Mars Depinski — Fractional CTO Insights https://marsdepinski.com/blog/ Notes on fractional CTO engagements, security, compliance, AI strategy and technical due diligence for small and mid-sized companies. en Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT AI strategy for small companies: the payback period test https://marsdepinski.com/blog/ai-strategy-the-payback-period-test/ https://marsdepinski.com/blog/ai-strategy-the-payback-period-test/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Most LLM use cases are demos. The ones worth funding share two traits — and here is how I price the rest. Compliance is a design constraint, not a cleanup project https://marsdepinski.com/blog/compliance-is-a-design-constraint/ https://marsdepinski.com/blog/compliance-is-a-design-constraint/ Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Why SOC 2 and HIPAA projects fail late — and how designing for evidence changes the bill. Do you actually need a fractional CTO? https://marsdepinski.com/blog/do-you-actually-need-a-fractional-cto/ https://marsdepinski.com/blog/do-you-actually-need-a-fractional-cto/ Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT Three honest tests for whether a fractional CTO engagement beats a full-time hire — and when it clearly doesn't.