Fractional CTO for Ambitious Startups.

Embedded leadership, not light consulting. I build with your team — from AI strategy and platform modernization to security compliance — so you ship faster, reduce risk, and scale with confidence.

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Trusted by: Zeta • ELSA • Ola • FICO

Who I Work With

What We Do

Four Disciplines.
One Integrated Edge.

We don't sell generic "digital transformation." We embed at the leadership level and deliver across the full stack — AI systems, platform architecture, security posture, and org execution. Every engagement is anchored in outcomes, not activity.

01

Ship AI Products That Move Metrics

Move past pilots. We architect production-grade agentic workflows, multi-agent orchestration pipelines, and LLM-native applications that ship and scale — not just demo. Including AI-built codebases that compress development timelines by orders of magnitude.

Multi-Agent Orchestration LLM Integration GenAI Products Agentic Workflows Model Drift Monitoring
02

Eliminate Technical Debt & Scale Faster

Legacy architecture is a tax compounding daily. We re-architect monoliths into cloud-native, API-first, microservices platforms — with zero-downtime delivery, PDLC rigor, and measurable velocity gains from sprint one. Transformation, not just migration.

Cloud-Native Architecture Microservices DevOps & CI/CD Zero-Downtime Migration Infra Optimization
03

Get Audit-Ready Without Slowing Down

Enterprise trust is earned through architecture, not assertions. We lead ISO 27001/27701, SOC 2, and GDPR readiness end-to-end — treating governance, risk, and compliance as a first-class capability built into the platform, not bolted on after.

ISO 27001 / 27701 SOC 2 GDPR Vanta Automation Vulnerability Resolution
04

Senior Tech Leadership, On Your Terms

Senior technology leadership — deeply embedded, not lightly consulted. We partner with founders, boards, and investors to convert ambiguous goals into executable strategy: org design, senior hiring, technical roadmaps, and delivery velocity that compounds.

Technical Roadmapping Org & Team Design YC Startup Advisory Engineering Leadership Investor Readiness

Measured Outcomes

Results That
Speak Precisely.

We don't trade in vague transformation promises. Every engagement is anchored in measurable engineering and business outcomes — delivered across fintech, EdTech, mobility, and enterprise platforms serving millions of users across three continents.

0%
Increase in NPS via AI-powered
Neo Banking originations platform
Zeta India
0%
Reduction in fraud losses through
ML-driven risk & rules engine
Zeta India
0%
Churn reduction through
platform intelligence & AI integration
Zeta India
0%
Faster lesson release cycles via agentic
PDLC workflows & delivery rigor
ELSA Corp
0%
AI-generated production codebase
built by agentic pipeline in 5 months
Genspark / SaaSyAI
0%
Infrastructure cost reduction via
right-sizing, caching & decommissioning
ELSA Corp

"The only advisor who's actually built what they recommend — at scale."

25+ Years Hands-on engineering leadership
~95% AI-Built Production codebase via agentic AI
YC Advisor Trusted by Y-Combinator founders
Sec-Gen, CFCXO Council of Fractional CXOs

The Process

Three Steps.
Zero Guesswork.

01

Diagnostic Call

15-minute conversation to understand your challenge, goals, and where you need the most leverage.

02

Tailored Plan

A scoped engagement plan with clear deliverables, timeline, and measurable outcomes — no templates.

03

Embedded Delivery

I join your team, build alongside you, and deliver outcomes — not slides. Accountable to your metrics.

Duration

3–6 month initial engagement, renewable quarterly

Commitment

1–4 days/week, scoped to your needs

Mode

Remote-first; on-site sprints available

Ideal For

Startups & scale-ups not yet ready for a full-time CTO or VP Eng

Selected Work

Platforms Built.
Industries Moved.

ELSA Corp
2023 – Present  ·  AI EdTech

Global AI EdTech Platform Transformation

Led full platform modernization for a global AI-driven language learning app. Zero-downtime Classic→Nova migration, agentic conversation modules deployed across 60+ languages, ISO 27001/SOC 2/GDPR readiness, and 100% critical vulnerability resolution.

25% user engagement lift
Zeta India
2019 – 2023  ·  Fintech / Neo-Banking

AI-Powered Neo-Banking Originations Platform

Built a cloud-native, API-driven originations platform processing 200k+ daily transactions. Launched HDFC Payzapp, integrated 5 major banks and 18 fintech clients. ML-driven fraud system with rule-based and AI-hybrid architecture slashed losses by 80%.

50% NPS increase
Ola
2017 – 2019  ·  Mobility / IoT

Connected Car Platform — Ola Play

Scaled in-car AI and IoT platform to 50,000+ vehicles across 7 Indian cities on Microsoft Azure. 10M events/minute — driver scoring, predictive maintenance, telematics, and contextual content delivery via microservices architecture.

50k+ connected vehicles at scale
SaaSyAI / Genspark
2024 – Present  ·  Agentic AI

Agentic AI Learning Platform

Co-architected a multi-agent orchestration system that generated ~95% of Genspark's production codebase — in under 5 months. Emotionally aware AI tutoring, personalized content delivery, proactive learner engagement, and plugin-based generative content architecture.

~95% AI-generated codebase
Arvind Internet (NNNow.com)
2015 – 2017  ·  E-Commerce / Retail

Omnichannel Retail Platform from Ground Up

Architected and deployed a full omnichannel retail platform in under 6 months — 60 microservices, API gateway, AI-driven analytics, 30+ global brands across 600+ stores. 35% customer satisfaction rise, 40% fewer post-release defects.

6 mo. full platform built from zero
FICO
2008 – 2012  ·  Enterprise SaaS

Fraud Intelligence & Decision Systems

Designed core SaaS architecture for FICO Falcon Fraud Manager and Blaze Advisor — AI/ML fraud detection across credit, debit, prepaid, and digital payment channels. Built multi-tenant data access layer with encryption, audit logs, and schema upgrade controls.

ML-native fraud prevention at global scale

What Founders & Operators Say

Built Trust.
Earned Results.

I've worked with consultants who give you frameworks and disappear. Ambuj joined our standup on day two. By month three, our AI conversation engine was in production across twelve new languages and our DAU/MAU ratio had moved in a way we hadn't managed in two years of trying internally.

Co-founder, AI language-learning platform  ·  200k+ weekly active learners

We were processing half a million transactions a day and our fraud stack was held together with duct tape. He mapped the gaps in a week and delivered a hybrid ML + rules engine in under three months. Losses dropped materially. The board noticed.

CTO, Series B neo-banking platform  ·  $500M+ in annual payment volume

We wanted a genuinely AI-native codebase — not AI-assisted, but AI-built. He co-designed the multi-agent orchestration pipeline and within five months we had a production system that investors called the most technically ambitious thing they'd seen at our stage.

Co-founder, agentic AI platform  ·  seed-funded, San Francisco

Our SOC 2 audit was blocking two enterprise deals worth over $2M combined. Ambuj mapped every control gap, embedded with the engineering team, and had us audit-ready in fourteen weeks — without a single sprint being interrupted. I cannot overstate how rare that combination is.

VP Engineering, B2B SaaS  ·  Fortune 500 customer base

Scaling tens of thousands of connected hardware units is a completely different challenge from pure SaaS. He understood the IoT edge, the cloud telemetry layer, and the product experience tying them together — and he moved fast. Exactly what you need at Series A when you're still figuring things out.

Head of Engineering, B2B mobility platform  ·  40,000+ connected units deployed

Six months to stand up a full omnichannel retail platform felt like an impossible ask. He architected the microservices layer, brought delivery rigor we simply didn't have, and we launched on schedule. Adding a new brand is now a day's work, not a quarter's.

CTO, omnichannel retail company  ·  30+ brands across 600+ stores

Our fraud detection was built for a different era. He redesigned the data access architecture, introduced ML-native decision scoring, and the system passed every load test on day one. Deep technical judgment paired with real commercial awareness — that combination is genuinely hard to find.

Chief Architect, enterprise fraud intelligence SaaS  ·  global banking deployments

I was a solo technical founder, pre-revenue, trying to prioritize what to build first. One conversation with Ambuj gave me more clarity than months of reading and networking. He sees the full stack — product, architecture, team, GTM — and he's completely direct about where you're weak.

Founder, YC batch  ·  consumer AI startup, pre-seed
Ambuj Agrawal
25+ Years in Tech

The Principal

Ambuj Agrawal

I'm an engineer who grew into a technology leader — and never stopped building. Over 25+ years across Ola, Zeta India, and ELSA Corp, I've scaled platforms to tens of millions of users, built fraud intelligence systems that cut losses by 80%, and led AI integrations that actually ship into production.

At White Lotus Labs, I work as a Fractional CTO and AI strategy partner — embedded deeply, not lightly consulted. My edge is the combination of architectural depth, production experience with agentic AI at scale, and the hard-won ability to build and lead high-performing engineering organizations. I co-founded SaaSyAI and Genspark, where we engineered ~95% of the production codebase using agentic AI pipelines — a live proof of what becomes possible when you adopt a genuinely AI-native mindset.

I advise Y-Combinator founders on technical architecture and AI strategy, serve as Secretary General of the Council of Fractional CXOs, and bring a rare combination of GRC depth, platform modernization experience, and hands-on agentic AI expertise to every engagement.

  • Head of Engineering & Cybersecurity — ELSA Corp (AI EdTech, California)
  • Co-founder — SaaSyAI.co / Genspark (Agentic AI Learning Platform)
  • Advisor to CXOs — Y-Combinator Portfolio Companies
  • Secretary General — Council of Fractional CXOs (CFCXO)
  • Former VP Engineering — Zeta India (Fintech / Neo-Banking)
  • Former Head of Engineering — Ola Play, Ola Electric, FoodPanda
  • Former Technical Architect — FICO (Falcon Fraud Manager, Blaze Advisor)
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Let's Build Something
Worth Building.

Whether you're a founder navigating your first serious AI integration, an enterprise ready for platform transformation, or an investor evaluating technical depth — let's talk. Engagements are tailored, not templated. Commitment starts with a conversation.

We typically reply within 48 hours. For immediate scheduling use “Book 15‑Min Diagnostic” above. Conversations are confidential.