Your technology was built for
the company you were.
It's not built for the company you're becoming.
I help businesses between $5M and $10M close that gap as their fractional CTO. Think of it like a fractional CMO, but for technology: a senior, part-time technology leader who sets direction, makes the hard calls, and does hands-on work, without a full-time salary.
Usually that means several systems that don't talk to each other and no one senior in charge of technology decisions. You get that leader part-time, deciding which systems to keep or replace and what to spend next quarter, without a full-time salary. I'm David Aragó. I work on-site around the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota, and remotely with clients across the US. When you reach out, you reach me directly.
Take the free self-assessment if you're not ready to book.
Owned the data migration to Dynamics GP, NetSuite and ADP for about 2,000 employees, including the recruiting data stations need for FCC reporting.
Read the case studyBrought in a part-time senior WordPress developer within hours and structured a four-month handoff, so the team owned the new site within the first month.
Read the case studyMoved 7 high-traffic broadcast websites (5M page views a month) from self-hosting to managed hosting.
Read the case studyFor growing companies
Most growing businesses reach a point where the systems that got them here aren't built for where they're going. The website was built by a freelancer. The tools don't talk to each other. The team's "tech person" is stretched thin and duct-taping things together. Nothing is broken enough to stop the business, but everything is harder than it should be.
If any of this sounds familiar:
That's the gap I fill. I come in, figure out what's actually holding you back, fix the critical risks first, and build a technology foundation that scales with your business, without recommending complexity you don't need.
Practical technology.
Real business impact.
Disconnected systems → unified, reliable data
Repetitive processes → automated operations
Security-aware foundation → ready for growth
What an engagement actually looks like
Let's connect if you're ready to simplify operations and make your technology work together.
Book a 30-minute conversationEngagements run through me directly. For specialist work I partner with Evrig (commerce engineering) and Content Cucumber (content).
Not ready for a call yet?
The free self-assessment takes about 5 minutes. It helps you put words to the problem and gives your first conversation with David a real starting point — useful even if you never book a call.
Takes about 5 minutes · Goes straight to David
Who I work with
$5M–$10M revenue · 20–40 people · no full-time CTO in the room
Already have a CTO? I also work alongside them, adding capacity for a workstream or a second opinion on a big decision. See how that works
Shopping for an IT provider instead? Plenty of clients start out weighing a managed IT services provider, a web design company or a software development company. I help you scope what you actually need before anyone writes a proposal, then pick the vendor and hold them to it. At Hubbard Broadcasting I led the selections for PeopleSoft, ADP, NetSuite and Microsoft Navision. See how one of those went
Already have vendors and nobody owns the relationships? That is its own fixed-price review. See the Vendor Accountability Review
If you're not an exact fit, reach out anyway. I'd rather point you somewhere useful than let you keep searching.
Book a 30-minute conversationTake the free self-assessment if you're not ready to book. · See how I work
Six areas of IT consulting and hands-on work, one accountable person. I do strategy and execution, with no handoffs to junior staff.
Most AI advice you're getting right now is generic hype that will cost you time and money you don't have. As your AI consultant I find the two or three places AI will actually help, then automate those business processes and build nothing else. This is AI for small and mid-size businesses, scoped to what you can run, not an enterprise program. Currently developing WrapInsights, an AI-powered analytics platform for non-technical business owners.
See how I scope AI consulting and automation work. AI Consultant · Automation · Small BusinessYour technology decisions are getting made without anyone who owns the full picture, or they're not getting made at all. I bring senior technology leadership (strategy, decisions, roadmap, team oversight) on a part-time basis, catch risks before they become crises, and make sure every significant call has someone accountable behind it. No full-time salary required.
Example: turned an access control audit risk into a system that saves about 100 hours a month. Leadership · Strategy · RoadmapA site built by an agency you can no longer reach, or that your team can't maintain once the invoice is paid, ends up costing more than it saved. I build custom WordPress sites, Laravel applications, and full-stack platforms your team can actually run after the engagement ends, backed by an Emmy Award–winning background in web design and usability.
Example: kept a new WordPress site running after its developer resigned the day after launch. WordPress · Laravel · Full-Stack · Emmy-RecognizedA fragile hybrid hosting setup with single points of failure works, until the day it doesn't. I've migrated organizations onto managed platforms and deployment pipelines built to grow with the business, cutting overhead and closing off those failure points along the way.
Example: cut hosting costs by about half for 7 broadcast sites. Oracle Cloud · Managed Hosting · DevOps · PantheonThe systems your business depends on most, ERP, HRIS, CMS, financial platforms, are usually the ones nobody wants to touch. I've led nine major migrations across exactly those systems, plus the schema design and performance tuning that keeps them reliable once they're live.
Example: moved 20 years of finance records into four new systems, with reports ready at launch. Oracle · MySQL · Architecture · MigrationA slow site your team can't update without calling in a developer is costing you both customers and time. I optimize load times, put the right CDN and caching strategy in place, and streamline deployment so routine updates don't require a developer on standby. Best in WebOps Award winner (Pantheon, 2023).
Example: kept 7 news sites fast through breaking news traffic spikes. Performance · WebOps · CDN · UptimeI didn't become a technology leader by climbing a corporate ladder. Over 23 years at Hubbard Broadcasting, I went from senior developer to team lead, building a custom CMS for seven TV stations, leading nine major system migrations, and sitting in the room with the CIO and President when the decisions that shaped the company's technology were made. I've managed the 2am crisis when the system went down. I know what these problems look like from the inside, which means I know how to actually fix them, not just recommend someone else fix them.
I started AraGrow to stay close to the work, as an independent technology consultant rather than someone who manages other people's projects. I split my time between Minneapolis and Spain, with bilingual fluency in English and Spanish that is professional and technical, not just conversational. When you reach out, you reach me directly, no account managers or handoffs between us.
In early 2020, my team was mid-migration across seven TV station websites when the organization was forced to remote work with no transition period. Rather than pushing through, I called a two-day pause and redesigned how the team operated. The migration finished ahead of schedule, and working remotely for the first time built more cohesion in that team than years of sharing an office had. Years later, I still meet with members of that team when I'm back in Minneapolis.
AraGrow works with a small number of clients at a time. These are real people who have worked alongside David as clients, collaborators, and peers.
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