A senior operator in the room.
Capital, deals, FP&A, exit prep — for businesses past scrappy and not yet at scale.
What buyers usually say in the first call.
“We’re raising next year and our model is on the back of an envelope.”
“I’m thinking about selling and I want a finance partner who has done it.”
“My controller is great but I need someone who can talk to the bank.”
“I need a CFO for two days a week, not five.”
The CFO surface area, scaled to where you are.
Whatever you have. We don’t sell tools.
We work in your stack. The CFO’s job is the decisions, not the tooling — but where the tooling holds the work back, we say so plainly and propose a fix.
A 90-day arc, then a steady relationship.
30-minute call
The business, the cap table, the questions on your mind. No deck, no pitch.
Three-week look
The model, last four board packs, the cap table, the contracts file. You get a written diagnostic — yours regardless.
The first quarter
What we’ll fix, ship, or set up. Three to five concrete things, prioritized. We’ll say no to the rest until later.
Bi-weekly + ad-hoc
A standing bi-weekly with the founder. On call for the moments that matter. Quarterly written review.
Monthly retainer, project, or hybrid.
- Bi-weekly call30–60 min
- Board attendanceQuarterly
- Modelling & FP&AIncluded
- On-call hours4 / month
- Quarterly reviewWritten
Most engagements are a flat monthly retainer. Active financings, M&A, and exit preparation are scoped as projects on top, with a written estimate before we start.
Some clients prefer a project-only engagement: a one-time exit-readiness review, a financing, or a model build. We’ll tell you whether a retainer or a project fits, in the discovery call.
We deliberately keep the CFO bench small — typically 5 to 7 active clients at any one time. When the calendar is full, we say so.
Short answers to the questions that come up most.
How is this different from hiring a full-time CFO?
A full-time CFO costs $250K–$400K all-in and is often under-utilized in this revenue band. A fractional CFO gives you the senior judgment without the carry — and is honest about when the math flips and you should hire in-house.
Will you do the bookkeeping too?
Yes, if you want. Most of our CFO clients have us run bookkeeping and controller as well — one firm, no rework. Some keep their existing bookkeeper and engage us at the CFO layer only.
Can you help with an exit specifically?
Yes. Sell-side preparation is where the seat earns its keep. Twelve to twenty-four months out is the right time to start; six months out we’ll tell you so honestly.
Do you take equity or success fees?
Generally no. We charge a flat retainer or a project fee. Success fees can misalign incentives — a CFO should be free to tell you not to raise, not to sell, or not to acquire.
Worth a 30-minute call,
even if the timing isn’t right yet.
The discovery call is free, confidential, and ends with a written one-pager — whether or not we end up working together.
Book a discovery call