Give your portfolio companies engineering capacity they can trust — and visibility you've never had before.
Cortance connects your portfolio companies with verified senior engineers in days, and keeps you informed with regular, plain-language progress reports on how execution is actually going.
The Gap Between Capital and Execution
You've done the hard part — sourced the deal, written the check, joined the board. But once the round closes, technical execution often becomes a black box. Founders overhire, underhire, or lose months to a bad engineering decision — and by the time it shows up in a board update, the timeline damage is already done.
What You Gain as a Partner
Partnering with Cortance pays off in two directions — for you, and for the companies you've already backed.
For You
- A new revenue line from every referral, with no extra headcount or operational work on your side.
- Direct visibility into technical execution across your portfolio — insight normally reserved for a formal audit.
- On-demand budget and team-structure audits for any portfolio company, benchmarked against stage and burn rate.
- A tangible value-add you can point to with LPs, without expanding your own team.
For Your Portfolio Companies
- Vetted senior engineers in days instead of a multi-month hiring cycle.
- Preferential rates on every engineer, for as long as they’re engaged through your fund or program.
- Flexible team size that scales with runway, not with a fixed hiring plan.
- A technical partner who reports progress in a format your board update can actually use.
Typical Roles for Portfolio Companies
From first prototype to scaling engineering leadership, here's what we place most often.
How It Works
- 01
Introduce
You introduce a portfolio company or share your partner link.
- 02
Match
We scope the need and match verified engineers within days.
- 03
Deliver
The team embeds with the founder, delivering against agreed milestones.
- 04
Track & Earn
You get delivery visibility and a share of the engagement value — automatically.
See the full hiring process end to end.
Regular Updates, Not a Black Box
We don't have a live dashboard yet — what you get instead is a structured, recurring report, shared with founder consent: milestone status, team utilization and any blockers, on whatever cadence makes sense for your fund (typically biweekly or monthly).
- Milestone Status
- On Track — 3 of 4 complete
- Team Utilization
- Stable
- Notes
- No blockers reported this cycle
How Partners Earn
| Model | Terms |
|---|---|
| Referral commission | X% of engagement value, first 6 months* |
| Portfolio company rate | Discounted rate on every engineer, for the life of the relationship* |
| Accelerator cohort deal | Discounted onboarding rate for cohort companies + co-branded perks placement |
| Volume tier | Increased share for funds referring 5+ portfolio companies annually |
| Buy-out transition | Flat transition fee if a portfolio company hires an engineer in-house — scoped per case |
*Illustrative — final terms are set per partnership agreement.
Beyond Placement: Planning, Cost Optimization & Ownership
Placing engineers is the start. Here's what else is included for funds, advisors and the companies you back.
Pre-Project Estimates
A cost and timeline estimate before a portfolio company commits budget — useful for board approval or scoping a follow-on tranche.
Budget & Team Structure Audits
We review existing engineering spend and team composition against stage and burn rate, and flag where it’s over- or under-resourced.
Global Cost Optimization
Our engineers are based across multiple economic regions. Where it fits, we propose lower-cost alternatives without lowering the seniority or vetting bar — a direct way to extend runway.
Forward Cost Forecasting
We project engineering costs against a multi-quarter roadmap, so portfolio companies — and you — can plan capital needs ahead of time.
From Augmentation to Ownership
When a portfolio company is ready to build its own core engineering team, we support a buy-out: transitioning our engineers directly onto their payroll as in-house hires who already know the codebase. Full documentation and IP handover included — no knowledge loss, no re-hiring from scratch.
Running an Accelerator or Incubator Program?
Offer your current cohort dedicated engineering capacity as a program perk — priority onboarding, rate locked for the length of your program.
Frequently asked questions
Does this cost our fund or firm anything?
No — there’s no cost to become a partner. You earn from referrals; you never pay for them.
Will founders resent us pushing a vendor on them?
We’re introduced as an option, never a requirement. Founders choose their own engineers; we just make sure a good option exists.
Can we see progress reports without the founder’s consent?
No — sharing reports for a specific company always requires the founder’s opt-in.
Can a portfolio company eventually hire an engineer directly?
Yes — we support a structured buy-out once both sides are ready, including a full knowledge and documentation handover.
Not the right fit?
The terms differ because the relationships do. If one of these describes you better, start there.
Fundraising Partners
Fundraising agencies · Capital advisors
Refer clients the moment their round closes and earn a recurring commission while we handle scoping, vetting and delivery.
See the referral programGrant Partners
Grant agencies · Government programs · Donor funds
Milestone-scoped engineering capacity for your grantees, with no fee and no commission in either direction.
See the grant program
Let's build the partnership.
Tell us about your fund, cohort or advisory practice — we'll set up a short call to scope the fit.