A Founder’s Guide to Efficient Financial Management in 2024

No matter what kind of solution, service, or product a company delivers, it has one thing in common with every other business in existence today. What’s that underlying thread? They all need to be on top of their financial management.

Sure, when you’re small and scrappy, you can probably scrape by. Some spreadsheets and a few dedicated hours each month might be enough to keep your books sorted. But as you grow, things ramp up quickly. Bringing on more headcount means more payroll (and payroll tax) complexity. More clients mean more to process in accounts receivable, and the vendors you need to serve them mean more accounts payable, too. 

We’ve seen it a lot: the financial management requirements of growing startups quickly outpace what the team can handle. If that sounds familiar, we have a suggestion: consider fractional CFO services. 

Getting the finance pro you need without the overhead

The beauty of having a chief financial officer lies in their purview. Everything finance-related in your business falls on their desk. They’re responsible for tracking your company’s cash flow, keeping an eye on your burn rate, and getting you set up for tax success. They can also meet with investors and help you navigate fundraising. 

At the same time, they take a high-level view. That means they can offer the financial planning guidance your startup needs to extend its runway and scale sustainably. With financial modeling and their own expertise, they can steer you away from potential pitfalls while pointing you toward new opportunities. 

Long story short, a CFO can be your one-stop shop for strong financial management in 2024. 

But wait, you might be thinking, my company does not have the ability to take on the compensation package for a new C-suite executive. 

To that, we say: no problem. You just need to find a fractional CFO. There are a couple of options here. You can find what’s essentially a contractor you bring on to fill your CFO role. They work for your company part-time, usually for as many hours as your startup needs. You can generally ramp up their involvement as needed, like when you’re planning a new round of fundraising or during tax filing.

Or you can choose a CFO advisory service. With this option, you can tailor the service to provide what your startup needs. This builds in the flexibility growing startups need while still giving them the high-level expertise of a C-suite finance pro. 

Plus, when you choose CFO advisory as a service, rather than a full or part-time hire, you don’t have to worry about any of the contractor vs. employee issues that can arise. If you’re operating in a state like California where employment status can be tricky to navigate, opting for a service eliminates potential legal headaches — and additional fines or fees — down the road. 

Scaling up with a fractional CFO advisory service

To give you an idea of what fractional CFO services could do for your startup, we’re going to give you a closer look at what we offer. 

With our comprehensive advisory CFO service, you can choose the package level that aligns with your startup’s requirements — and where you’re headed in 2024. Specifically, we offer:

Seed-stage CFO advisory services

We designed this package to align with the financial management needs of seed-stage companies. It includes:

• Automation of financial systems and processes
• Burn rate and runway monitoring
• Forecasting
• Metric and KPI reviews
• Simple financial modeling

In other words, this service package gives your startup the high-level financial guidance it needs, backed by forecasting and financial modeling. It means you get a pro who will keep a finger on the pulse of your key metrics and performance indicators while also monitoring your runway and burn rate. This positions them to make strong, informed recommendations for your startup. 

We’ve also chosen to add automation into our seed-stage CFO services because we’ve seen how powerful this can be for growing companies. When we implement automation early, it can scale with your business while saving you time and effort as you grow. If you wait to deploy financial automation tools, you’ll have a much bigger task to handle in setting them up. And you’ll miss out on efficiency and transparency gains now. 

Series A CFO advisory services

This package builds on the services we offer to seed-stage startups to provide the additional support companies need once they reach or approach Series A. 

It includes:

• Annual budgeting and forecasting
• Automation of financial systems and processes
• Advanced financial modeling
• Cap table consultation, including valuation and dilution calculation
• Cash flow forecasting
• Financial policies and procedures manual development
• Metric and KPI reviews
• Support in hiring, training, and coaching on-staff junior finance employees 

In other words, you still get the CFO services you need to keep your company on the right financial track. But you also get help in key areas, like managing your cap table to protect you from excess dilution. 

At the same time, this CFO advisory package helps to set your business up for long-term financial success. We can help you get any junior finance team members that you bring on board up to speed. We work with them on everything from general accounting best practices to procedures and processes at your specific company. 

Our on-call CFO

All of our CFO advisory services are backed by Rakesh Shah, an experienced CFO who focuses on the tech space. Shah has worked with entities ranging from ultra-lean tech startups to publicly traded companies. That means he knows what works in your early stages, but he can help you build toward a successful financial future, too.  

If you want to explore what CFO advisory services could do for you, we try to make it as easy as possible. Contact our team and we can schedule an initial video call. This lets us learn more about your startup so we can recommend the right package for your specific needs and your growth plans. 

If you decide to work with us, Shah and our team of tech startup finance specialists come alongside your company to help you on an ongoing basis. You get the support you need to feel confident about your financial management in 2024 and beyond.