Revenue is up, headcount has expanded and your operations now depend on technology in ways they did not five years ago. But your IT leadership has not kept pace. You may have a capable IT manager or a managed service provider, yet neither has a seat at the board table. Decisions get made reactively, or not at all, and risk accumulates quietly. Starkhorn closes that gap through fractional and interim CIO and CISO leadership for owner-led, family-owned and privately-held mid-market businesses, giving you the rigour of an experienced technology director without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire.
In most growing mid-market businesses, technology sits outside the board conversation entirely. Vendor contracts auto-renew unchallenged. Growth plans stall because the infrastructure cannot keep up.
The board gets vague answers on cyber risk, or no answers at all. And when something goes wrong, it lands on the CEO’s desk with no-one to own it. We bring a board-level technology perspective built for privately-held businesses that have outgrown ad hoc IT.
Every review, every recommendation and every board report is framed in clear commercial priorities and plain language, not infrastructure jargon.
Interim CIO and CISO at VetPartners, a GBP 1.2bn turnover business with 14,000 staff across 540 practices in nine countries, BC Partners-backed.
Built standardised technology playbooks replacing ad hoc approaches across hundreds of sites.
Delivered vendor consolidation, platform standardisation and measurable cost improvement at scale.
Served as CIO and CISO through a period of significant growth and change.
Modernised infrastructure, hardened security posture and positioned technology as a competitive advantage across a high-volume, operationally complex business.
Current Starkhorn engagement as Fractional Associate Director of IT at Alzheimer’s Society, with prior leadership at Age UK.
Responsible for technology strategy, supplier governance, cost discipline and building lasting capability inside the organisation.
The first step in every engagement.
Within the opening weeks, we map your technology estate, benchmark vendor spend, assess cybersecurity posture, evaluate IT leadership capability and deliver a board-ready report with a prioritised roadmap, all framed in clear commercial priorities.
This assessment becomes the foundation for everything that follows: vendor renegotiation, growth planning, security hardening and long-term technology strategy.
Not a technical audit.
A commercial assessment that identifies specific cost savings, vendor renegotiation opportunities and efficiency improvements, all presented in plain commercial language.
Many growing businesses overspend on technology by 15 to 25%. We find it, quantify it and show you how to recover it.
During a merger, a new ERP, a move to the cloud or a security incident, the board needs answers fast.
Which systems standardise immediately. Which vendors consolidate.
Where the dependencies sit. Where the quick wins are.
We translate technical complexity into an operational prioritisation that de-risks the timeline and starts capturing value from week one.
Technology risk in a privately-held business is often invisible until it is not: infrastructure stability, cybersecurity posture, vendor dependencies, data quality and incident readiness.
We identify everything that could disrupt operations or expose the business and build the remediation plan before the risk becomes a crisis. The goal is a security posture the board can stand behind.
Every finding framed in commercial impact, operational resilience, growth readiness and risk reduction. RAG-scored across key domains with a prioritised roadmap at 30 days, 90 days and 12 months.
Presented to your board in person, not emailed as a PDF. No technical jargon. No infrastructure complexity. Just commercial clarity.
Even modest technology overspend of £50K per year compounds quickly, and an uncontrolled estate quietly drains value year after year, value that comes straight off the bottom line.
The businesses that get the most from technology are the ones that bring in board-level leadership early, not once a crisis has already hit.
Every quarter without independent technology oversight is a quarter where vendor costs drift, growth plans stall and risk accumulates unseen.
Not a technical audit. A commercial assessment that identifies specific cost savings, vendor renegotiation opportunities and efficiency improvements, all presented in plain commercial language. Many growing businesses overspend on technology by 15 to 25%. We find it, quantify it and show you how to recover it.
Technology that has not kept pace with the business is where growth plans stall. We identify what standardises immediately, what consolidates, where the dependencies sit and how to start building scalable foundations from week one, not month twelve.
RAG-scored reporting across key domains with a prioritised roadmap at 30, 90 and 365 days. Presented to your board in person, in plain commercial language: cost taken out, operational resilience, growth readiness and risk reduction. Not emailed as a PDF. Not written in jargon.
Security posture evidenced. Vendor dependencies mapped. Data quality assured. Growth readiness demonstrated. The risks that could disrupt operations or stall expansion, assessed, addressed and documented before they bite. Technology becomes an asset the business can build on, not a liability.
The Self-Assessment Toolkit
Use Starkhorn’s free diagnostic tools across your business. Your team self-assesses in under 5 minutes. Results give you a clear technology maturity view, with no cost and no obligation to speak to anyone first.
Share the diagnostic link with your leadership team
Each assessment takes 3 to 5 minutes
Review your technology maturity scores
If the results point to a gap worth closing, we offer a scoping call. No cost. No obligation. Starkhorn only engages where we can genuinely move the needle.
The assessment takes 3 minutes. The conversation takes 20. Across 20+ years in technology and security, 15+ of them in leadership roles, we have consistently given boards clarity they didn’t have before.” Daniel Jacobs, Founder, Starkhorn
The Technology Health Check is a free diagnostic designed for owner-led and privately-held mid-market businesses. It scores your technology leadership across key dimensions: strategy, systems, security and capability. It tells you where the gaps sit before you commit to anything.
A few minutes. Several dimensions. Immediate results. No obligation.
We’ll review your publicly available technology indicators, website infrastructure, SaaS footprint and security posture signals, and give you a 15 minute briefing on what we see. No preparation needed from you. No obligation.
Free for owners and leadership teams facing a technology decision.
Whether you’re navigating a transition, planning for growth or simply want independent visibility into your technology and risk: start with a conversation.
Common questions
Do we need a technology crisis underway to work with Starkhorn?
No. Most clients come to us before a crisis, because they recognise their technology leadership has not kept pace with the business. That is exactly the right time to act. We are equally well placed to respond to an urgent situation and can be briefed within 24 hours.
We already have an IT manager and a managed service provider. Why would we need a CIO?
An IT manager runs day-to-day operations and a managed service provider delivers contracted services. Neither is accountable for your technology strategy, your cyber security posture or your board-level risk. A fractional or interim CIO fills that gap: setting direction, governing suppliers, owning risk and giving the board a credible technology voice.
How do you tie the work to commercial outcomes?
Every recommendation is framed as commercial impact: cost taken out, risk removed, growth enabled. Most engagements find vendor and licensing savings in the first weeks that exceed the cost of the work, and the larger gains show up as controlled spend and a business technology will not hold back.
Fractional or interim, which model fits us?
Fractional suits businesses that need ongoing board-level technology leadership but not a full-time hire, typically one to three days a week. Interim suits a specific transition such as a merger, a platform replacement or a security incident, full-time for a defined period, then a structured handover.
How is this different from a consultancy or an MSP?
A consultancy delivers a report and leaves; an MSP has an interest in selling you more of its own services. This is independent, embedded leadership, accountable for the outcome, with nothing to sell you but the result.
The Technology Health Check shows where your technology leadership has gaps, scored across eight dimensions with a one-line recommendation for each.
Weekly technology leadership insights.
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A mid-market CIO is a senior technology and security leader for mid-sized firms, typically those too large for ad hoc IT yet too lean to justify a permanent CIO. They provide board-level direction on strategy, risk, cost and delivery, usually on a fractional or interim basis rather than as a full-time hire.
| Consideration | Interim CIO | Fractional CIO |
|---|---|---|
| Time commitment | Full-time for a defined period | A set number of days each month |
| Typical duration | Weeks to several months | Ongoing, reviewed periodically |
| Best for | Leadership gaps, transformation, crisis cover | Steady board-level oversight and strategy |
| Mid-market fit | When a CIO has left or change is urgent | When ongoing direction is needed at part-time cost |
| CIO and CISO remit | One operator can hold both | One operator can hold both |
A mid-market CIO is a senior technology and security leader for mid-sized firms, typically those too large for ad hoc IT yet too lean to justify a permanent CIO. They provide board-level direction on strategy, risk, cost and delivery, usually on a fractional or interim basis rather than as a full-time hire.
Often no. Many mid-market firms have real technology and security demands but not enough to fill a full-time, board-level role. A fractional or interim CIO gives the same seniority for the days the business actually needs, covering strategy, risk and delivery without the cost and commitment of a permanent executive.
Cost depends on engagement shape: a fractional CIO works a set number of days per month, while an interim CIO commits to a defined full-time period. You pay for seniority by the day or by the assignment, far below a permanent salary plus package. See the pricing page for current ranges and how engagements are scoped.
An interim CIO is full-time for a fixed period, ideal for a gap, transformation or crisis. A fractional CIO works a few days each month on an ongoing basis, ideal for steady board-level oversight. Both give the same seniority; the difference is intensity and duration. See the interim versus fractional guide.
Bring one in when technology or security risk has outgrown the current team, a CIO has left, a transformation or system change is due, investors expect stronger governance, or no one at board level owns technology. Each is a trigger for interim cover, fractional oversight, or a blend of the two.
Yes. In mid-market firms the technology and security agendas are closely linked, and one experienced operator can hold both the CIO and CISO remit. This avoids two senior hires, keeps strategy and risk aligned, and suits firms that need board-level security without funding a separate full-time CISO.
A mid-market CIO works hands-on with a small team and tight budgets, balancing strategy with delivery rather than running a large department. The role demands pragmatism, fast prioritisation and direct ownership of both technology and security. Enterprise CIOs lead far larger functions, layers of management and significantly bigger investment programmes.
A mid-market CIO sets technology and security strategy, owns risk at board level, controls IT spend, and oversees delivery of systems and change. They translate business goals into a practical roadmap, strengthen governance, and build a capable team, leaving the organisation more independent than they found it through a structured handover.