Fractional tech leadership for small & mid-sized businesses

The tech leader your
business needs —
without the hire.

Websites, systems, automation, AI — and the decisions that connect them. I help you make the right technical move, get it built, and keep the business moving without you becoming the tech department.

Get your free Leak Map See the work

Pittsburgh-rooted · serving Pittsburgh + beyondDiagnose · Build · Lead

Diagnose · Build · Lead

Different businesses need technical leadership at different moments.

Sometimes the job is getting the digital foundation right. Sometimes it's building a system the business actually runs on. And sometimes it's staying involved so the owner isn't carrying every technical decision alone.

That's fractional tech leadership. You may also hear the term fractional CTO — senior technical judgment applied without adding a full-time technology executive to payroll.

Who this is for

You don't need to know what the solution is. You usually know the symptom.

Your business is better than your website makes it look.

The reputation, team, services, or operation have grown — but the digital presence still reflects an earlier version of the company.

You've got technology, but nobody really owns it.

Different vendors handle different pieces. The owner keeps getting pulled into decisions. Nobody is responsible for how the whole system fits together.

A process works because one person holds it together manually.

Spreadsheets, inboxes, old software, repeated follow-up, and knowledge trapped in one person's head. It works — until that person is overloaded or unavailable.

A migration or technical project became much bigger than expected.

Data, business rules, integrations, and launch dependencies surface late. What looked like implementation work suddenly needs technical leadership.

Those problems can lead to a website, an automation, a migration, an internal tool, a roadmap — or sometimes a decision not to build anything yet.

What I do

Three jobs. One operator.

Diagnose what's wrong. Build what's needed. Lead the decisions that connect it.

Diagnose

Before I recommend a fix, I figure out what's actually happening — across your website, systems, data, workflows, vendors, or customer journey. The goal is to solve the right problem before money gets spent solving the wrong one.

Build

Websites, e-commerce, internal tools, migrations, automations, data workflows, and AI-enabled systems — built around the way the business actually works, not around a generic template.

Lead

When the business needs ongoing technical judgment, I stay involved — roadmap, vendor decisions, system priorities, AI and automation questions, production issues, and what should happen next.

On AI

Use AI. Seriously.

AI is giving small businesses capabilities that used to require specialists — writing, research, analysis, design exploration, automation, even software development. That's a good thing.

I don't make money by keeping technology mysterious or keeping clients dependent. If an AI tool can help you do something yourself, safely and efficiently, use it. I'll help you understand where that makes sense.

My value moves up the stack: deciding what should actually get built, what shouldn't, which output can be trusted, how systems should connect, and where automation genuinely pays off.

Use AI yourself where it works. Call me when the decision, integration, risk, or implementation gets serious.

The work

I'd rather show you than tell you.

Four engagements at different points in the relationship — from rebuilding the digital foundation to migration recovery, custom operating systems, and ongoing technical stewardship.

Diagnose → Build · Platform Migration Recovery

The old platform was gone. The replacement couldn't be treated as the source of truth.

Gaber & Company has supplied the jewelry and watchmaking trade since 1946. When its longtime ecommerce platform was retired, a prior transition preserved some basic catalog data but left imagery, category structure and important operating workflows incomplete.

I started with diagnosis rather than another import. Working from Gaber's source records, I reconstructed the catalog, resolved image, taxonomy, SKU and product-status inconsistencies with the owner, and built a new Shopify implementation around 5,706 verified products and 7,763 SKU/variant records.

The store launched August 12, 2026 after commerce QA and final reconciliation, carrying 3,512 legacy redirects into the new platform. Its first real order arrived within days.

Role · Migration recovery, catalog engineering & Shopify implementation

“SteelPixels stepped into our time of need and came through in a big way!!”

Chris Gaber· Gaber & Company

5,706

Products in the launched store

7,763

SKU / variant records reconciled

3,512

Legacy redirects carried into the new platform

Final reconciliation covered all 7,763 catalog records across 48 product fields, with every difference explained before launch.

Build → Lead · Website + Digital Stewardship

Word of mouth built the reputation. I gave it a digital home. Then the business grew.

Fitz Plumbing already had the hardest part: a strong reputation built through Jake Fitzpatrick's work and word of mouth. I built a fast, mobile-first website and strengthened the company's Google presence so that reputation had a credible place to land when customers searched or received a referral.

As Fitz Plumbing grew, I came back for a second phase — not to replace a failed site, but to deepen a working one. Current work is expanding the service architecture around higher-value work such as whole-home repiping and sewer/underground-line work, strengthening local-search signals and proof, correcting outdated service information, and working toward one clear Facebook presence.

Role · Website build + local presence → ongoing digital stewardship

100+

Five-star reviews

Phase 2

A working foundation, deepened as the business grows

Build → Lead · E-Commerce + Operations

I built the store. Then the store became part of how the business runs.

I originally rebuilt APLS Landscape Supply as a commerce and operations platform: customer-facing storefront, online ordering, catalog and pricing management, transaction notifications, search-migration infrastructure, and a custom order-management system behind it.

After launch, the relationship expanded. I rebuilt delivery pricing around actual route distance and APLS's operating rules, then extended the same engine into an internal staff quoting tool.

The platform has since expanded into product-availability controls, seasonal operating controls, production safeguards, and ongoing search/migration stewardship. A dedicated Winter commerce expansion is now being built on top of the same system. Routine catalog and order management stays with the APLS team; I stay responsible for the harder systems underneath it.

Role · E-commerce platform build → ongoing technical stewardship

Storefront + Custom OMS

Customer-facing commerce + the operating system behind it

Route-aware delivery

Custom pricing built around APLS's real operating rules

Ongoing platform stewardship

Availability controls · Seasonal controls · Production safeguards

Diagnose · Systems Fix + Local Search

A five-star reputation, and leads quietly slipping away.

A hauler running the Pittsburgh business and a Chicago expansion, with a 5.0-star reputation — and contact forms that had been silently failing, plus office tech broken for months. I found the failures, fixed the office tech on the first visit, and consolidated and verified their Google presence so the reviews they'd already earned pointed at one profile.

Role · Diagnostic, systems fix & local search consolidation

What clients say

Step into both technical and operational challenges.

"After the experience of our website needing migration to a new platform, I no longer felt comfortable using our old provider. SteelPixels stepped into our time of need and came through in a big way!! As a result, we are in a much better place than ever before in regard to our e-commerce presence & website."

Chris Gaber· Gaber & Company

"SteelPixels helped boost my trade business to the next level. Word of mouth is great but Jason was able to help me upload my work onto a website and most customers I talk to compliment the website and ultimately that it led them to giving us a call. Jason from SteelPixels knows his stuff."

Jake Fitzpatrick· Fitz Plumbing — Pittsburgh, PA

"Jason came in, quickly understood the situation, and got to work with a level of focus and expertise that was immediately reassuring. Clear communication, no fluff, and a genuine commitment to getting things done right. It's rare to find someone who can step into both technical and operational challenges and handle them this efficiently."

Tracy Schumann· Jurassic Junk Removal — Butler, PA

The method

Find the problem before deciding what to build.

When the problem is customer-facing, the Leak Map gives me an outside-in view of how people find you, decide whether to trust you, and try to take the next step. If answering the real question requires access inside the business — systems, workflows, data, or operations — that's what Discovery is for.

The Leak Map

Proprietary diagnostic · SteelPixels

Found

They're searching for exactly what you do — and finding everyone except you.

Trusted

They find you, but something feels off, so they go with a competitor instead.

Contacted

They try to reach you — and the message goes nowhere.

Followed Up

They're interested, but by the time anyone follows up, they've moved on.

Booked

They're ready to buy, but checkout, booking, or payment is a hassle — so they hesitate.

Reviewed

The work goes great, but nobody asks for the review — so the next customer never hears about it.

What I actually check

Not an automated score. A diagnosis I actually review.

I look at the business the way a customer does — search results, reviews, website trust, contact paths, and the public surfaces that are supposed to work together. Then I look for the places where the digital story doesn't match the real business.

Search visibility

Can the right customers find and understand the business?

Review proof

Does the reputation you've earned show up where buyers are deciding?

Website trust

Does the site make the business look as credible as it actually is?

Contact path

Can someone act easily — and does the business get what it needs to respond?

What this usually turns up

A business that ranks cleanly for its own name but is nearly invisible for the services it actually wants more of.
Reviews or reputation split across duplicate or inconsistent public profiles, so the proof the business earned isn't concentrated where buyers are deciding.
A form or contact path that looks functional from the outside but has been silently failing — or forces unnecessary back-and-forth before the business can act.

The point isn't to find more problems. It's to find the first problem worth solving.

I rank what I find by business impact, dependency, and practicality. Sometimes the right move is technical. Sometimes it's operational. Sometimes it's simply fixing something small before spending money on anything bigger.

01 · The first fix

The highest-value problem to address first — whatever kind of problem it is.

02 · What it depends on

The conditions, information, or supporting fixes that have to be true for that first move to hold.

03 · What can wait

Important things that are deliberately deprioritized so they stop consuming attention.

Get your free Leak Map

Start with an outside-in look at what's leaking, what matters most, and what looks worth addressing first.

Where to start

Start small. Scale when the business needs it.

Most relationships start with an outside-in diagnosis, then move into the right next step — a Discovery, a Build, or ongoing leadership. You don't need to buy the whole ladder, and you'll know the number before work begins.

Free Leak Map

A focused outside-in review of the surfaces customers actually encounter — search visibility, reviews, website trust, and contact path. You get the most important leaks I see and the first fix I think is worth making.

Free

No logins required. No sales pitch disguised as an audit.

Discovery

For messy systems, migrations, operations, automation, e-commerce, or decisions where the right answer isn't obvious yet. I go inside the business far enough to determine what should happen first, and why.

From $1,000

Build

Custom websites, commerce systems, migrations, automations, dashboards, and internal tools — scoped around the actual business problem.

Custom websites typically from $3,000

Need the foundation first?Focused engagements start at $1,500 ↓

Lead

Ongoing technical leadership when the business needs someone to keep owning the harder decisions — roadmap, vendors, systems, AI/data/automation priorities, and ongoing improvements.

From $399/mo

Need the foundation first?

Build the digital foundation around the business you're actually running.

Who it's for

Maybe you're starting something serious. Maybe the business already works, but the website, Google presence, proof, or customer path never caught up.

What Foundation does

Foundation work is for that gap: the focused website, credibility layer, local presence, and contact path that make the real business easier to find, trust, and contact.

Deliberately constrained

If the business needs a full custom site or a deeper system, I scope that separately instead of stuffing more work into the same box.

From $1,500

Scoped to what's actually in the engagement.

Talk about a Foundation engagement →

You own everything.Your domain, your accounts, your code — all in your name or transferable to you from day one. No long-term lock-in. If we ever part ways, you keep the system.And when something is reasonable for you to manage yourself, I'll show you how. The goal isn't dependence. It's having the right help when the work or the decision is actually worth paying for.

Who you're working with

One operator. Pittsburgh-based. Accountable.

One accountable person

SteelPixels is me — Jason. I'm not an agency that hands you off after the sales call. The person diagnosing the problem is the person building the system and picking up the phone when something breaks.

AI-native. Human accountability.

I use AI heavily for research, analysis, coding, QA, and documentation because it lets a small operation move faster without lowering the standard. The judgment and accountability stay with me.

Built for owner-led businesses

I work with small and mid-sized businesses in Pittsburgh and beyond — suppliers, trades, e-commerce, and local service companies. Most of my work comes by referral, which is exactly how I like it.

Plain language. No jargon. No runaround. I'll tell you what I'd do if it were my business — even when that means telling you not to spend money yet.

Questions

The honest answers.

What does fractional tech leadership cost?

Most relationships start with a free Leak Map or a scoped Discovery, then move into the right Build or ongoing leadership only if it makes sense.

Focused Foundation work starts at $1,500 and is scoped to what's actually in it. Custom websites typically start around $3,000. Discovery engagements start at $1,000. More complex commerce, migration, automation, dashboard, or systems work is scoped around the actual problem.

Ongoing Lead relationships currently start around $399/month.

You'll know the scope and the price before work begins.

What's a fractional CTO?

A fractional CTO gives a business senior technical leadership without a full-time technology executive. That can mean deciding what to build, what to fix, what to buy, how systems should fit together, and where AI or automation actually pays off.

I use “fractional tech leadership” because the work doesn't always begin as an ongoing executive role. Sometimes it's one consequential decision and the build behind it. Sometimes it grows into a standing relationship. The common thread is senior judgment plus accountability for what happens next.

Do you only work with Pittsburgh businesses?

Pittsburgh is home and where most of my relationships are, but the work travels fine. If you're elsewhere and there's a genuine fit, let's talk.

What if I already have a web person?

Great. I'm not here to replace people or systems that are working.

Sometimes I build directly. Sometimes I work alongside an existing web person, agency, accountant, marketing partner, or software vendor. The useful role is making sure the business problem gets solved and the pieces work together.

Do I actually own what you build?

Yes. Your domain, accounts, code, and business data stay yours or are transferable to you.

And if something is reasonable for you or your team to manage directly, I'll show you how.

Am I locked into a contract?

No long-term lock-in. One-time projects use a clear scope agreement. Ongoing relationships are month to month unless a specific signed engagement says otherwise.

The relationship should continue because it's useful, not because leaving is difficult.

Let's find your leaks.

A free outside-in Leak Map, no pressure. I'll show you where your public-facing digital presence may be leaking customers — and what looks worth addressing first.

Get your free Leak Map (412) 414-5031