We are your
rational partners.
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We are your
rational partners.
We built Rational Partners out of a desire to fix the status quo in technology leadership
The status quo in technology leadership is broken. Finding high quality advice, experienced people at the right time in your companies growth is unnecessarily hard and deeply frustrating for most entrepreneurs and growing businesses. Often the choice is between bringing in a CTO with their executive package - into a role that only needs their capability a third of the time - or relying on technologists early in their career and hoping that their decisions and advice stand the test of time.
We think that there is another way. From organisations just starting out who need an expert confidant and someone to set them on the right path, to rapidly growing organisations who are finding their product-market fit while identifying their technology function can’t deliver their vision in full. Our offering is adaptive and entirely tailored for each engagement.
We work with executives, internal teams (if they exist), agencies, recruiters, contractors and anyone else we need to deliver success. We identify the genuine technology needs of an organisation, we advocate to remove unneeded systems and simplify wherever possible. Then we work out the best way to get those organisations into a technology positive position; maybe its something as simple as identify off-the-shelf components, integrating them and rolling them out or as complex as a multi-million customer distributed SaaS platform which defines an entire technology organisation.
Our founding partners
Roja Buck
Rob is a CTO and product expert with over 20 years experience in the startup and technology industry. Beginning his career as an engineer, he moved into technology leadership roles in consulting, early stage startups and listed companies. He led the UK technology teams for Just Eat, before moving on to CTO at the language learning startup Busuu. He was central to a 5x in revenue, leading to profitability, while re-architecting the platform and growing the team by 10x. Busuu's exit was the largest for EdTech in European history at €385M. Rob runs a CTO and Product investment syndicate focused on pre and seed investments and the worlds largest independent Apple developer conference.
Roja is an award winning CTO and advisor. He brings decades of hands-on technology experience from architecting trading platforms to building and running teams of over 100 in hyper-growth startups. A seasoned board member with deep commercial, strategic and change experience he works with executives to define organisational vision then facilitates that vision by levering technology thorough-out. Roja has worked with many companies to support their growth though hands-on leadership, advisory, mentoring and non-executive engagements and has worked with private equity and venture capital houses performing due diligence on €300m+ investment rounds.
Rob Elkin
Rob is a CTO and product expert with over 20 years experience in the startup and technology industry. Beginning his career as an engineer, he moved into technology leadership roles in consulting, early stage startups and listed companies. He led the UK technology teams for Just Eat, before moving on to CTO at the language learning startup Busuu. He was central to a 5x in revenue, leading to profitability, while re-architecting the platform and growing the team by 10x. Busuu's exit was the largest for EdTech in European history at €385M. Rob runs a CTO and Product investment syndicate focused on pre and seed investments and the worlds largest independent Apple developer conference.
Trusted by
the engineering company
itv
venue scanner
bulbshare
peppy
alts
honest burgers
voltz
le prix
field doctor
hyperloop tt
the engineering company le prix bulbshare venue scanner field doctor
itv honest burgers alts voltz hyperloop tt
Why Us?
01
Running a business is hard. We remove the burden of risk and uncertainty.
Our aim is to protect our customers from mistakes, predatory market practices, inexperienced decisions and misguided approaches. By bringing decades of experience across; hardware, software, people, design, hypergrowth and R&D - we’ve either seen it or know someone who has. Our favorite phrase is “don’t worry, I’ve got that.”
You should be focused on the business, not worrying about technology. We help make that a reality.
We care about the specific needs of your company. Always.
We are independent of influence from providers, agencies, recruiters, and are almost entirely technology agnostic. We advocate for technology if, and only if, it’s right for your business. Technology strategy is a key enabler for every industry with disruption and time to market being fundamentally impacted by it’s successful execution.
Our approach is bespoke, every company we work with is different and we pride ourselves on supporting each and every one one as if it were our own.
02
02
We care about the specific needs of your company. Always.
We are independent of influence from providers, agencies, recruiters, and are almost entirely technology agnostic. We advocate for technology if, and only if, it’s right for your business. Technology strategy is a key enabler for every industry with disruption and time to market being fundamentally impacted by it’s successful execution.
Our approach is bespoke, every company we work with is different and we pride ourselves on supporting each and every one one as if it were our own.
03
We’re entrepreneurs, investors and innovators too.
The Rational Partners business model is new and innovative. All our CTO partners have come together to build a better, modern way to help businesses grow and succeed through technology. Together we have started dozens of businesses and invested in dozens more.
We understand the realities of starting a business and everything we do is to maximise your success.
What do our customers say?
My co-founder and I have many strengths, but engineering isn't one of them. Neither of us have technical chops, and it was starting to affect our speed and competitiveness.
What impressed me most about Rational Partners is their willingness to roll up their sleeves, understand problems, and then do whatever it takes to make those problems go away. They were exactly what we needed, and I hope to work with them for a very long time.
Stefan Von Imhof

Stefan Von Imhof, CEO

alts.co

I can’t recommend Rational Partners highly enough.  They hit the ground running, quickly engaged with all of the stakeholders, and came up with a diagnosis.  They helped us set a much more sensible course and quickly aligned the team behind it, helped by the credibility of his background and obvious in-depth knowledge. 
They selected the right third party software to meet our needs, and scoped and supported the recruitment of the right tech leadership for the business going forward.  As a result, after only three months they transformed our tech position and direction and leaves us well positioned for the future.
Frank Hayes, CEO

Frank Hayes, CEO

Honest Burgers

Rational partners have come in and helped us immensely solve challenges as they've arisen. We had a complex human and technical challenges and they worked with us tirelessly to ensure it was resolved.
Technology issues can be draining, emotionally and financially. I've trusted them fully and they've delivered for us on a continual basis. I'd highly recommend working with them.
Rebecca Kelly

Rebecca Kelly, CEO

VenueScanner

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