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How to Get Investor-Ready Without Hiring a Full-Time CFO

You don’t need a full-time CFO to get ready for investors. In fact, most early-stage startups shouldn’t hire one. It’s expensive, often premature, and rarely the best use of resources. But that doesn’t mean you can wing it when it comes to financials. Investors still expect a level of clarity, structure and confidence that goes well beyond spreadsheets and guesswork.

Here’s how you can get investor-ready without bringing on a full-time CFO.

Know what investors actually care about

You don’t need a 100-page financial model or five-year forecasts that pretend to know the unknowable. Investors want to see that you understand your numbers, your levers, and your plan for growth. They’re looking for:

A clean, accurate P&L and Cash Flow
And understanding of runway and burn rate
A good understanding of your Unit Economics
A clear funding ask, and the milestones it’ll help you reach
Realistic use of funds

You should be able to speak to each of these confidently, even if you’re not the one building the spreadsheets.

Get your financials in order

Before you think about raising, tidy up the basics. This means:

Up-to-date bookkeeping
Clear categorisation of revenue and costs
A move from cash to accrual accounting
A simple reporting structure that you understand

It sounds obvious, but messy accounts are one of the biggest red flags investors see early on. You don’t need bells and whistles, but you do need your house in order.

Build a fit-for-purpose model

You don’t need the fanciest financial model. You do need a model that fits your stage and shows how you think about your business. That might mean:

A simple 12- to 36-month forecast
Base case, best case, and worst case scenarios
Key assumptions clearly laid out
Growth drivers mapped to spend

A good model helps you get clear on what you’re asking for and why. It also shows investors that you understand the trade-offs ahead.

Bring in experienced help (without hiring full-time)

This is where a fractional CFO can be a game-changer. Instead of hiring someone full-time, you bring in an experienced operator who’s worked with early-stage businesses and knows what investors are looking for.

They’ll help you:

Build or clean up your financial model
Stress-test your assumptions
Structure your fundraising narrative
Join calls or investor meetings if needed

You get the strategic input without the long-term commitment or full-time salary.

Practice the narrative, not just the numbers

Investors invest in stories, not just spreadsheets. You’ll need to connect your numbers to your vision in a way that’s compelling and grounded. That means being able to explain:

Where the business is now
Where it’s going
How much capital you need to get there
What success looks like in 12, 18, or 24 months

This is where founders often trip up. They know the product and the mission, but they haven’t linked the numbers to the story. A good fractional CFO will help you bridge that gap.

Final thought

Getting investor-ready doesn’t mean becoming a finance expert overnight. It means showing that you take the financial side seriously, even if it’s not your background. With the right support, you can build the confidence and credibility investors look for, without hiring a full-time CFO before you need one.

If you’re close to raising or thinking about it in the next 6 to 12 months, it’s worth bringing in a fractional CFO early. The earlier you start prepping, the smoother the process will be.

How to build a cash flow forecast that doesn’t fall apart

Cash flow is the thing that quietly kills a lot of startups. Not lack of funding. Not a broken product. Just running out of money and not seeing it coming. And while everyone says “keep an eye on your cash”, few founders know how to actually build a forecast that holds up for more than a few weeks.

Here’s how to build one that is useful, flexible, and doesn’t fall apart the moment things change. Because things willchange.

Start with reality, not guesses

Most early-stage forecasts fall apart because they are based on what you hope will happen, not what actually is. Start with your current bank balance and actual fixed costs: salaries, rent, subscriptions, contractors. Those numbers don’t lie, and they create the baseline of your monthly burn.

Then layer in realistic expectations around revenue. Not your “best case” pipeline. Look at your past conversion rates, the length of your sales cycle, and actual close rates. If you haven’t made a sale yet, assume slow ramp-up. Optimism in the forecast doesn’t make money show up faster.

Keep it simple

A good cash flow forecast can (and often should) live in a spreadsheet. Don’t overcomplicate it. Structure it monthly. Break it down into three sections:

Cash In (e.g. customer payments, funding)
Cash Out (e.g. salaries, software, marketing spend)
Net Cash Flow (what’s left or needed)

Then keep a running total of how much cash you’ll have in the bank at the end of each month. That line is the one that tells you how long you’ve got.

Build in scenarios

Don’t just build one forecast. Build three:

Base case: What you expect to happen if things go as planned
Downside case: If sales are slower, funding takes longer, or a major client churns
Upside case: If revenue lands early or you raise more than expected

This isn’t about being pessimistic. It is about staying ahead of problems. If your downside case shows you running out of money in six months, that’s a gift. You’ve just bought yourself time to fix it.

Update it monthly (at least)

Cash flow forecasts are not “set and forget”. You should be updating your numbers monthly. Compare what actually happened with what you forecasted. Where were you off? What surprised you? Use that insight to get more accurate next time.

A forecast only becomes a real tool when you use it as a decision-making framework. When you say, “If we hire this person, what happens to our runway?” Or “If we delay this launch, can we still hit payroll in October?”

Bring in help if you need it

If you’re a founder juggling product, hiring, and fundraising, it’s totally normal to feel overwhelmed by financial modelling. But that doesn’t mean you can ignore it. This is where a fractional CFO comes in. They will not just build you a forecast that works. They will help you understand how to use it.

At EmergeOne, we’ve built cash flow forecasts for early-stage startups and high-growth scaleups alike. We keep them founder-friendly and investor-ready, so you are never flying blind.

Want help building a cash flow forecast that actually works?
Let’s talk. Book a free call and we’ll walk through where you are and what you need to get visibility, control, and peace of mind around your numbers.

Do you need a CFO or just a bookkeeper?

If you’re building a business and wondering whether it’s time to bring in some financial help, you’re not alone. One of the most common questions founders ask is, “Do I need a CFO, or can a bookkeeper handle what I’ve got going on?”

The short answer: it depends on the stage of your business, your goals, and the complexity of your finances.

But if you want to learn more, the first thing you need to do is to understand the difference between a bookkeeper’s and a CFO’s responsibilities.

In simple words, think of a bookkeeper as the person who keeps your financial engine running day to day. They handle tasks like:

Recording transactions
Reconciling bank accounts
Managing payroll
Making sure bills get paid
Generating basic financial reports like your P&L and balance sheet

A good bookkeeper keeps your books clean and accurate so you can stay organized and avoid headaches when it’s time to file your accounts. If you’re an early-stage business with straightforward income and expenses, a bookkeeper might be exactly what you need.

A CFO (Chief Financial Officer) operates at a much more strategic level. They use your financial data to help you make big-picture decisions. That can include:

Forecasting cash flow and helping you plan ahead
Building budgets and financial models
Helping with fundraising or manage investor relations
Optimising your margins and spending
Advising on pricing, hiring, and growth strategies

In short, a CFO helps you understand the “why” behind the numbers and what to do next. They’re thinking six months or two years ahead, not just closing the books each month.

So Which One Do You Need? Here’s a quick gut check:

You probably need a bookkeeper if:

The Sweet Spot: Having Both

In many growing companies, the ideal setup is both a bookkeeper and a fractional CFO. The bookkeeper keeps the records clean. The CFO makes sense of those records and helps you chart the path forward.

They do very different jobs, and having one doesn’t replace the other.

Hiring a bookkeeper is about staying organised. Hiring a CFO is about getting strategic.

You don’t have to build a full finance team from scratch. With EmergeOne, you get the right people at the right time – without overhiring or overpaying.

Book a call with us to learn more!

What to expect from your first fractional CFO?

So, you’ve hit that inflection point. Things are growing, numbers are getting messy, and your gut isn’t quite enough to steer the business anymore. You need financial clarity, but you’re not ready for a full-time CFO just yet.

This is exactly when hiring a fractional CFO might be just what you need to change the game.

A fractional CFO gives you access to senior financial leadership without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. They plug into your business on a flexible basis, help you build strategy and strategic insight, and bring a level of financial discipline that most startups don’t realise they’re missing until they have it.

Here’s what to expect when you bring one on board.

A good fractional CFO doesn’t just build models or clean up reports. They help you see what’s coming next and how to prepare for it. This might be raising a round, managing runway, understanding your margins, building a proper forecast, or something you hadn’t even considered. Fractional CFOs can help turn your goals into a financial plan that actually delivers.

They’ll look at what’s happening now, where the risks are, and what levers you can pull to move faster, smarter, but with the sort of discipline that means you’re not burning through capital faster than you should be.

Don’t be surprised if your first few sessions feel less like finance and more like a deep dive into the business. They’ll want to know everything: revenue streams, costs, churn, team plans, roadmap, customer behaviour, product and all the things that make your business tick. All of it to make sure that you are receiving the best advice and service possible.

If your current setup is a mix of spreadsheets, gut feeling, and crossed fingers, you can expect that to change fast. Your CFO will set up regular reporting, cash flow forecasting, KPI tracking, and a financial rhythm that makes decision-making a whole lot easier.

You’ll stop wondering how much runway you have or whether that new hire is affordable. You’ll know.

Additionally, if you’re gearing up for a fundraise, a fractional CFO is a huge asset. They’ll help build your model, make sure your numbers match your narrative, and get you ready for investor scrutiny. They can also support calls, prep materials, handle due diligence, and even work with you on term sheet negotiations.

Basically, they help you show up with confidence and numbers to back it up.

One of the best things about a fractional CFO is that you don’t need them in the business all the time. Some weeks you might need them in deep, especially during a raise or period of rapid growth. Other times, you might just need a few hours to review the numbers and plan ahead.

It’s designed to flex around your stage, your priorities, and your budget.

The best fractional CFOs bring experience beyond finance. They’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. They understand product-market fit, pricing strategy, hiring plans, investor relationships, and operational efficiency. They’re sounding boards. Partners. Quiet operators who make a big impact behind the scenes.

At EmergeOne, we’ve provided fractional CFO support to dozens of high-growth businesses from Seed to Series B and beyond. Companies like AutoGen A.I, ThinkSono, BioCorteX, and GoInstore (who we helped through a 9-figure exit) have all seen the value of fractional CFO support at the right stage.

Our team is made up of experienced finance leaders who get startups. And we’re trusted by VCs too, many of whom refer their portfolio companies to us when they hit that critical financial tipping point.

If you’re thinking about getting your first CFO, but you’re not sure what’s right for your business, let’s talk. We’ll help you figure out what you actually need and whether it makes sense to go fractional right now.

Call us, email us, or fill out the form on our site. We’re here when you’re ready to take the next step.

What does a good financial model actually look like?

If you’ve ever opened a spreadsheet with 20 tabs and formulas referencing other formulas buried five layers deep, you’re not alone. A lot of financial models are built to impress, not to be useful. But here’s the thing: a good financial model shouldn’t make your head spin. It should make decisions easier.

So what does a good financial model actually look like? Let’s break it down.

1. It tells a story

A good financial model is more than just numbers in a grid. It tells the story of your business. It should reflect how you acquire customers, what it costs to serve them, and how money flows in and out.

If a potential investor or internal team member can’t see how your business works by looking at the model, it’s not doing its job.

2. It’s Built Around Drivers, Not Just Outcomes

Your model should be built from the ground up using the real drivers of your business. For example:

How many leads do you generate per month?
What’s your conversion rate?
How much do you charge per customer?
What’s your churn rate?

A good model lets you tweak those assumptions and instantly see the impact. That’s the whole point. You’re not trying to predict the future. You’re trying to understand what could happen if certain things go well, or don’t.

3. It’s Easy to Navigate

No one wants to go on a treasure hunt just to find where revenue is calculated. A clean model is well-organized and intuitive. Think three to five tabs max:

Inputs
Revenue
Costs
Summary / Output
(Maybe) a cap table or hiring plan

Color-coding helps, too. Inputs in blue, formulas in black, outputs in bold. Keep it simple.

4. It’s Built to Flex, Not Break

A good model doesn’t fall apart the second you change a number. If you bump up headcount or change your pricing, the downstream effects should flow through automatically.

That’s why good structure matters. Think modular. Group assumptions. Avoid hardcoded numbers buried in formulas. Make it easy to test best, base, and worst-case scenarios without rebuilding the whole thing.

5. It Focuses on What Matters

You don’t need 300 line items to understand your burn rate or runway. Your model should focus on the metrics that matter for your stage:

Early-stage? Focus on burn, runway, CAC, and revenue growth.
Scaling? Layer in gross margin, contribution margin, and headcount by function.
Fundraising? Tie your ask to milestones, not just months of cash.

The goal is clarity. Not complexity.

How EmergeOne Can Help

At EmergeOne, we don’t just build financial models — we build decision-making tools tailored to how your business actually runs. Whether you’re preparing for a raise, planning key hires, or just trying to understand your burn, we create models that are clean, flexible, and founder-friendly. We make sure the numbers work, but more importantly, we make sure you understand how they work — and how to use them.

Cost of hiring Fractional CFOs

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering whether your startup needs a CFO but can’t justify the cost of hiring one full-time, you’re not alone. Many founders reach that critical inflection point when the business has outgrown hacked together spreadsheets and needs strategic financial guidance, but isn’t quite ready to take on the salary of a full-time executive. And this is when finding someone who provides fractional CFO services can come to the rescue.

If you are not sure what a fractional CFO is or what the costs of hiring a fractional CFO are, then this blog is for you. We will break down fractional CFO fees, services and whether or not hiring one makes sense for your business.

While you can learn more about the specific details of what a fractional CFO does here, essentially, a fractional CFO is a part-time or outsourced Chief Financial Officer that helps with strategic financial decisions, for example, with KPIs or metrics, cash flow or fundraising. CFO’s handle financial modeling for startups and other businesses, pitch decks, and due diligence, while ensuring smooth investor relations and board reporting.

Whilst all of this may sound great, how much should you expect to spend when hiring a CFO? How much does a fractional CFO cost?

There are several factors that influence fractional CFO pricing, the costs usually vary depending on the scope of work, the CFO’s experience, as well as your industry. That being said, here’s a general breakdown:

Fractional CFO’s for startups and small businesses in the UK usually charge £1,000 to £1,500 + VAT as a daily rate or £2,000 to £8,000 + VAT as a monthly retainer. Geography is a factor that influences prices as well, for example, while in the UK monthly retainer is £2,000 to 8,000, in the US prices can vary from $3000 to $10,000 per month. There is also an option to discuss custom pricing based on your goals – for example, when your goal is a fundraising sprint or M&A preparation, you might be able to structure a different fee with your CFO service based on the scope of the project.

Some fractional CFOs work one or two days a week, others are on-call only during critical business periods. The right setup depends on your stage, structure, and specific pain points, which are critical to discuss at the initial stages of engaging with a fractional CFO.

Here at EmergeOne, our experience comes specifically from placing the right fractional CFO from our team in your business – we specialise in VC-backed startups and scale-ups from seed to Series B. We are trusted by VC’s, which you can see first hand by checking out our podcast – Nothing Ventured – approximately 700,000 monthly listeners across YouTube, Spotify and other platforms where our founder Aarish Shah connects with his guests, talking about the usual challenges VC-backed startups face when it comes to financial decisions for small businesses and relationships with investors.

Since launching, we have successfully implemented fractional CFO support in dozens of businesses, some examples of which include AutoGen A.I, BioCorteX, ThinkSono, and GoInstore (whom our team took through a 9 figure exit) as well as many more. These businesses have found real value in using our fractional CFO services and found the cost difference between the fractional CFO and full-time CFO hugely beneficial from a VC-backed start-up perspective, but especially – with our experience working with scaling businesses. Many have mentioned our deep knowledge in the area and the way in which we care deeply about the companies we work with, priding ourselves on bringing strategic finance to teams, not just helping out with spreadsheets.

If you want to learn more about how we can help your business, do not hesitate to get in touch by either calling, emailing us or filling out our contact form here. Let’s see how we can help you grow your business better!

What does a Fractional CFO do?

If you have never worked in finance, it can be very difficult to understand the differences in roles and responsibilities of individual members of the finance team. As a result it is very easy to assume that you can find one person that can do both the operational and strategic work. But the reality is that these are two very different skillsets, and, in growing businesses, the most appropriate person to lead the strategic finance function is a CFO, and for many businesses that haven’t yet reached a certain level of scale, a fractional CFO.

So what is it that a fractional CFO actually does?

At EmergeOne, we tend to break down the fractional CFO’s role as follows:

Capital Management

CFOs help to manage capital (aka cash!) in the business, indeed we would argue that unless you are at a certain level of revenue, or have raised a significant amount of capital either from investors or lenders, then you might not yet require a CFO, whether they are a fractional CFO or full-time. Managing cash means monitoring the runway of the business (how long the cash in the business will last) based on its average burn (how much cash the business either generates or spends in a given period of time – typically one month). For example, if a business has £1m in the bank and ‘burns’ £100k per month, they would have a runway of 10 months (£1m divided by £100k). Obviously most businesses are not so simplistic, they may have revenue coming in or growing costs and these need to be understood and modeled for the fractional CFO to be able to predict – within reason – the burn and runway.

Capital Allocation

Interlinked with capital management is capital allocation, or where a business should spend their cash. Fractional CFOs will be critical to setting budgets for the business and helping decide when and where to spend money. This might mean making a decision whether to trade off between hiring a new Sales Manager or hiring a new Back-End Engineer. Equally it might be looking at service providers and deciding who will provide the most benefit balanced against the cost of engaging with them. But capital allocation may also include an element of treasury management, knowing when and where to invest ‘spare’ cash in interest bearing deposits or other treasury instruments that can help with the company’s working capital requirements.

Capital Structuring

Fractional CFOs will be intimately involved in looking at the capital stack of the business, that is to say the balance between the amount of debt the business has (how leveraged it is) and how much equity it has. Both of these are incredibly important for a fast growth business, equity does not need to be repaid, however can be more expensive in the longer run than debt because it dilutes ownership. But debt needs to be repaid, and if the business is not generating sufficient free cash flow to repay the debt, this can put the business in a precarious position. This is why it is imperative to have an experience finance professional in the business to understand these complexities, and a fractional CFO is often best placed to do this.

Capital Raising

Clearly, one of the most important roles of a fractional CFO is to assist in the fundraising activities of the business in order to finance the business. This may be as simple as finding working capital solutions like overdrafts or invoice financing to more complex debt products like venture debt or asset financing and, more frequently with high growth businesses, raising investment from venture capital firms, family offices and high net worth individuals, strategic investors or others that might provide capital to help a business scale. They will be involved in building out the financial models to help tell the growth story of the business to show how the lender or investor will make money, in scrutinising and negotiating the loan documents or term sheets to ensure that they are as favourable as possible to the business, responding to due diligence requests and ultimately finalising the funding.

Reporting

One of the key functions of a fractional CFO is to ensure that the business is generating the right information that needs to be reported internally and externally. This includes management accounts on a monthly basis, setting and reporting on key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics that are critical to understanding the business’ ongoing performance against objectives and reporting on variances in actual financial performance against budgets they will have set. Externally, they will report numbers regularly to investors or the board of directors to ensure that they are appropriately informed and appraised of the progress of the business so that they can make decisions around strategic matters.

What else does a fractional CFO get involved in?

Beyond this, fractional CFOs will get involved in any number of ongoing or recurring projects such as setting up and managing employee share schemes, working on research and development, managing the finance function overall, working on projects that influence pricing or margins or giving input into new products or revenue streams. As a business grows, fractional CFOs may get involved in M&A (mergers and acquisitions) activity, and ultimately may even help the business itself get acquired.

This list of activities that a fractional CFO gets involved in is by no means exhaustive, however fundamentally they are involved in defining, setting and monitoring the financial strategy of the business, working with the finance operations team to ensure that the core numbers are correct and translating this into information that can be used by the company’s senior leadership to make appropriate decisions that will help them to scale the business.

What is a fractional CFO?

The world of finance is full of jargon, not least in the titles that get bandied about all the time. Finance Managers, Financial Controllers, Heads of Finance, Management Accountants, FP&A Analysts; the list goes on. But one of the roles that is probably most misunderstood is the CFO – the Chief Financial Officer – and even more so, the fractional CFO. So this article aims to demystify what a fractional CFO is, and when you might want to engage with one.

A fractional CFO is the most senior member of the finance team, typically in a venture capital backed startup or small or medium sized enterprise (SME) who works on a part-time or on-demand basis.

A fractional CFO is a senior financial executive who provides strategic financial guidance and support to these businesses, typically working on a contract basis, offering a range of services tailored to the specific needs of their clients.

Fractional CFOs should be distinguished from interim CFOs who, whilst performing similar functions and also work on a contract basis, are normally full time in a business for a fixed period of time often covering for an existing employee who has gone on maternity or paternity leave or possibly bridging a gap whilst the company searches for a full time hire.

A fractional CFO is most appropriately brought into a business when they start to grow and need more experience in their finance team, but where the work is almost project based rather than ongoing allowing the company to gain valuable expertise without the cost of a full time hire.

Fractional CFOs can help startups with a variety of financial tasks, including:

Developing and implementing financial plans and strategies
Managing cash flow and forecasting
Preparing financial statements and reports
Analyzing financial data and providing insights
Negotiating with lenders and investors
Overseeing the finance operations of the business

Fractional CFOs sit within the leadership team of the business often assisting the owner or senior management to think through complex strategy, helping them to understand how they can finance the business and explaining the financial performance of the business is accessible language to assist with short and longer term decision making.

It is important to note that fractional CFOs rarely work with only one business, rather they will have a portfolio of clients whom they will work with on a regular basis. At EmergeOne, we typically work with clients anywhere between half a day to three days per week and will often work with them anywhere between 12 and 36 months depending on their ongoing requirements.

Whilst they do not work full time for, or exclusively in any one particular business, the value of a fractional CFO lies in their ability to leverage their experience, relationships and knowledge to quickly assess a business and recommend and execute solutions that will help the business grow and fulfill its long term objectives.

Finance is a transferable skill which allows fractional CFOs to use their learnings from one business or business model and use them to have a positive impact on other businesses without compromising or sharing any sensitive information between clients.

In summary, fractional CFOs can be a valuable asset for startups that do not have the resources to hire a full-time CFO. They can provide the financial expertise and guidance that startups need to make informed decisions and achieve their goals at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.