Open Coffee For Fractionals with David Raistrick

David Raistrick
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Weekly open office hours for fractional professionals, hosted by David Raistrick. These are real, unscripted conversations about what’s working, what’s not, and how to build a business that fits your life. It’s part of David’s coaching practice and the For Fractionals community. No slides. No pitches. No agenda. Just honest conversation.

  1. 10/20/2025

    Open Coffee For Fractitionals #20

    This is an Open Coffee for Fractionals session — part of my coaching practice. In this 20th and final Open Coffee session, we had a strong mix of new and familiar voices: Chris Hilton, Jim Grey, Michael Berris, Noel Putaansuu, and me. We dug into what it really means to build a fractional practice, how to structure offers, and where the pitfalls show up when you drift into agency models. We got into: Why proposals work better as structured menus than open-ended negotiations Starting a fractional practice when you’ve only worked in corporate How to handle pricing, retainers, and avoiding hourly traps Growing vs. staying solo — and why many regret moving into agency models Using testimonials, recordings, and tools to reinforce value Noel’s work measuring smoke for wood stoves and wildfire prevention My own pivot from fractional coaching toward buying a businessNo slides. No pitches. No agenda. Just honest conversation. 📅 Recorded September 15, 2025🎙️ Hosted by David Raistrick

    1h 15m

  2. 10/13/2025

    Open Coffee For Fractionals #19

    This is an Open Coffee for Fractionals session — part of my coaching practice. Chris Hilton brought in a live dilemma: when a founder friend wants you full-time but you’re only willing to engage fractionally, how do you make it work? We compared notes on retainers, boundaries, and the risks of equity-heavy compensation, while also detouring into business acquisitions, old cars, and the politics of refrigerants. We got into: Structuring retainers to balance client comfort and fractional freedom Why equity in exchange for comp is often a scam at the engineer level The realities of SBA loans and specialty financing in auto-related acquisitions Stories of Model Ts, VW buses, and EV charging frustrations Refrigerants, regulation, and the absurdity of industry transitions Insurance adjusters, home repairs, and the value of documentationNo slides. No pitches. No agenda. Just honest conversation. 📅 Recorded September 8, 2025🎙️ Hosted by David Raistrick Join a future sessionExplore the For Fractionals community

    1 hr

  3. 10/06/2025

    Open Coffee For Fractionals #18

    This is an Open Coffee for Fractionals session — part of my coaching practice. Noel Putaansuu joined this session just before heading into a job interview. We compared buying a business versus getting a job, and dug into what it means to keep the lights on while still trying to build something bigger. We talked about the lag on publishing Open Coffee episodes, batching content, and why LinkedIn Live isn’t worth the headache. Noel walked through his clean energy project, SAFE notes, and the search for a lead investor. We ended up in DevOps land: on-call culture, cowboy fixes, hero syndrome, and the strange red flags that show up in interviews. We got into: Buying a job vs getting a job Batching Open Coffee episodes four weeks behind SAFE notes, lead investors, and startup fundraising Emissions monitoring, stoves, and Beer–Lambert law DevOps on-call fatigue and hero culture Interview red flags and trust in ops roles Florida vs Pacific Northwest weather storiesNo slides. No pitches. No agenda. Just honest conversation. 📅 Recorded September 1, 2025🎙️ Hosted by David Raistrick Join a future sessionExplore the For Fractionals community

    44 min

  4. 09/29/2025

    Open Coffee For Fractionals #17

    This is an Open Coffee for Fractionals session — part of my coaching practice. Michael Payne joined me for a Monday catch-up, where we compared notes on buying businesses, bidding on local chamber RFPs, and how AI is reshaping the work of fractionals. We dug into how AI can empower rather than replace us — from drafting proposals and building lightweight SDLCs to quickly ramping up on new industries. Along the way, we also talked scams, old tech still hanging around, and the economics of big-tech hiring and layoffs. We got into: Exploring a car-industry acquisition with management already in place Chamber of commerce RFPs and why web vs IT is still a fuzzy line Using ChatGPT and Claude for proposals, docs, and SDLC prompt packs Study/learn modes for certifications and domain ramp-up Phishing scams, PDFs, and the ghost of Microsoft Access Big tech layoffs, over-hiring, and the brain drain that followsNo slides. No pitches. No agenda. Just honest conversation. 📅 Recorded August 25, 2025🎙️ Hosted by David Raistrick Join a future sessionExplore the For Fractionals community

    49 min

  5. 09/22/2025

    Open Coffee For Fractionals #16

    This is an Open Coffee for Fractionals session — part of my coaching practice. Michael Payne shared where he’s been focusing lately — getting more intentional about local networking, Rotary, and building visibility as he gets ready to launch his book, Beyond the Commit: The Human Side of Software Development. Preorder: https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Commit-Software-Development-English-ebook/dp/B0FP4239CD (available October 6, 2025) From there we went wide. Fractional roles, DevOps tools, wood stove smoke sensors, HVAC systems, and how every business is now both a tech and a data business. It was one of those conversations where the connections kept surprising us. We got into: Increasing your “surface area” for luck through Rotary, Chamber, and community connections Publishing books as credibility builders for Fractionals (Michael’s preorder: https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Commit-Software-Development-English-ebook/dp/B0FP4239CD) Fractional CTO and DevOps work in venture/PE-backed companies Startups around combustion air controllers and smoke sensors The intersection of HVAC, IoT, and service models Why all businesses today are tech businesses (and data businesses)No slides. No pitches. No agenda. Just honest conversation. 📅 Recorded August 18, 2025🎙️ Hosted by David Raistrick Join a future sessionExplore the For Fractionals community

    1h 7m

  6. 09/15/2025

    Open Coffee For Fractionals #15

    This is an Open Coffee for Fractionals session — part of my coaching practice. Chris Hilton joined this session as he considered stepping into the fractional CTO path. Kevin Knoepp and Diego Woitasen brought in their own perspectives from private equity portfolio work and consulting. The conversation moved from DevOps history into the real challenges of building a fractional business: positioning, pricing, politics, and people. We got into: Early stage startups expecting a fractional CTO to act like a founder Navigating equity offers and why they’re really investment decisions Deciding when to take loss-leader projects for credibility How much politics you can (and can’t) avoid in leadership roles Building trust through content and positioning Using contractors and agencies to keep momentum post-acquisition The limits of job interviews vs. building a client pipelineNo slides. No pitches. No agenda. Just honest conversation. 📅 Recorded August 11, 2025🎙️ Hosted by David Raistrick Join a future sessionExplore the For Fractionals community

    1h 2m

  7. 09/08/2025

    Open Coffee For Fractionals #14

    This is an Open Coffee for Fractionals session — part of my coaching practice. We started with Thomas Smith joining from his truck — peaceful, quiet, and ready to talk shop. That led straight into a deep dive on why shell scripts break developers’ brains, the difference between command languages and programming languages, and why determinism in infrastructure is mostly a myth. From there, Michael Payne walked through turning a dev contract into a local fractional CTO role, and the pros and cons of offering small-town IT services as a lead-in to higher-value fractional work. We got into: compliance by checkbox (and why nobody cares until a big client forces it) brittle automation and why error handling in Bash matters command language vs programming language in DevOps and infra deterministic builds, golden images, and why reality always drifts local business IT as lead-gen vs distraction Rotary Club networking as a fractional growth tactic AI as context engine and trust gap filler for non-technical clientsNo slides. No pitches. No agenda. Just honest conversation. 📅 Recorded August 4, 2025🎙️ Hosted by David Raistrick Join a future sessionExplore the For Fractionals community

    1h 12m

  8. 09/01/2025

    Open Coffee For Fractionals #13

    This is an Open Coffee for Fractionals session — part of my coaching practice. Livio Zanardo jumped in mid-gaming break to share how his fractional practice has gone from quiet to bursting — enough that a waiting list might be next. We talked through picking the high-value work, parking the low-value stuff, and how calling yourself “fractional” makes strategic sales easier. Stephen Lauck drew a hard line between strategy and delivery — why mixing them can bury the real work — and made the case that most companies don’t need a DevOps army, just a couple of great people to build and run the pipelines. Michael Payne told a cautionary tale about a 30-person infrastructure team that couldn’t ship in over a year, and how that inability to deliver sank the project. We got into: Agile’s leaky abstractions and why it rarely works as advertised Tool-building rabbit holes that never reach the outcome Giving teams “air” so technical debt disappears Risk, compliance, and the hot-rod-to-Costco problemNo slides. No pitches. No agenda. Just honest conversation. 📅 Recorded July 28, 2025🎙️ Hosted by David Raistrick. Join a future sessionExplore the For Fractionals community

    1h 8m
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About

Weekly open office hours for fractional professionals, hosted by David Raistrick. These are real, unscripted conversations about what’s working, what’s not, and how to build a business that fits your life. It’s part of David’s coaching practice and the For Fractionals community. No slides. No pitches. No agenda. Just honest conversation.

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