Ilzam - Software Engineer

Ilzam

Fractional CTO

Muhammad Ilzam Mulkhaq - AI-Native Software Engineer & Fractional CTO for Early-Stage Founders

Your startup needs a CTO.
You don't need a $200k salary

I work as an AI-native software engineer and fractional CTO for early-stage founders. I make the technical decisions, build the product, and help you ship - so you can focus on customers, not code.

Technical Leadership
What You Get

Senior technical judgment and strategic oversight, without the full-time salary.

  • Architecture and technology decision-making
  • Code review and technical quality oversight
  • Sprint planning and async check-ins
  • Team building from my network of trusted engineers
  • Honest answers, not consultant fluff

Rebuilt a KOL platform from 85% to 99% uptime serving 5,000+ users.

How I take you from
idea to shipped product

1

Understand the Problem

Before touching any code, I ask the question most developers skip: 'Why are we building this?' I dig into your business goals, user needs, and constraints. This is where 80% of bad technical decisions get prevented.

2

Make the Hard Calls

Stack selection. Build vs buy. Monolith vs microservices. I make these decisions with you based on your stage, budget, and timeline - not based on what's trendy. I've seen what works at startup scale and what becomes technical debt by month six.

3

Ship It

I build with AI-assisted development - moving at 2-3x the speed of a traditional agency while writing production-quality code. Go, React, TypeScript, PostgreSQL. You get weekly updates, working demos, and zero surprises.

4

Measure and Improve

Launch isn't the finish line. I set up monitoring, review real user data, and help you prioritize what to build next. The goal is a product that works in production - not just in a demo.

Every product starts as an idea. Not every idea ships. These did.

Most details are under NDA. Here's what I can share.

Government TechIndonesia / 2024 - 2025

Dapo Vokasi

Unifying vocational teacher data across 7 national training centers.

Built a unified data platform for Indonesia's vocational education directorate. Distilled 20 million rows of teaching records into 300,000+ clean teacher profiles across 7 national training centers.

LaravelInertia.jsReact.jsSQL ServerETL Pipeline

Working on something that could be the next case study? Book a call

Don't take my
word for it

MVP DevelopmentStartup CTO
What sets Ilzam apart is he asks 'why are we building this?' before 'how.' That saved us from building three features we didn't need. Our MVP launched lean, and users actually loved it.

15+ MVPs Shipped

Products built and deployed across marketplaces, SaaS, AI, and government systems.

80% Cost Reduction

Infrastructure cost savings delivered for a healthcare network.

99% Uptime

Platform reliability achieved after rebuilding a system serving 5,000+ users.
[ Stack ]

What I Build With

*

I pick the right tool for the job, not the trendiest one. Go for performance-critical backends. React for interactive frontends. PostgreSQL for data that matters.

Event-driven architectures, microservices, REST APIs, RAG pipelines - the infrastructure that makes products work at scale.

PHP
Go
Laravel
TypeScript
.NET
React
Vue
PostgreSQL
MySQL
Docker
Redis
Kafka
Google Cloud
Kubernetes
GitHub
Tailwind
Github
Node.js
Python
Flutter
Py Torch
Claude
Datadog
Astro
Dart

Three ways to work with me

Whether you need ongoing CTO-level support, a product built from scratch, a one-time technical gut check, or something custom - there's a clear path.

Fractional CTO

$1,250 / Month

Ongoing technical leadership for your startup. I embed in your team, make architecture decisions, review code, and keep your product on track.

  • Weekly async or live check-ins
  • Architecture and stack decisions
  • Code review and quality oversight
  • Team hiring from my trusted network
  • Sprint planning and prioritization
  • Slack/async access between sessions

Best for: Pre-seed to seed startups. Non-technical founders. Companies between CTOs.

Book Intro Call
MVP Build

From $2,500

I scope, build, and ship your MVP to production. AI-assisted development means startup speed without agency prices. Most MVPs ship in 6-10 weeks.

  • Feature scoping and tech stack selection
  • Full-stack development (Go, React, TypeScript)
  • Database design and API architecture
  • Production deployment (AWS/Cloudflare)
  • 30 days of post-launch support

Best for: Founders ready to build. Validated ideas that need to become real products.

Discuss Your Build
Advisory Session

$250 / Session

A focused session where I review your vendor proposal, evaluate your tech stack, or give you a second opinion on a big technical decision.

  • 60-minute deep-dive session
  • Written summary with recommendations
  • Follow-up async Q&A (48 hours)
  • Vendor/agency proposal review
  • Build vs buy analysis

Best for: Founders evaluating options. CTOs wanting peer review. Big decisions ahead.

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Custom

Let's Talk

Need something that doesn't fit the boxes above? Larger builds, ongoing retainers, or team augmentation - let's figure out the right scope together.

  • Tailored scope and deliverables
  • Flexible engagement length
  • Dedicated availability windows
  • Custom SLA and communication cadence

Best for: Larger projects. Unique requirements. Teams that need a custom arrangement.

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Questions founders usually ask

Ready to build
something?

Book a free 30-minute intro call. No pitch, no pressure - just a real conversation about what you're building and whether I can help.

Book a Free Intro CallOr Email Me