Maltera — Strategy & technology for founders
Clear answers on what it takes to make what you built with AI production-ready.
You used AI to build a prototype and prove the idea works. Before real customers, real data, and real money arrive, I tell you what's solid, what breaks under real use, where the risks sit, and what it actually costs to ship. Senior judgment, in plain language, no team to hire full-time yet.
Also here for the other calls that are expensive to get wrong — build-vs-buy, a first technical hire, vendor selection, architecture bets.
Fixed-scope diagnostic · Response within 24 hours · Waterloo & the GTA
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The questions I'm built for
The distance between a working demo and a real product.
AI gets you to something that runs, fast. Then the real questions start — the ones that don't show up in the demo but decide whether you can actually launch. I help you see them clearly, separate what has to change now from what can wait, and move with confidence.
Does it survive real users?
What breaks when a hundred customers show up at once — and what it takes to hold up under real load.
Security & data risk
Where your data lives, who can reach it, and the exposures a demo never surfaces but a launch will.
What it costs to run
The real infrastructure and operating cost once traffic is real — before a surprise bill finds you.
Fix now vs. live with
Which parts you rebuild before launch, and which are fine to carry for a while so you keep your momentum.
Who builds the real version
Your first technical hire, an agency, or keep going yourself — and how to de-risk whichever path you pick.
The bets that are hard to unwind
Build-vs-buy, vendor selection, and architecture calls that are cheap to make now and painful to reverse later.
How to start
Start with a Reality Check.
One clear way in: a fixed-scope Reality Check on your build. It's low-commitment, you leave with a written recommendation, and you decide from there whether a deeper review is worth it. Everything else below is available when you need it — but most founders start here.
For: a straight read on your build approach before you commit.
A straight read on what stands between your prototype and production — what's solid, what worries me, and the smartest next move. I pre-read your materials, we work through it together, and you leave with a written recommendation you can act on. The lowest-risk way to see how I think, and the right first step before any larger engagement.
- Pre-read of your materials
- A working session, not a sales call
- Clear recommendation on your build approach
- Written plan you keep
For: when the Reality Check says it's worth a full look.
A deeper assessment of the prototype you built with AI. Before real customers, real data, and real money arrive, I tell you what it takes to make it production-ready — what's solid, what breaks under load, where the security and data risks sit, and what to fix before launch versus what can wait. You leave with a written plan and a real number to get there.
Scope a reviewAlso available when the work calls for it — each a fixed-scope, fixed-fee engagement:
A focused two-week engagement that turns one decision — a vendor shortlist, a hiring brief, a modernization sequence — into an execution-ready plan.
Your business priorities mapped to a phased technology and operating plan — including build-vs-buy and vendor choices — as a written roadmap you can act on.
The deeper, investor-ready assessment of an existing or planned build — architecture, scalability, security and compliance flags, and dev-shop or hire quality.
Want an ongoing hand instead of a one-off? Two ways to keep me close:
Priority access to senior judgment before every call — calls, async questions, and light review, up to ~8 hours a month.
When a decision or transformation warrants my full attention, priced as a committed monthly block of days — buy senior judgment by the day.
How it works
A low-risk way to start.
No open-ended retainers to sign up front. Most engagements begin with a single diagnostic — you decide whether to go further once you've seen how I think.
Frame the decision
A short intro call to confirm the decision, the stakes, and whether I'm the right fit. No charge, no obligation.
Diagnostic session
A fixed-scope working session that maps your options and hands you a decision framework and written recommendation.
Go deeper only if it pays
If the decision warrants it, we scope a project or a retainer. If it doesn't, you leave with what you came for.
Why it's a low-risk call
Low-risk by design — small first step, no commitment.
You shouldn't have to sign an open-ended engagement to find out whether the advice is any good. Start with a fixed-scope Reality Check and decide from there.
Fixed scope, fixed fee
Every engagement begins with a one-page scope and defined deliverables. No open-ended meters running.
Start small
A $1,450 Reality Check is a low-commitment way to see how I think before you commit to anything larger.
Genuinely independent
No product to sell you and no vendor I'm paid to recommend. The recommendation serves you, not a kickback.
Senior judgment only
You work with me directly — 26 years of it — never handed off to a junior team on a leverage model.
A deliverable you keep
You leave with a written recommendation and a framework you can use again, not just a good conversation.
Discreet by default
Engagements are handled quietly, under a standing pre-engagement disclosure framework.
About Maltera
The bridge between strategy and what's buildable.
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Maltera is a boutique, founder-led practice. When you engage Maltera, you get me — not a pitch team that hands you to juniors.
For 26 years I've worked where business strategy meets technology — leading enterprise transformation and the platforms, operations, and global teams behind it at the AVP level, while building and shipping my own software along the way. With an Ivey EMBA and PMP, I bring a strategist's lens and a builder's hands to both sides of a scaling company's hardest calls — so I can tell you both whether a strategy is sound and whether it can actually be built, and what it will really cost.
Why leaders choose an independent:
- No product to sell you and no vendor I'm paid to recommend — the advice is genuinely independent.
- Senior judgment on every engagement, not leverage-model staffing.
- Useful before impressive: you leave with a framework you can use again.
- Discreet by default — engagements handled under a standing pre-engagement disclosure framework.
Who this is for
You built something with AI. Now it has to be real.
- Founders who validated with AI and now need that prototype made safe to put in front of real customers.
- Early-stage builders who need senior technical judgment they can't yet hire full-time.
- Non-technical founders who need someone independent to tell them what they can't see in the demo.
- Founders facing a big build call — build-vs-buy, a first technical hire, or a vendor they'll live with for years.
- Boards & investors wanting an independent read on a technology bet or diligence question.
Specialization
Where I go deep
Getting to production
- • Prototype-to-production readiness reviews
- • Security & data-risk assessment
- • Scalability and what breaks under load
- • Fix-before-launch vs. later sequencing
- • Build-vs-buy and first technical hire
Strategy & technology
- • System architecture design
- • Technology roadmaps and prioritization
- • API and data platform strategy
- • Cloud infrastructure and run-cost planning
- • Vendor and partner evaluation
Fair questions
The three things people ask before they hire me.
I built a prototype with AI. How do I make it production-ready?
A prototype proves the idea works. It rarely survives real users, real data, and real money without work you can't see from the demo.
That gap is most of the job now. AI gets you to something that runs, fast. Then the real questions start. What breaks when a hundred customers show up at once, where the data lives and who can reach it, what it costs to run once traffic is real, and which parts you rebuild now versus live with for a while.
I map that path with you. What has to change before you put it in front of customers, what can wait, and what production-ready actually costs. You keep the momentum AI gave you without betting the business on code no one has vetted.
Why you, and not a firm or someone cheaper?
A firm sells you a team, and most of that team is junior. You pay senior rates for their learning curve. With Maltera you get me on every engagement, 26 years of it, never handed off.
Cheaper help is easy to find. It tends to cost more later, once a wrong call has to be unwound. I price against the size of the decision, not the hours. If the decision isn't expensive to get wrong, I'm probably not your best option, and I'll say so on the intro call.
How is this different from just using AI?
Use AI. I do. It's fast at drafting options and generating code, and it sounds just as sure when it's wrong as when it's right.
Someone still has to ask the right question, separate what's real from what only looks real, and stand behind the answer. That judgment is the work. AI doesn't carry the cost of being wrong. I do.
Let's talk
Not sure what it'll take to ship?
Book a short intro call, or send me the question directly. I respond to every genuine inquiry within 24 hours — whether you're exploring a single diagnostic or an ongoing engagement.
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Based in Waterloo, Ontario. I work with leaders across the GTA, Ontario, and beyond.
The best conversations start with a real question. If you have one, I'd like to hear it.