Fractional CTO / Founder of Re:CTO
Re:CTO — Fractional CTO Support
for Founders in Japan
Real alignment. No fluff. No wasted cycles.
🔥 The Problem — Before the Fire Burns Out
Most startups fail before reaching PMF—not because of a lack of effort, but because of misaligned execution.
I’ve seen it over and over again:
Building too soon, scaling too early, losing sight of real product-market signals.
Re:CTO exists to prevent that spiral.
🛠️ What Re:CTO Does
- Lean, weekly CTO engagement
- Sharp clarity on what to build (and what not to)
- Judgment-first technical planning
- Support from idea to PMF
Whether you're shaping a new idea or already working with early users,
I’ll help you move faster—with less risk and more meaning.
👤 Who You’ll Work With
I'm Yu Yamanaka—a multi-time founder and CTO with 16+ years of experience in Japan and Singapore.
I’ve burned through $400k on a failed startup.
I’ve also built a profitable one that runs solo.
Now, I help other founders avoid the waste I once lived through.
I combine high-level structural thinking with ground-level pragmatism.
English-friendly, builder-minded, and allergic to busywork.
🧭 Ideal for Founders Who...
- Have secured funding but haven’t reached PMF yet
- Lack an experienced CTO (or need outside clarity)
- Want to avoid wasting months on the wrong roadmap
- Value thought partnership, not just task execution
💼 How We Can Work Together
Ongoing Engagement (Weekly)
Starting at ¥350,000/month (incl. tax)
Lean, consistent support tailored to your stage. I work closely with you and your dev team to ensure focus and clarity.
Support includes:
- Product/UX prioritization
- Architecture & tech decision support
- Dev team communication
- Strategic technical judgment aligned with business goals
For teams seeking hands-on coding support, deeper technical involvement is also possible—depending on scope, cadence, and alignment.
📣 What Others Have Said
“Yu doesn’t just code—he advances the product.”
“He handled tech, fundraising, and team building—end to end.”
“He delivered more than scoped, and made the product stronger.”
🚨 Just to Be Clear...
Re:CTO is not for:
- Those looking for cheap dev labor
- Founders wanting to outsource their thinking
- Teams without skin in the game
This is a structure-first, question-driven partnership—not a vending machine.
🪵 Where This Comes From
I once burned ¥40M building the wrong thing, the wrong way, at the wrong time.
Features piled up, business logic blurred, team expanded too soon.
It ended in silence, layoffs, and a deep scar on my confidence.
That mistake became a vow:
Build the minimum.
Sell before scaling.
Don’t surround yourself with Yes-men.
Re:CTO is the shape of that vow.
✉️ Light a Signal
📩 Or email me directly: yu@recto.tokyo
🌱 One More Thing
Beyond startups, I explore how AI, narrative, and structure help us design life itself.
You’ll find fragments of that work at
akarinote.com — my personal blog.