Why

You didn't mention a volume number, dropped deals, or a partner stepping on your toes — just three channels (website form, LinkedIn, inbound email). Fractional CTO engagements are low-volume, high-ticket, long-cycle. You don't have a pipeline problem; you have a "three inboxes, no single list" problem, and that's solved with one page, not a SaaS subscription.

What you actually need

1. Notion database with kanban view (free) — one database, columns: Name, Company, Source (Website/LinkedIn/Email), First Contact, Next Action, Next Action Date, Status. Kanban grouped by Status: Inquiry → Intro Call → Proposal → Engaged → Dormant.
2. Fathom or Fireflies (free tier) — auto-record and transcribe your intro calls so you stop taking notes during discovery and have searchable history per lead.
3. A habit — the Friday 20-minute sweep — every Friday afternoon, open your website form submissions, LinkedIn messages, and email "inbound" label. Every new lead becomes a row. Every existing row gets its Next Action Date pushed or closed.

Do this today

In Notion, hit "+ New page" → "Database - Full page" → name it "CTO Pipeline 2026". Add the seven properties above, switch to Board view grouped by Status, and paste in every live conversation across your three channels right now. By tonight you'll see — for the first time on one screen — exactly who you owe a reply to.

What to ignore

Skip HubSpot Free, Pipedrive ($14/seat/mo), and Folk ($20/seat/mo) — all built for multi-rep teams with weekly pipeline forecasts you don't need to produce. Also ignore Apollo, Clay, and any "AI SDR" tool in your LinkedIn DMs; fractional CTO work is won on reputation, not cold-sequence volume.

What doing nothing costs you

You gave no volume, but the specific compounding loss is this: a CXO who pinged you on LinkedIn in March, you meant to follow up, and six months later they hired someone else — and you never knew because it never made it out of the DM thread.

When to revisit this

When you bring on a second person (junior partner, ops hire) who needs to see the same pipeline you do.