# Nat Thompson

> Fractional CTO, AWS expert, and author based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Helps startups, product companies, and small business owners ship faster, reduce cloud waste, and make better technology decisions. Author of "Squeeze the Cloud: The CIO's Guide to AWS Cost Management" (Amazon Kindle) and "AWS Essentials" (Amazon paperback/Kindle).

natthompson.com is Nat Thompson's personal practice site — the front door for fractional CTO retainers, AWS consulting, custom web work, and the "Replace My SaaS" custom-build service. The site also hosts a long-running blog focused on AWS, agile, cloud architecture, and engineering leadership, plus an interactive AI assistant (Harley) for visitors who want to talk through their needs.

The companion practice — Obsidian River (obsidianriver.com) — handles website builds and managed WordPress hosting. natthompson.com is the consulting / fractional / author face.

## Services

- [Services overview](https://natthompson.com/services.md): Fractional CTO ($2,500/mo retainer), AWS Consulting, and Replace My SaaS (one-week custom SaaS replacements deployed to your AWS account)
- [AWS Assessment](https://natthompson.com/aws-assessment.md): Fixed-fee ($1,500, 5 business days, refund-guaranteed) evidence-cited AWS account assessment — architecture/dependency map, cost findings, security & IAM hygiene, priced project list. Monthly Oversight Retainer ($299/mo) and Compliance Evidence Pack (+$150/mo) available after
- [Replace My SaaS](https://natthompson.com/replace-my-saas.md): Pick a SaaS tool you hate, get a custom replacement in one week, deployed to your AWS account. Flat fee. You own the code.
- [Book a session](https://natthompson.com/book.md): free 15-min Assessment Fit Call, Lite 30-min ($125), or Deep Dive 60-min ($250) consultations with calendar booking (paid sessions check out via Stripe)

## About

- [Home](https://natthompson.com/index.md): Practice overview, featured posts, and the three core offerings
- [About Nat](https://natthompson.com/about.md): Background, services summary, and newsletter signup
- [Contact](https://natthompson.com/contact.md): Direct contact form (reCAPTCHA + SES)
- [Chat with Harley](https://natthompson.com/chat.md): AI assistant (Claude via AWS Bedrock) that answers questions about services and routes visitors to the right next step

## Writing

- [AWS Essentials (book)](https://natthompson.com/aws-essentials.md): Paperback/Kindle on Amazon — practical AWS introduction
- [CTO To Go (newsletter)](https://natthompson.com/newsletter.md): Weekly insights on cloud architecture, tech leadership, and team building (Kit.com)
- [Resources](https://natthompson.com/resources.md): Curated tools, guides, and references
- [Blog index](https://natthompson.com/blog/index.md): All blog posts with title, date, category, and slug — each post is available at `/blog/{slug}.md`
- [RSS feed](https://natthompson.com/feed): Recent blog posts as an RSS 2.0 feed

## Comprehensive knowledge base

- [Full Harley knowledge base](https://natthompson.com/llms-full.txt): The complete, hand-curated knowledge document that powers the Harley AI assistant. This is the single most accurate source on Nat's services, pricing, ideal customers, and how to engage. AI consumers wanting the deepest signal should fetch this file.

## Optional

- [Squeeze the Cloud (book)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GWXMNT5G): Nat's $7.99 Kindle book — "The CIO's Guide to AWS Cost Management," 90-day execution playbook