# Protify — Fractional CTO & Technology Consulting

## Summary
Protify is a technology consulting firm providing fractional CTO services, technology strategy, AI-enhanced application development, and software process leadership. Founded by Joe Kuryla, a seasoned technology executive and U.S. Army veteran with over 20 years of experience leading successful digital initiatives across financial services, logistics, SaaS, and startup environments. Protify works with a small number of clients at a time to ensure deep engagement and meaningful results.

## Contact
- Email: jkuryla@protify.com
- Website: https://protify.com
- Contact Form: https://protify.com/#contact

## Services
- Fractional CTO: Hands-on technology leadership without full-time overhead — architecture, team management, AI strategy, cloud operations
- Technology Strategy: Forward-thinking strategy integrating AI to harness data, automate operations, and uncover competitive advantages
- Application Development: AI-enhanced apps that automate workflows, deliver personalized experiences, and provide advanced insights
- Software Process Leadership: Agile transformation, DevOps adoption, CI/CD optimization, and high-performing engineering practices

## Selected Work
- Mangrove Technologies: Serving as fractional CTO. Application architecture, cloud services (AWS/GCP), offshore dev management, AI components (RAG, MCP). https://mangrove.ai
- Protify AI SDK: Open-source Java SDK for 13+ AI providers. Zero dependencies. https://protify.ai / https://github.com/protifyconsulting/protifyai-java

## Founder
- Joe Kuryla, Founder & Fractional CTO
- 20+ years technology leadership
- U.S. Army veteran
- Led teams of 100+ engineers
- Experience across financial services, logistics, SaaS, startups
- Currently works with a small number of clients at a time

## Pages
- Home: https://protify.com/
- Articles: https://protify.com/articles

## Articles
- Five Signs You've Outgrown Your Founding Engineer: https://protify.com/articles/five-signs-youve-outgrown-your-founding-engineer
- Why Your Engineering Team Is Shipping Slowly (And It's Not What You Think): https://protify.com/articles/why-your-engineering-team-is-shipping-slowly
- When Does Your Startup Actually Need a CTO?: https://protify.com/articles/when-does-your-startup-actually-need-a-cto
- Fractional CTO vs. Tech Advisor vs. CTO-as-a-Service: https://protify.com/articles/fractional-cto-vs-tech-advisor-vs-cto-as-a-service
- What a Fractional CTO Does in the First 30 Days: https://protify.com/articles/what-a-fractional-cto-does-in-the-first-30-days
- Where AI Actually Fits in Your Product (and Where It Doesn't): https://protify.com/articles/where-ai-actually-fits-in-your-product
- Build vs. Buy AI: When OpenAI's API Beats Self-Hosting: https://protify.com/articles/build-vs-buy-ai-when-openais-api-beats-self-hosting
- RAG, Fine-Tuning, Prompting: A Non-Engineer's Decision Tree: https://protify.com/articles/rag-fine-tuning-prompting-non-engineers-decision-tree
- How to Evaluate an AI Integration Vendor (Without Being an AI Engineer): https://protify.com/articles/how-to-evaluate-an-ai-integration-vendor
- How to Build a Tech Roadmap That Actually Gets Followed: https://protify.com/articles/how-to-build-a-tech-roadmap-that-actually-gets-followed
- When to Rewrite vs. Refactor: A Decision Framework: https://protify.com/articles/when-to-rewrite-vs-refactor
- The Tech Debt Conversation: Making It a Board-Level Priority: https://protify.com/articles/tech-debt-conversation-board-level-priority