Partnership
Some businesses don't need a contractor. They need someone whose outcome is tied to theirs.
This page is for owners and founders with a clear commercial opportunity but no one on the technology side thinking about the product and the business at the same time — and who are open to sharing the upside rather than paying a fee alone.
What "CPTO-level partner" means on this page
CPTO — Chief Product & Technology Officer — is a real executive role in many companies. We use "CPTO-level partner" to describe the scope of the role: someone accountable for both the product direction and actually building it. It is not a claim that we take an executive seat in your company. If what you want is a full-time executive named in your org chart and your corporate filings, that is a different arrangement requiring its own conversation and contract — and we'll tell you plainly whether we can take it.
We start as the person accountable for your technology. Sharing the upside is a later conversation.
The shape we use most often starts as an advisory and product-owner role, paid — but below the usual rate — with the balance tied to outcomes we agree in advance: a launch, revenue, or a target we both sign up to. The advantage is that we work together for real before committing long, and if it doesn't fit, separating costs your business nothing structurally. We've seen enough equity deals signed too early to recommend starting there.
If it goes well, we then discuss a closer arrangement — on evidence, not on intentions.
What we bring
- Product ownership and architecture — deciding what gets built first, what doesn't get built yet, and what the system has to support two years out without a rewrite.
- Building it. We don't advise and hand off; the person you talk to is the person writing the system.
- Our executives' experience inside fast-growing international technology companies — which means we've seen which early decisions hold up as a business scales and which become technical debt.
- Experience building and working with engineers of several nationalities. If your business has to work with an overseas team or investor, we operate in both languages.
- Security and personal-data discipline from day one, rather than retrofitted when the first enterprise customer asks.
- Limited but continuous time. In a partnership we don't work in bursts, because products don't grow that way.
What we don't bring: capital, an investor network, a ready-made development team, or a sales channel. If those are what you're missing, we're not the answer.
What we need from your side
- One owner who can actually decide. If everything has to pass a committee, the speed that is the entire point of this model disappears.
- The business, marketing and sales side is yours. We're accountable for product and technology, not for the whole company.
- Access to real customers and real data. If we can't talk to users, we can't build the right thing.
- Transparency on revenue, costs and the existing ownership structure, including commitments already made to other people. If we're sharing an outcome, both sides have to see the same numbers.
- Fast feedback. Work that waits longer for a decision than it took to build is the most expensive thing in this model.
- A written agreement before we start, including how it ends. We don't begin a partnership on a verbal understanding — these arrangements break when they start succeeding, not when they fail.
The shapes this can take
These are shapes, not packages. We have no standard percentage or standard terms. Every figure comes out of a specific conversation, and should pass both sides' legal and accounting advisors before signature.
Shape 1 — advisory with upside on outcomes
A reduced fee, with the balance tied to agreed, measurable outcomes. No change to the ownership structure. Easiest to end, and the starting point we recommend in almost every case.
Shape 2 — build in exchange for revenue share
We build with partial or deferred fees in exchange for a share of the revenue the product generates, for an agreed period or up to an agreed cap. What must be settled before starting: what counts as revenue, how it's measured, who invoices, and how each side verifies the numbers.
Shape 3 — equity
Taking equity in the existing company, or forming a new entity for the product — usually cleaner when the existing business has other lines. This binds longest and unwinds hardest, so we don't start here and won't discuss percentages before we've actually worked together.
This shape does not fit government bodies, state enterprises, or organisations with procurement regulations and conflict-of-interest rules.
Nothing on this page is an offer to contract, or legal or investment advice. Draft
How this starts
Step 1 — a first conversation
Tell us what the opportunity is, who pays and why, what already exists, and why you think a shared-upside model fits better than hiring. We'll tell you in that conversation whether it's likely to go anywhere.
Step 2 — a paid assessment
Fixed, short, self-contained, delivered as a document covering the scope of what would be built, the principal risks and a sequence. The document is yours whether or not we continue. We always charge for this, because free work makes both sides decide out of obligation rather than on the substance.
Step 3 — a written agreement
Scope, decision rights, how outcomes are measured, how upside is shared, and how either side ends it. Reviewed by both sides' advisors before signature.
Step 4 — a trial period with a defined end
We work together for a set number of cycles, then review against criteria set in advance. If it doesn't fit, we separate on the written terms rather than negotiating while the relationship is strained.
Who this is not for
- Government bodies, state enterprises and organisations with procurement rules — shared upside collides with those rules and with conflict-of-interest requirements. Start on the organisations page instead.
- Businesses that want a contractor to build an already-written specification. If you know exactly what you want, hiring the work done is cheaper and cleaner for you.
- An idea the owner hasn't yet put their own time or money into. If the risk sits on one side, it isn't a partnership.
- A business that needs a large development team immediately. We design and review everything ourselves, so our team's size is limited. If you need a large number of people from month one, we're not the answer.
- A business that wants us to raise money or open an investor network. That isn't what we do.
- A business that wants a full-time executive named in the org chart. That's a different arrangement — discussable, but separately.
This list is deliberately long, because a conversation that shouldn't have started costs more than a page that says so.
Frequently asked questions
Does a product need to exist already?
Not necessarily, but there has to be clarity on who pays and why. A business with customers that needs a system to scale is an easier conversation than an idea nobody has paid for yet.
What percentage do you take?
There is no standard figure, and we won't discuss one before understanding the business, the shape of the work, and what each side brings. Anyone who quotes you a number before understanding your business is quoting a number based on nothing.
How many of these do you take on at once?
Only a few, because we do the product and technology work ourselves. Taking on more than we have time for wastes everyone's.
What happens if it doesn't work out?
We separate on terms written before we start, covering ownership of the source code and data, revocation of access and handover of documentation — the same as any client engagement. Your business owns what was built and can continue without us.
Do you work with other clients at the same time?
Yes — Gomusoft continues to take advisory and continuous-development work. So a partnership agreement states the time we can genuinely give per cycle, and addresses directly competing businesses. We won't partner with two businesses competing in the same market.
If you've read this far and still think it fits
Add us on LINE or talk to the team at the booth and tell us briefly what the opportunity is, who pays, what already exists, and what you'd want us accountable for. Our team reads and answers every message. If we don't think it fits, we'll say so with the reason rather than going quiet.