The search has started
Leadership needs a company-side baseline to sharpen the mandate and brief the incoming CTO, without replacing the search firm's work.
Independent business & technology diagnostics / CTO transition
While you hire your next CTO, we map the company they're inheriting.
A Day-Zero Runbook: a scoped company map, findings with evidence and a proposed action plan for your new CTO to review, challenge and adopt.
Four weeks after agreed access is available. The map covers agreed systems, processes and dependencies, not the whole company. Delivery before the CTO starts depends on sufficient lead time and access.
When to bring us in
Start with the transition, not a predetermined answer.
A departure is planned
Capture decision history, operational dependencies and ownership gaps while the outgoing lead and relevant records are still available.
Interim becomes permanent
Make temporary choices, unresolved risks and next decisions inspectable before operational responsibility changes hands.
The Day-Zero Runbook
A decision record for the incoming CTO to review and adopt.
01 / Scoped map
The systems, workflows and ownership your CTO needs to understand.
Agreed systems and processes, responsible roles, external dependencies, handoff points and ownership gaps. A map of the investigated area, not every part of your company.
02 / Diagnosis
Findings they can trace back to evidence.
Supported observations, likely explanations, confidence, missing records and open questions. Risks and dependencies are visible alongside the findings, not hidden in an appendix.
03 / Proposed plan
Decisions for the first 30, 60 and 90 days.
Priorities with owner roles, prerequisites, decision gates and completion evidence. A first implementation brief defines what another team could build; it is not an implementation commitment.
Week-2 early read. Initial findings and unanswered questions can inform the role brief while the search is in progress. The final pack includes an organized research record, evidence references and the reasoning behind proposed priorities.
Open a worked example
Follow a checkout-to-fulfillment problem through source IDs, an ownership map, confidence judgments, a risk log and an implementation brief.
Illustrative only. A fictional company and synthetic evidence, never client work or a measured result.
Share a one-page overview
These PDFs summarize the engagement. They are not the fictional runbook sample.
A bounded investigation
Agree what the incoming CTO needs to understand first.
Questions worth investigating
- Where do operational records and management reports disagree?
- Which systems and suppliers constrain the next business priority?
- Who owns decisions, incident response and handoffs?
- What should be retained, verified, deferred or changed?
Scope follows the decision
We select an agreed workflow or connected area and the sources needed to investigate it. Relevant task records, conversations, documents, code, read-only data and targeted interviews may be included when approved and available.
A source category is not a promise of a ready-made connector. Missing access, incomplete records and conflicting accounts remain explicit limitations.
Four weeks, after access
A senior-team diagnostic for the leadership handover.
AI organizes approved records and connects sources. Our team checks interpretations and findings before proposing priorities for the incoming CTO.
Week 1
Agree the question. Establish the baseline.
Confirm scope, recipients and access. Review approved records and conduct targeted interviews. Identify source gaps and the systems that need deeper verification.
Week 2
An early read, while the search continues.
Share initial observations, uncertainties and questions for the role mandate. This is a working read, not a final diagnosis or candidate assessment.
Week 3
Review the findings together.
Our technology, HR and analytics leads compare system constraints, ownership and reporting definitions against approved records. Propose priorities and clarify questions for the role brief.
Week 4
Hand over a reviewable record.
Deliver the scoped map, findings, risk and decision log, proposed 30/60/90 plan and first implementation brief. Walk through the reasoning and unresolved questions.
The incoming CTO can join the review when available. Delivery before their start date depends on sufficient lead time, agreed source scope and access.
Evidence of the method / not a CTO-transition case
Connecting reporting, customer experience and internal systems.
In work with a publishing and e-commerce business, Blatt documented inconsistent cost treatment, mismatched reporting periods, and missing checks between product promises and product content. The handover included an evidence register, prioritized actions, and engineering handoffs. This demonstrates the diagnostic method, not a CTO-transition engagement or measured savings.
This case is not attributed to the experts introduced on this page.
Evidence and boundaries
Sources included leadership interviews, team conversations, reporting logic, product records and system definitions.
Findings were separated from hypotheses. Financial impact remained subject to corrected calculations and policy decisions. This work is not evidence of faster CTO onboarding.
See the general client-work contextExperts
A senior team for one connected investigation.
We examine technical constraints alongside how work is organized and how performance is measured. The team brings these findings together in one scoped map, diagnosis and action plan.
Technology & Systems
Michal Barodkin
CTO at Ancient Remedies; founder of HeartScan and NeuroEdit. MBA.
Leads architecture, systems, data and AI investigation, connecting technical evidence to commercial priorities.
Reviews findings with HR and analytics and prepares technical verification and handover within the agreed scope.
Michal Barodkin on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)People & Organization
Andrei Zhurauleu
HR lead with leadership experience at BotConversa.
Reviews roles, ownership and how work moves between teams.
Stakeholder interviews, role-brief context and handover ownership within the agreed scope.
Andrei Zhurauleu on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)Analytics
Sergey Kadomsky
Head of Analytics; user-behavior analytics and audience research at Wargaming (2012-2018).
Examines metric definitions, reporting logic and the data behind decisions.
Checks competing explanations and the data needed to distinguish them within the agreed scope.
Sergey Kadomsky on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)Michal is the accountable lead, coordinating the investigation and joint review. Expert participation, responsibilities and interview scope are agreed in the proposal; the diagnostic does not provide full-time staffing.
Client-controlled environment
Your sources. Your access boundaries.
Work takes place in a Google Cloud environment provisioned and controlled by your company. We agree selected sources, permissions, exclusions, recipients, and retention arrangements before starting.
Model API boundary
External processing is explicit.
Model requests use client-supplied API access and an agreed provider configuration set not to retain request data. Approved requests may leave your GCP environment for that provider's API. Client control does not mean data never leaves the environment.
Read the data-handling boundariesFor search & recruitment firms
Company-side evidence that complements your search.
Your role design, candidate assessment and placement work remain yours. Blatt investigates the operating context a future CTO will inherit, so the mandate can be discussed against records as well as stakeholder expectations.
This is an invitation to discuss an introduction, not a claim of an existing partner network.
- Role-brief context: systems constraints, ownership gaps and business priorities within the agreed scope.
- Week-2 questions: uncertainties leadership should resolve, without scoring candidates.
- Handover material: an approved briefing for the selected CTO, separate from recruitment assessment.
For interim CTO providers
A decision record between temporary and permanent leadership.
The interim CTO retains operational responsibility. A separate diagnostic can organize the baseline, surface unresolved dependencies and make the reasoning behind temporary choices reviewable by the permanent hire.
Interim leadership can challenge findings; participation does not give a partner the right to suppress inconvenient evidence.
- Takeover context: investigated systems, owner roles and open risks.
- Continuity: decisions to retain, defer or revisit, with supporting evidence.
- Permanent handover: prerequisites and acceptance criteria for proposed changes, not a promise of implementation.
The client agrees scope, recipients, interview access and what may be passed to a partner or incoming leader. An introduction grants no access to code or personal data. Any referral relationship or downstream commercial interest must be disclosed and agreed separately.
Practical questions
Clear expectations before the investigation starts.
Does the runbook have to be ready before the CTO starts?
No. Pre-start delivery requires sufficient lead time before the incoming CTO's start date and agreed access to be available. The standard investigation runs for four weeks after access is available; missing sources or changes to scope can affect timing. If the CTO is already joining, agree how they participate in the investigation.
Can we do this quietly during a leadership change?
Agree interview participants, approved sources, report recipients and what may be shared with candidates or partners before work starts. A restricted recipient list does not remove the need for authorized access or necessary participation. Confidentiality terms and any NDA requirements must be agreed; we do not promise an unconfirmed NDA process or invisible investigation.
Will you assess candidates or provide an interim CTO?
No. This engagement investigates the company-side context. Search and recruitment firms retain candidate assessment and placement responsibilities. Interim providers retain operational leadership; Blatt does not provide an interim CTO through this diagnostic.
Is this a complete security audit?
No. Security concerns can be recorded where encountered within the agreed scope, but this is not a complete security, compliance or financial audit. Specialist work, implementation and any additional assessment require separate scope and agreement.
Who decides what happens next?
Your leadership and incoming CTO do. The runbook is theirs to review, challenge and adopt, including changing or rejecting recommendations. The organized research record is handed over subject to the agreement and source-access rights. Fees and scope are agreed in writing before work begins.
Start with your situation
What does the next CTO need to know before making the first decision?
Bring the transition date, the question leadership needs answered and the sources you can authorize. We agree scope, access, recipients and fees in writing before starting.