FAQ
Straight answers to the questions we actually get.
If yours isn't here, ask it directly: [email protected].
What does "fractional" actually mean?
You get a senior technology executive (CIO, CTO, or CISO) engaged part-time and accountable for outcomes, not a fixed number of hours. It's the leadership a full-time hire would provide, scaled to what your company actually needs, without the full-time commitment.
How does an engagement start?
For most companies, with a fixed-scope readiness assessment: roughly four weeks of stakeholder interviews, an environment and security review, and a vendor audit, delivered as an executive briefing with prioritized findings and an action plan. There's no ongoing commitment required to start there. If something is already urgent (a failed audit, an active incident, a migration mid-flight), we start immediately and run the assessment in parallel.
Who will I actually be working with?
A principal. Iron Path is deliberately small and senior: two principals lead every engagement, and the person who assesses your environment is the person accountable for the work. There's no handoff to junior staff.
What if you need a skill neither principal has?
We bring in specialists we've worked with and trust, onboarded under our own governance and access controls, never a faceless bench or an offshore pool you've never met. The principal stays accountable for their work.
Are you always available if something breaks?
You get direct access to the people making decisions. Retained engagements include senior leadership on call; the exact response expectations are set explicitly in your agreement so there's no ambiguity when it matters.
How do you handle confidentiality?
Confidentiality is a condition of the work, not a marketing line. We don't run a lead pipeline, we don't publish client names, and our case studies are anonymized. Everything you share stays between us.
What size company do you work with?
Typically 10 to 1,000 employees: past the point where technology can run itself, before the point where a full-time executive team makes sense. We work across professional services, healthcare and life sciences, financial services, SaaS, manufacturing, and post-acquisition integrations.
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