Marc van Neerven

Independent Software Business Consultant

Fractional CTO 💡 Top Startups Voice⚡ Helping startups make better SaaS

You’ve got vision.

I help you turn it into something that actually ships, scalable, beautiful, and built to last.

As a Fractional CTO, I help founders and leadership teams:

Turn strategy into execution: translating boardroom vision into working code and real traction.

Build lean, high-performing tech teams: in-house, remote, or hybrid, with just the right balance of structure and speed.

Adopt AI the right way: embedding an AI mindset into products, workflows, and decision-making before it’s too late.

Create SaaS that sells itself: through a Product-Led Growth approach that puts value before friction.

Design for humans, build for scale: applying design thinking, solid architecture, and open-web standards to grow sustainably.

My work is transformational: when I leave, your company keeps moving faster, smarter, and with more clarity than before.

I’m not a slide-deck strategist. I still code, design, and build proof-of-concepts myself, focusing (and advocating for) the Open Web, and native cloud to prove what’s possible.

You want your SaaS to grow leaner, smarter, and more human.
Let’s build it.

Startup Expert

Writing blogs about the life of a CTO at Startups and Scaleups. 

Has the world gone mad? 🤯

I just read Paul Hebert's deep dive on the Shadcn radio button ¹.

It’s thoughtful. Detailed. Carefully engineered.

And it perfectly illustrates the problem.

We are writing React components, layering abstractions, wiring state machines, and debating micro-patterns…
…to recreate something the browser does natively (and very well).

What a radio button should be:

<input type="radio" name="beverage" value="coffee" />

That’s it.

Accessible. Keyboard-navigable. Screen-reader compatible. Form-compatible. Zero JS required.

And yet the modern stack says:
- Hide the native control
- Rebuild it with divs and spans
- Reimplement focus logic
- Synchronize state with React
- Hope accessibility survives the refactor

All to achieve… styling.

But styling is not a JavaScript concern.

Styling should come from your Design System, or at least from CSS that lives in a shared asset and is cached separately.

And styling radio buttons has long been extremely easy with pure CSS.

The deeper issue isn’t Shadcn however.
It’s that we’ve normalized rebuilding HTML in JavaScript.

When your design system requires a component layer to render a radio button, something fundamental shifted.

Not everything that looks modern is progress.

Sometimes the most radical move in 2026 is to trust the platform again.

The browser ships a radio button.
Maybe we should start there.

Article in the comments.

¹ Shadcn components have become a sort of automatic goto for LLM agents - together with React and Tailwind 😔...

#puredesignsystem #webstandards #shadcn

Fractional CTO 🚀 AI Mind, SaaS Soul, Human Heart

Clarity Business Travel

Following the acquisition of Agiito by Clarity Business Travel I was offered the role of Executive Director - Technology working to merge the two businesses and to build upon the successful technology platforms offered by both businesses as well as leading the day to day operational IT. 

More information to follow.

Executive Director - Technology

Agiito

Reporting to the CEO, I lead a team of direct reports, including Head of Engineering, Head of Delivery, Business Technology Manager, Director of IT Operations & Security, Head of Engineering Governance and Capability and Data Manager to ensure the delivery of solutions that maximise automation and efficiency.

Collaborating and educating potential and existing customers including internal stakeholders, we work together to understand their problems, identify their requirements, and define solutions that will work in their environment, and outline Agiito’s proposition. I also utilise Agiito’s product suite to create customised offerings and articulate requirements to internal teams across a breadth of IT & delivery specialisms.

Delivering end-to-end development and implementing each solution, I use the appropriate tools, techniques, and methodologies to lead the project from inception to delivery, close-out and lessons learned. Here, I champion innovation by delivering added value for the customer by contributing ideas for solution improvement. I also shape customer solution strategy and lead delivery teams, and work with customer-facing teams, providing technical excellence and governance to ensure Agiito remains a market leader.

Chief Technology Officer

Promoted into this role, I maximised professional development across the team through utilising my technical and leadership expertise to coach and mentor a multidisciplinary delivery team that successfully created customer solutions within Agile development environments. I also identified and exploited opportunities to increase revenues and maximise value by utilising the latest technological advancements and emerging trends.

Delivering maximum product stability and security, I ensured each customer solution implementation aligned with existing best practices and met its strategic needs. Here, I secured outstanding product development outcomes through facilitating continuous improvement while embedding architectural and application design best practice across all projects.

Head Of Engineering

Leading a multi-disciplinary team of Developers and Testers for the UK and offshore-based teams, I secured professional development across all teams, including lunchtime learning sessions. Here, I secured training, coaching and mentoring objectives that ensured maximum performance and delivered healthy leadership pipelines. I also supported revenue growth with an extensive contribution in customer meetings resulting in contract renewals (leading audit firm) and new sales/opportunities (UK airline disruption, major telecoms client/prestigious automotive engineering firm pitches and numerous customer demos).

I was appointed as Exec Change Leader. I provided an employee view to the Exec team, successfully spearheading increases in efficiency by identifying opportunities to improve systems and processes by leading transformational initiatives.

Championing innovation, I led the design and built of initial delegatePro web and mobile concept. I led the Evolvi Bot solution that secured a £50K saving annual saving for the company. I also played a pivotal role in delivering MPR planning sessions, creating monthly reports for CTE’s Senior Leadership Team that facilitated more effective C-level decision making.

Development Manager / Exec Change Leader

Technical Product Owner

Product Owner

NYS Corporate Ltd

Promoted into this role, I played an integral role in UI and functional design and evolving architecture of NYS’s meeting platform, including meetingsPro, delegatePro, workspacePro and digitalPro. I also oversaw multiple travel-related technology applications enabling the operation and billing of customer bookings.

Senior Developer

Shaping product development strategy and defining objectives, I created robust product development roadmaps and successfully led each product development lifecycle from inception to delivery. Here, I collaborated with multiple teams across the business to deliver outstanding product development and implementation outcomes, securing all project objectives and ensuring each product delivered real value.

Driving improvements for a significant system of interest, I led the team to deliver 30+ fixes & 15 new feature requests. Here, I maximised business automation by implementing a new automated payment system for suppliers, successfully reducing the manual work intervention by 60%, resulting in saving at least one day FTE work per week. 

Ensuring professional development across the team, I coached and mentored Junior Developers in VB.NET, C#, JavaScript, HTML 5 and CSS resulting in a cleaner, scalable and more efficient code across multiple projects. I also chaired stakeholder meetings and worked directly with the client to support the delivery of in-depth SQL-based Management Information for 15+ clients.

.NET Developer

Aviva Life Insurance Company

Brought into the Developer team, I led the design, implementation and maintenance of MS Access databases and ASP.NET Web Applications. I also oversaw the maintenance and analysis of SQL Server-based data stores for reporting and application purposes.

Systems & Reporting Developer

Overseeing a team of risk and governance consultants, I ensured all investment transactions aligned with UK and EU regulators whilst maintaining SoX compliance. I also championed innovation and automation through designing, implementing and maintaining software to maximise performance across the investment company.

Risk, Governance & MI Development Manager

Leading a 30-strong team, I ensured the ownership and delivery of unforgettable customer journeys during the Investment Bond surrender process, ensuring my team secured call answering and Bond surrender targets. Here, I maximised efficiency across function by automating three internal sub-processes eradicating 100% of manual intervention, resulting in a 38% increase in accuracy and freeing up time to focus on value and innovation.

Customer Experience Operations Manager

I am an experienced CTO with proven market and product development expertise as well as strengths in leading, managing and developing technical teams that deliver international group-wide product/proposition objectives. I combine this with a consistent record of driving quality improvements to system infrastructure. Personally motivated and focused, with a keen appreciation of the needs of international user bases and teams, I have an outstanding record in establishing profitable relationships, negotiating with vendors and delivering advanced integration solutions through my ability to lead global delivery teams that deliver exceptional product performance. 

Skilled in turning around underperforming teams and systems, I have rapidly improved systems integration and delivery function performance, which is a testament to my ability to quickly plan and execute successful and dramatic change.  Relentlessly focused on team development, I am committed to applying my passion for excellence to supporting the development of individuals and teams. During my career, I have exceeded multiple targets, increased system performance, significantly enhanced product infrastructure and successfully aligned information needs with group business plans.

Whilst I thrive on developing and implementing product and business integration strategies, I am very personable and easily maintain and facilitate clear communication with technical and non-technical teams. I believe that this is a critical aspect to delivering the high service levels demanded by a discerning user base. My robust track record of achievement displays my ongoing success in the product and business sectors. I welcome all invitations to connect.

Core Competencies:
Team Management | Exceeding Targets | Shaping Strategy | Leadership
Technical Governance | Coaching & Mentoring | Project Management | Service Delivery
Product Development | Business Development | Change Management | Budgetary Controls

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The Battle

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Carl Law

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