Yard Labs
Dan Watts

Hi 👋

I'm Dan, fractional CTO, tech advisor, and engineering leader with 18+ years across software engineering and product. Extensive experience spanning B2B and D2C, in consumer, retail, music, healthcare, and more.

I work with pre-seed and seed founders who need executive technical leadership without the cost or commitment of a full-time CTO. Turning commercial ambition into focused execution, moving fast early with tech and team decisions that avoid expensive rewrites later.

I bring co-founder energy, backed by deep hands-on experience:

  • Founding CTO: Previously launched 8 new businesses
  • Speed: Delivered a regulated MDR Class IIa zero-to-one app in 3 months
  • Scale: Operated high-traffic platforms (15M+ requests/day), led 15+ person engineering teams
  • Grow: Led 100s of interviews, hiring 40+ engineers

How I Work 🛠️

I work with a small number of teams to stay deeply involved and effective. That means availability is limited, but focus and continuity are high. When you need more hands, I work with a group of carefully selected partners, connecting you with high-quality talent across the full product-building spectrum.