Fractional CFO
Fractional CFO Services for Seed to Series C Startups
For companies that need senior financial judgment without a full-time executive hire, Finative provides strategic CFO support grounded in accurate numbers and real operating context.
The Challenge
Strategy without data is intuition. Data without strategy is noise.
Most founders know they need senior financial leadership. But the traditional path - hiring a full-time CFO at $300K-$400K plus equity - doesn't make sense until you're well past $10M in revenue. So the strategic work doesn't get done, or it gets done by people who don't have the experience to do it well.
Finative's fractional CFOs have led finance at venture-backed companies from pre-seed to Series C. They've navigated down rounds, managed bridge financings, built pricing models from scratch, and presented to boards that include some of the most demanding investors in the market. That experience is available to you - scaled to your stage and your budget.
Scope of Engagement
Senior judgment applied where it matters most.
Strategic Planning
We work alongside founders to build financial roadmaps that connect operating decisions to financial outcomes. Headcount planning, expansion timing, profitability targets - mapped against real constraints, not hypothetical best cases.
Fundraising Preparation
From data room assembly to financial narrative to model stress-testing, we prepare companies to withstand investor diligence. We've sat on both sides of the table - and we know what makes a deal move forward or stall.
Investor & Board Reporting
Monthly and quarterly packages that tell a clear, honest story. Performance against plan, key variance drivers, forward guidance, and management commentary - delivered on time, every cycle, without a week of fire drills.
Pricing & Margin Insight
Your pricing architecture has more impact on gross margin than almost any other lever. We analyze contribution margins by product, segment, and channel to identify where you're leaving money on the table and where discounting is eroding value.
Cap Table & Equity Support
409A coordination, option pool modeling, waterfall analysis, and dilution scenario planning. We make sure founders understand the equity implications of every financing decision before they sign.
Financial Decision-Making Under Pressure
Runway getting tight. A key customer churning. An acquisition offer on the table. These moments don't wait for your next board meeting. Our CFOs provide real-time judgment when the stakes are highest and the data is incomplete.
The Difference
This isn't advisory. It's partnership.
We're not advisors. We're operators.
Our CFOs don't hand you a deck and disappear. They attend your board meetings, join your investor calls, and sit in the room when hard decisions get made.
We have the full picture.
Because we also own accounting and FP&A, your CFO never has to guess whether the numbers are right. They walk into every conversation with complete confidence in the data.
We scale with you.
Need five hours a month? Or twenty? Our engagement flexes with your stage, your complexity, and the intensity of what's happening in the business - without the commitment of a $350K hire.
Also Known As
Outsourced CFO Services, Delivered on a Fractional Model.
Outsourced CFO and fractional CFO describe the same core engagement: a senior finance executive who operates as part of your leadership team without sitting on your payroll full time. The label matters less than the structure. What matters is whether the person doing the work has genuinely operated at your stage and whether the engagement is scoped around outcomes, not hours.
Finative's outsourced CFO engagements are built around a monthly cadence: board pack, weekly cash update, live financial model, and direct executive availability for the decisions that don't wait. See outsourced CFO pricing and scope for a full breakdown, or read what a fractional CFO actually does.
Locations
Fractional CFO Services in New York and Across the US.
Headquarters
New York, NY
Barrow Street, Suite 1, New York, NY 10014. Our US team leads client engagements across the country, with in-person availability in New York and the broader tri-state area for board meetings, investor sessions, and strategic offsites.
Searching for a fractional CFO near you in NYC? Start with a call, and we'll tell you honestly whether Finative is the right fit for your stage.
Operations
Belgrade, Serbia
Our Belgrade office runs the accounting and FP&A workstreams that sit underneath every CFO engagement. It's how our fractional CFOs walk into every board meeting with reconciled numbers and a model that ties to actuals.
US-hours coverage, senior review, and clean handoffs, so the CFO's time is spent on strategy, not fixing the plumbing.
The Integrated Model
A CFO is only as effective as the finance function beneath them.
Built on Accounting
Confidence starts with the books.
Your CFO never has to ask "are these numbers right?" Because the same team that closes the books also prepares the board deck, the variance is already explained, and the data is already reconciled.
See AccountingPowered by FP&A
Strategy needs models that hold up.
When your CFO needs a scenario run, a cohort analysis, or an updated runway projection, it's already built. FP&A provides the analytical engine; the CFO provides the interpretation and the recommendation.
See FP&AClient Testimonials
What Clients Say About Our CFO Support.
"As a founder with a sales background, I knew the revenue story I wanted to tell to investors but couldn't easily translate it into a 5-year financial forecast. We had a model someone else built, which became outdated and didn't feel like something I could confidently defend in due diligence. I wanted something I was part of building and could own. Mike took the time to really understand our business and worked with me to build a driver-based model that broke out the full P&L including revenue by product and customer type with all the assumptions underneath. It was intuitive, dynamic, and something that I can now tweak over time. But the real proof came when the model was battle tested and we were able to successfully raise $200,000. Finative gave me the confidence to tell our story in a way that resonated, and that made all the difference in our fundraising."
Meghan Scanlon
Co-Founder, Aleoop
FAQ
Top Questions About Fractional CFO Services
Related Insights
Fractional CFO Frameworks & Decision Guides
You don't need a CFO on your payroll. You need one in your corner.
Let's talk about where your company is today, what's ahead, and whether a fractional CFO engagement makes sense for your stage.