Fundraising CFO for Seed and Series A Companies
By Tom McCollum, ACA · Former KPMG Corporate Finance · Compass & Ledger
The short answer
A fundraising CFO takes ownership of the numbers side of your raise: the model, valuation, financial slides, data room and investor Q&A. It suits companies raising $500k to $20m that need senior, transaction-experienced finance for the raise but don't yet need a full-time CFO.
Raising capital is a finance project as much as a sales one. Investors will test your model, question your valuation and work through your data room. If the numbers don't hold together, the round slows down or reprices. We act as your fundraising CFO for the length of the raise. Our advisers come from Big Four corporate finance and have worked on 100+ completed transactions, so we build materials the way the other side of the table reads them.
What a fundraising CFO actually does
Before you go out
- Sizes the round from runway and milestones, not valuation.
- Builds an investor-ready three-statement model.
- Models dilution, including SAFEs, notes and the option pool.
- Prepares a valuation using comparables, precedent transactions and, where relevant, discounted cash flow.
- Produces the financial slides, executive summary, sources and uses, and pro forma cap table.
- Builds the data room and a written Q&A pack.
During the raise
- Handles financial questions from investors and their analysts.
- Updates the model and materials as the process moves.
- Reviews term sheets for their financial effect: effective pre-money, preferences and dilution.
- Keeps due diligence moving.
Where founders most often go wrong without one
- Numbers that don't match. Deck, model and accounts telling different stories, most often on gross margin.
- Underestimated dilution. Stacked SAFEs and an option pool increase can cost several points of ownership.
- A model investors can't use. Hardcoded numbers and no clear assumptions.
- A valuation that can't be defended. Too high with no support, or accepting the first number offered.
- Slow due diligence. A data room built after the term sheet.
When to bring us in
Ideally 30–120 days before you go to market. Earlier if your historic numbers need tidying first. If you're already mid-raise and questions are piling up, we can step in there too.
Fundraising CFO or full-time CFO?
Most companies at seed and Series A don't need a full-time CFO yet, but they do need one for the raise. A fundraising CFO gives you senior finance for the weeks that matter without a permanent salary. After the round, many companies move to ongoing fractional support until they're ready to hire.
How we're different
- One accountable adviser. The person in the first meeting does the work.
- One source of numbers. Model, valuation, deck and data room built together.
- Both sides of the table. Big Four corporate finance and investment experience.
- Defined scope and fee agreed before work begins.
Frequently asked questions
What does a fundraising CFO cost?
Our Investor Ready in 30 Days engagement is quoted on the call, based on the size and complexity of the raise.
Do you introduce us to investors?
Introductions aren't part of the engagement, but where we see a genuine fit in our network, we'll make them.
Can you work with messy books?
Yes. We can build investor-ready materials alongside tidying the numbers. Where the books need a full rebuild first, our 60-Day Finance Reset is the starting point.
Thirty minutes. No pitch. Your situation, and what we would do about it.
If we are a fit, we will say so. If we are not, you will hear that too, and where to look instead. Either way you leave with a clearer picture of what good finance looks like for your business.