 2 critical-issue escalations per month (1-hour response)
- Monthly written summary — shipped, upcoming, open risks
From people who've
worked with me.
Igal is an exceptional leader. His ability to manage and inspire a team is truly remarkable. He has a unique talent for identifying each team member's strengths and channeling them effectively to achieve outstanding results.
Igal has a rare ability to help teams evolve and grow. He doesn't just solve problems — he helps the people around him become better at solving them too.
Think we might be
a fit?
30 minutes. You tell me what you're building and where you're stuck. I'll tell you honestly if I can help — and how.