Engineering & AI Advisor · 15+ years in the industry

Strong engineering foundations for early-stage startups.

I help you set up the foundations under your product and your team: how the product is built, how your dev team works, and how you use AI along the way. I work alongside the people building your product today, whether that's your own team, a founding engineer or an outside agency. Everything is documented and handed over so your team owns it. If it makes sense, we can keep working together after that.

Book a 20-minute chat See what you get

Start with the Foundations Review: about 2 weeks, fixed price. See pricing →

I'm focusing on early-stage startups, from teams starting from scratch to small teams of roughly 3 to 30 developers.

Cristian Calabro, Engineering & AI Advisor

What you get

You have a product to ship and a team to grow. I help you set up the foundations underneath both.

Ship faster, with confidence

Solid foundations and a release process your team can trust, so new features go out without surprises.

A team that works well from day one

Clear roles, ways of working and review habits, from your first hires to a team of 30.

AI that really helps, safely

Practical ways to use AI in everyday development, with human review and sensible limits.

Clear technical priorities

What to build on, what needs attention first and what can wait, so effort goes where it matters most.

Decisions written down

Key choices and the reasons behind them are documented, so the team isn't dependent on any one person, me included.

Ready to grow and hire

A setup that makes it easy to bring new people in and help them contribute quickly.

When it's a good time

You just launched or raised, and it's time to set things up properly.
You're about to hire your first engineers and want roles and ways of working clear from the start.
An outside agency built your first version and you want a solid plan for what comes next.
Your team uses AI, but in an ad hoc way, and you want to make the most of it safely.

Book a 20-minute chat

How it works

Short and clearly scoped, so you know what you get and when.

1
Understand where you are
We talk about your product, your team and what's slowing you down. You know your business; I bring the engineering side.
2
Review with your team
I review your technology, how your dev team works and how you use AI, alongside the people building your product today, and write down the decisions and a 30/60/90-day plan.
3
Hand over
Everything is documented and handed over so your team owns it, without depending on me.
4
Keep working together if it makes sense
If it makes sense, we can keep working together after that. If you need help putting it in place, we can work on that together.

How to start

Foundations Review

A fixed-price review to get your foundations clear in about two weeks. I look at your technology, how your dev team works and how you use AI, alongside the people building your product today, whether that's your own team, a founding engineer or an outside agency.

Standard

$4,000

Fixed price · about 2 weeks

Founding-client rate

$3,000

Founding-client rate for a testimonial and case study.

Lite Review

$1,800

One product, up to 2 repos and 2 interviews; a shorter written report with a 30/60/90-day plan and a 45-minute walkthrough; 1 week of async questions.

Sample Foundations Review report

See a sample report · 6 pages, no email needed →

What's included

A review of your technology, how your dev team works and how you use AI.
Written decisions: what to build on, what needs attention first and what can wait, and why.
A 30/60/90-day plan your team can follow.
A handover session with your team.
2 weeks of async questions after the handover.

What I need from you

About 6 hours of your time across the two weeks (a kickoff, a few interviews with you and your team, and the final walkthrough). Read-only access to your code, cloud and tools. I'm happy to sign an NDA.

What this is not

Not a penetration test, not a line-by-line code audit, and I don't change your code during the review.

Payment

50% to start, 50% at handover.

If you need help putting it in place, we can work on that together.

Everything is documented and handed over so your team owns it. If it makes sense, we can keep working together after that.

Book a 20-minute chat Or email me

Prices in USD.

For investors and acquirers

Technical due diligence before you invest or buy

A clear verdict on a software company's technology, team and delivery, with the red flags, what to address before close and what can wait for the first 100 days.

From $1,500

See how it works Download the sample report (PDF)

Selected Work

A few projects I've led.

AI in everyday engineering

Set up AI-assisted code review, bug triage that drafts fixes for engineers to approve, and a searchable internal knowledge base, always with a person reviewing before anything ships.

A move to new infrastructure with zero downtime

Moved a production backend to a new hosting setup with no service interruption, ready for seasonal traffic peaks.

Faster, safer releases

Replaced manual, weekly releases with automated releases several times a day, and rollbacks in minutes instead of hours.

70% faster releasesRead more

Data a team can trust

Built checked, reliable data flows for a higher-education product, so reports were faster and more accurate.

40% faster processingRead more

Cloud costs under control

Cut monthly cloud spend without hurting performance, and set up a monthly cost review so it stays that way.

~60% lower cloud spendRead more

About me

I'm Cristian Calabro, an Engineering & AI Advisor based in Mendoza, Argentina with 15+ years in the industry. I've worked across software engineering, engineering management, platform engineering and cloud infrastructure, leading teams that build software and run it in production.

Among other things, I built a data pipeline that runs 50M extractions a day.

Today I'm focusing on helping early-stage startups set up the foundations they grow on: the technology, the way the dev team works, and how the team uses AI to build. I like working close to founders and engineers, writing decisions down, and leaving teams in a place where they own what we set up.

Questions founders ask

Who do you work with?

Founders of early-stage software startups, from teams starting from scratch to small teams of roughly 3 to 30 developers.

What do you help with?

The foundations under your product and your team: how the product is built, how your dev team works, and how you use AI along the way. That includes clear technical priorities, ways of working for your first hires, and practical, safe use of AI in everyday development.

How much does it cost?

The Foundations Review is $4,000 standard, or $3,000 at the founding-client rate for a testimonial and case study. It takes about two weeks. The Lite Review is $1,800 and covers one product, up to 2 repos and 2 interviews, with a shorter report, a 30/60/90-day plan, a 45-minute walkthrough and 1 week of async questions. If you need help putting it in place, we can work on that together.

Do you replace my developers or my agency?

No. I work alongside the people building your product today, whether that's your own team, a founding engineer or an outside agency.

What happens when we finish?

Everything is documented and handed over so your team owns it. If you need help putting it in place, we can work on that together.

Where are you based?

I'm based in Mendoza, Argentina. Our first conversation is a 20-minute video call.

How do we start?

Book a 20-minute chat. We talk about your product, your team and what's slowing you down. If it's a good fit, we start with the Foundations Review: about two weeks, fixed price.

Let's talk

If this sounds familiar, let's have a 20-minute chat about where you are and what would help most.