The fractional CTO and technical operations leader early-stage founders and mid-market healthcare and manufacturing teams bring in to architect what's next, audit and fix what's broken, and run engineering as an embedded executive — not just advise on it. The engineer who thinks like a founder — because I am one. 23 years in.
Maybe you're a non-technical founder with a clear vision and the budget to build it right. Maybe you're an operator whose systems and processes haven't kept up with the business. Or maybe you need senior technical leadership and aren't ready for a full-time executive hire. Whichever it is, I step in as someone who's done it before — not just advised on it.
Evaluate new ideas and build the architecture blueprint to bring them to life.
Evaluate what you've already built and the processes around it — and transform them where it counts.
Fractional CTO leadership for founders and teams who need senior technical direction without a full-time hire.
A multi-location specialty healthcare group moved from intuition-driven operations to integrated data. Referral tracking went from 54% of locations to 100%, and cash flow became predictable.
Read case study Manufacturing · OptimizeA business case for replacing the aging VB6/Access estimating system at an international architecture firm that designs and builds custom metal facades, built on the client's own operational data before the only developer retired.
Read case study Food Manufacturing · InnovateAn operator interface for automated cleaning machines in food-processing plants: real-time control over MQTT, a glove-friendly touchscreen, and multilingual support. Production-ready in under 3 months.
Read case studyMore case studies and articles at Paper Plane Insights.
He's a systems analyst, solution architect, business consultant, creative problem solver, strategic thinker, and an entrepreneur mixed with the technical skill-set of a first-rate, full stack engineer. He thinks fast, operates at a high level, and never tells you bullshit, even when it hurts. He's equally at home writing flawless code, leading a team of engineers, or doing whiteboard solution architecture during a client meeting.
Dragan has been an invaluable asset to work with. I tasked him with looking at the app and giving me recommendations on how he saw best for it to be broken down and rewritten. The work he produced was superb — several diagrams mapping out a high-level plan, communicated clearly and precisely. Dragan is a very capable dev and architect, and I can learn a lot from his passion for architecture.
Dragan was essential to the success of one of our projects. We started a brand new development and Dragan's help, insights, analytical thinking, and development skills allowed us to kick off a very complicated and multi-disciplinary development process. After a couple of years of very intense development, we were able to release the product with a very positive evaluation in the field.
There are few people I would classify as a league of their own as I do Dragan Rusnov. Going beyond just building simple things, Dragan went into architecture, helping us work through some complicated systems. He also built an Architecture Club to teach devs at any level the patterns and practices they need to build large things. Honest and humble, strong and collaborative — a person I would love to work with on anything.
Dragan is an exceptional and truly empathetic leader. I've had the privilege of working with him on several projects, where he seamlessly transitions between managing team members and designing complex architectural solutions. Whether you need someone to strengthen your current team, kick off a new product, or provide deep technical consultation, I strongly encourage you to connect with Dragan.
We worked together for about two years on an extremely complex product and his deep understanding of the system was invaluable to everyone involved. Dragan isn't afraid to take ownership of challenging tasks, will seek out answers proactively when requirements need to be improved, and will take work all the way from inception to completion. A great personality who is easy to get along with, and a talented developer — I'm happy to recommend him heartily.
Dragan consistently impresses me with his uncanny ability to cut through the fluff and get to the core of what our clients need and how their website or app should be organized. Efficiency with both his time and project workflow leads to solutions that are rock solid, on time, and usually under budget. It is a joy to work alongside Dragan day in and day out.
I am honored to recommend Dragan, a servant leader and exceptional Director of Software Development. As a servant leader, he consistently puts his team first, fostering an environment of trust, collaboration, and growth. His ability to mentor and guide his team members is unparalleled. Dragan's dedication, humility, and genuine care for others make him an extraordinary leader and an even better human being.
Dragan consistently balanced the team's growth and the company's success. He made it clear he valued not only the work we produced but also our professional development and well-being. Dragan's approach to leadership inspires trust and confidence. I highly recommend him to any organization looking for a leader who truly cares about both his team and the company's long-term success.
Dragan has an amazing way of delivering smart solutions to complex challenges. Not only is he a fantastic developer, his background in robotics gives him a unique perspective into digital system architecture and physical interfaces. He's a pleasure to work with. And I have yet to see him stumped — and I've tried.
I've spent 23 years building production-grade systems across a variety of industries — from real-time surgical navigation at NuVasive to HIPAA-compliant platforms to an autonomous cleaning robot for food processing plants.
I don't just write code. I understand the business behind the build — the constraints, the stakeholders, the strategy. As one of five directors at Fresh Consulting, when several directors left at once, I stabilized the org and retained all 80+ engineers through the transition. In the same role, I rebuilt how we worked with clients (the SDLC, SOWs, contracts, communication, execution, and delivery) and cut per-project delivery losses from 25–30% down to 1.5% within six months.
Early in my career, I built assisted-living software that took a 400-bed facility and several nursing homes from paper to fully digital daily operations, and trained the staff to run it; it saved $350K in its first year. Today, through Paper Plane Consulting, I'm part of an ongoing engagement with a healthcare organization where our data, process, and technical work contributed to nearly 4× valuation growth in 8 months. And I'm architecting a HIPAA-compliant SaaS platform of my own, so when I advise on your architecture, I'm working from what I'm building right now — not what I did a decade ago.
Paper Plane Consulting is my firm. Discovery, strategy, and architecture stay with me; when an engagement needs a full team, I bring in my network of 25+ contractors for larger software development and organizational transformation work — focused on healthcare and manufacturing.
Whether you need a feasibility review, a full architecture blueprint, an operations audit, or embedded technical leadership — let's talk. First conversation is always free.