Do you actually need a CFO yet?
Founders ask us this a lot, usually apologetically — as if not having a CFO at two million in revenue were a confession. It isn't. Most companies hire finance leadership either too late or, more expensively, too early. Here is the honest version of how we think about it.
Signs you don't need one yet
- Your bookkeeper closes the month on time and nothing in the accounts surprises you.
- You can say, from memory and within ten percent, how much cash you'll have in six months.
- Pricing, hiring and spending decisions feel obvious — because the business is still simple enough that they are.
If that's you: congratulations, keep the money. A good accountant and a simple monthly routine are enough. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
Signs the gap is opening
- You're making commitments — leases, hires, contracts — whose full cost you'll only understand later.
- Investors or the bank are asking questions your spreadsheet can't answer without a weekend of work.
- Revenue is growing but cash keeps feeling tight, and you can't quite explain why.
- Every important decision starts with "let me pull some numbers together" — and takes a week.
None of these means you need a full-time hire. At most growth-stage companies the real need is a few days a month of senior attention: a proper forecast, a clear monthly close, someone who has sat in board meetings before and knows what's coming. That's exactly the gap fractional work exists to fill.
The five-minute test
Try answering these, out loud, without opening a spreadsheet: What is your monthly burn? What is your runway? Which product or customer actually makes you money? If you raised prices ten percent, what would happen?
If you answered all four comfortably, you're fine. If you guessed at two or more, the gap is already costing you — you just haven't seen the invoice yet.
Wondering which side of the line you're on? That's exactly the kind of first conversation we like. It costs nothing and usually helps.