If investors keep passing,
there's a reason.
Most founders think it's timing or traction.
It's usually the architecture, the team structure, or the pitch.
5 exits. 20 years at scale. $1.2B acquisition.
Let me show you what VCs see that you don't.
A 15-minute call with someone who's seen your exact problem before.
Walk away with a clear action plan and an honest read on what's actually blocking growth. No pitch, no retainer pressure.
Book a strategy call→/INIT: 6-week pre-accelerator for founders at pre-seed or seed.
Find the expensive assumption you're running, test it fast, get to a real decision. 6–8 founders per cohort. No equity. $45/week.
$ apply --now→SOUND FAMILIAR?
The four problems that kill technical founders — regardless of stack, stage, or funding round.
Your AWS bill doubled and nobody knows why
You shipped fast. Now you're rewriting core systems mid-fundraise because the architecture that got you to 1K users can't survive 100K.
You're adding AI features, but they're not closing deals
Every competitor says 'powered by AI.' Yours does too. But investors want to know which specific problem your AI solves better than a spreadsheet.
You're still writing code. Investors want a leader.
Your team has 8 engineers. You have 12 Slack channels and zero 1:1s. The gap between IC and executive is where most technical founders stall.
Series A closed. You need to hire 10 engineers in 90 days.
You've never run a hiring process at scale. One bad senior hire costs $200K and 6 months. You don't have 6 months.
RECEIPTS, NOT CLAIMS
Real outcomes. Real companies. Real numbers.
10s → 80ms
Re-architected push notification delivery for 1B+ events/sec. Cut p95 latency from 10 seconds to 80ms. Shipped before acquisition closed.
+200% in 8 weeks
COVID surge hit. Global infrastructure had to scale 200% overnight with zero downtime. Done in 8 weeks as SRE lead.
CTO & Co-Founder. Zero to backed.
Built from scratch, shipped to customers, raised institutional backing. Most founders learn one side of the table. Glo has lived both.
Yammer. Nextdoor. Do.com. Gixo. Must Win.
Microsoft. IPO. Amazon. OpenFit. Lyric. Five different outcomes, two decades. Acquisition, public market, strategic — all from the inside.
FOUNDERS SHE'S HELPED — AND WHAT CHANGED
Real companies. Real outcomes. No testimonials — just what happened.
DiagnoVet
Building a vet AI diagnostic platform, exploring B2C. Needed business model clarity and a YC application path. Advised on premium subscription structure, Latin America as test market, and UC Davis vet student pipeline.
Outcome: Clear YC path. MVP development timeline delivered.
Nevara AI
Had $200k ARR but VCs wanted sharper differentiation. Repositioned from "AI assistant that works" to "AI copilot for salespeople." Restructured the competitive story around coaching vs monitoring.
Outcome: Deck rebuilt. Warm VC intros secured post-memo refinement.
Polis
Strong team, $100K ACV verbal LOIs. Needed pitch sharpening for a16z Speedrun — 20,000 applicants, 60 selected. Applied 3-2-1 framework across multiple sessions with all three founders.
Outcome: Selected for a16z Speedrun video interview round.
20 YEARS OF SCAR TISSUE.
ALL OF IT DOCUMENTED.
Guides on scaling infrastructure, technical co-founder decisions, AI engineering, and fundraising — written from 5 exits, not hypotheticals.
How to scale startup infrastructure without downtime
200% capacity in 8 weeks during Nextdoor's COVID surge. The exact playbook — monitoring, rollout strategy, rollback triggers.
What VCs actually check in technical due diligence
Architecture, team structure, hiring plans, the pitch. Four areas where technical founders lose deals they should win.
Engineering meets economics — weekly
AI infrastructure, distributed systems, and what actually matters at Seed→Series A. No fluff, no vibes.
HOW ADVISORY WORKS
Discovery (15–30 min)
Discovery call. We discuss your current state, pain points, and whether advisory makes sense. Straight talk, no pitch.
Engagement Design (Week 1)
If we're a fit: co-design scope, outcomes, timeline, budget.
Typical: 3–6 months, $15k–30k/month
Execution (Ongoing)
Weekly check-ins. Async Slack. Frameworks delivered. Code reviews as needed. Decisions that compound for 18–24 months.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Straight answers. No sales language.
What does a technical advisor for startups actually do?
A technical advisor helps founders make high-stakes engineering decisions without needing to hire a full-time CTO. That includes pressure-testing your architecture before it breaks at scale, reviewing your technical hiring plan before you burn $200K on a bad senior hire, and preparing your technical narrative for investor due diligence.
Who is SansCourier and what is Glo's background?
SansCourier is led by Gonzalo (Glo) Maldonado — a platform engineer with 5 exits including Yammer ($1.2B acquisition by Microsoft), Nextdoor (IPO), and Mocksi (a16z Speedrun SR005). She has scaled infrastructure at YouTube, led growth engineering at Nextdoor, and co-founded a venture-backed startup. She advises pre-seed and seed founders on technical strategy, fundraising, and engineering leadership.
How is SansCourier different from a fractional CTO?
A fractional CTO is embedded in your operations — attending standups, managing engineers, making day-to-day calls. SansCourier is advisory: weekly sessions focused on the highest-leverage decisions, not operational execution. If you need someone to run your engineering team, you need a fractional CTO. If you need someone to help you make the right calls before they become expensive, that's SansCourier.
What is /INIT?
/INIT is SansCourier's 6-week pre-accelerator for technical founders at pre-seed or seed stage. Cohorts of 6–8 founders, no equity taken. The program covers market validation, MVP scoping, pricing, pitch preparation, and accelerator applications (YC, a16z, Techstars, 500.co). Starts at $45/week.
What stage of founder does SansCourier work with?
Pre-seed through Series A. The highest-value engagements are founders who have shipped a product, have early users or revenue, and are preparing for their first or second institutional raise. SansCourier also works with senior engineers considering going independent.
How do I book a session?
Book a 15-minute strategy call at intro.co/GonzaloMaldonado. The first call is a no-pitch diagnostic — you'll leave with a specific action item regardless of whether we work together.