I'm John Carpenter. I've been a CTO for about twenty years, through acquisitions, scale-ups, regulatory minefields, and the occasional pivot that saved the company.

I started 2Lines Software because the work I want to do — and the work mid-market companies actually need — doesn't fit cleanly into either of the shapes the market offers. Strategy firms produce decks and leave. Dev shops execute specs they weren't asked to question. Full-time CTO hires are a permanent commitment for problems that are often 12–18 months long.

The practice is deliberately small. I run it alongside a bench of senior contractors I've worked with over the years, brought in when engagements require scale. The operator you meet is the operator you get.

I work out of Calgary and serve clients across North America. Most of the work happens in mid-market companies in regulated industries — fintech, payments, energy, agriculture, retail — though the problem shapes show up similarly wherever the industry takes technology seriously.

I don't do discovery calls that aren't useful on their own terms. What we talk about in the first thirty minutes should be worth your time whether or not you engage the practice afterward.