CTO on every program.
Engineer on every bench.
Sketch to ship.
I take on hardware programs as their technical owner — architecture, engineering, manufacturing, certification. Not a project manager translating between disciplines. Not a body-shop engineer executing a spec someone else wrote.
I still do the hands-on work — board bringup, prototyping, DFM review — because that's how trade-off decisions stay honest. The person making the call is the person making the thing.
Karlis Akis
Founder · Hardware CTO
I've spent over a decade as the technical owner of hardware programs — architecture, engineering, manufacturing, cert — whose products now deploy inside Lockheed Martin, BMW, NextEra, Vestas, GE Vernova, Enel, Siemens Gamesa, FDNY, and 25+ other operator and OEM environments across 30 countries. Acting CTO or CTO-in-residence on most of them.
I started null2.one because most hardware programs die at the same handoff point — when technical ownership passes from the person who scoped the problem to a subcontracted team that wasn't in the room when the constraint was defined. On every project I take on, that handoff doesn't happen. I'm the person in the room.
Outside client work I build and sell my own product — XV Tuner, a motorcycle ECU on the market since 2008 and still running on bikes today. I've also done defence-sector work, where "close enough" isn't an option. Both taught me the same thing: ship it, then earn the right to improve it.
I take on a handful of programs at a time, on purpose. I'd rather turn work away than take on more than I can technically own.
Based in Riga, Latvia. Reach me directly at karlis@null2.one · +371 26 51 52 45 · LinkedIn
What I take on. What I don't.
- Fractional / interim CTO for hardware programs — the senior technical owner you'd otherwise spend a year and six figures hiring, or embed alongside your existing engineering team
- 0→1 hardware architecture — electronics, mechanical, firmware as one system
- Prototype → pilot → mass production transitions
- Certification routing (CE, FCC, UL, NFPA, IEC)
- Fixed-price Phase 1 architecture reviews and risk registers
- DFM sign-off and ODM/CM negotiation
- Body-shop engineering — executing someone else's spec without owning the architecture
- Marketing websites, CRUD SaaS, or landing pages
- Generic dev-shop retainers or contractor placement
- White-label subcontracting for other agencies
- The cheapest-bid seat at any table
Anyone who says they can do everything is usually good at nothing.
The physical work happens on my bench.
3D printing, welding, soldering, PCB bringup, small-run fabrication — I do the prototyping work from a proper lab in Riga. Not a laptop and an outsourced order every time you need a part in your hand.
When a project moves to production — injection tooling, PCB runs at scale, specialist research — I lean on a small network of people I've worked with for years. Same standards. More throughput.
The lab handles prototype through EVT. The network scales it from there.
I don't scale by hiring juniors.
I take on fewer programs and own them completely.
Three things a 20-person agency can't give you.
One accountable owner
The person scoping your problem is the person solving it — and the person still answering the call six months later when the pilot line goes down. Every architectural decision, mine. Every trade-off, mine. No handoff, no PM in the middle.
Senior judgment, full-time attention
You get the technical owner you'd otherwise spend a year and six figures hiring — on the small number of programs that actually need it. Fits alongside an existing engineering team or drops in as the sole technical lead. Never a junior learning on your budget while a senior partner chases the next sale.
Specialists I already trust
When a project needs work outside my discipline, I don't pull a name from a directory. I call specialists I've worked with for years, who do that one thing better than I do. You'll always know who's doing the work, and why.
What I've spent years learning how to do.
Hardware Product Architecture
System-level design for products that combine mechanical, electrical, and firmware subsystems. I define how things fit together before anyone starts cutting metal or laying out PCBs.
Embedded Systems
Firmware for resource-constrained platforms — real-time control loops, sensor fusion, communication protocols, and production-grade OTA update systems.
Power Electronics
Power conversion, battery management, protection circuits, and thermal design. Systems from milliwatts to kilowatts for consumer, industrial, and life-safety applications.
Sensors & Control Systems
Sensor selection, signal conditioning, and closed-loop control for products that need to measure and respond to the physical world with precision.
Robotics & Mechatronics
Precision mechanical design, actuator integration, and motion control for robotic systems that operate in real-world conditions — not controlled lab environments.
DFM & Industrialization
Bridging prototype and production. Design for manufacturing from day one, and management of the transition to volume — supplier qualification, test infrastructure, certification.
Lockheed Martin · Aston Martin · BMW · NextEra · GE Vernova · Vestas · Enel · Siemens Gamesa · FDNY · Honeywell
My best clients share a few things.
They're building something technically hard
Not a landing page or a CRUD app — a physical product, an embedded system, a piece of hardware that has to work in the real world.
They value engineering judgment
They want a partner who will tell them the hard truth about their architecture, timeline, or approach — not one who just executes tasks.
They understand that speed means fewer mistakes
Not cutting corners. Not skipping validation. The fastest path to a shipped product is making the right decisions early and not having to redo them.
They have budget for senior-level work
I am not the cheapest option. I am the option that prevents you from spending three times as much fixing mistakes that shouldn't have been made.
Send me the spec, sketch, or CAD.
First reply within 24 hours — from me, not a scheduler. NDA before detailed discussion. Comfortable working inside your procurement or vendor-qualification process.