Chief Financial Officer

Core Responsibilities

• Own the three-statement financial model and the driver-based operating plan; run scenario and sensitivity analysis.
• Own cash: 13-week cash forecast, runway tracking, burn multiple, and the trigger points for cutting spend.
• Close the books monthly on a predictable calendar (target: 10–15 business days at Series A, under 10 by Series B).
• Define and defend metric definitions — ARR, bookings, churn, CAC, LTV, magic number — so nobody can quietly move the goalposts.
• Build the annual budget with each functional leader and hold them to plan-versus-actual variance reviews.
• Own the audit relationship, revenue recognition policy (ASC 606), and the transition from cash to accrual GAAP reporting.
• Own the cap table, 409A valuations, option pool modeling, and dilution analysis for each proposed round.
• Build the finance function: controller, FP&A analyst, accounting systems, and the move off spreadsheets.
• Manage tax, insurance (D&O, E&O, cyber), banking relationships, venture debt, and treasury policy.
• Support pricing and packaging decisions with margin and cohort analysis.

What Investors Want From the CFO

More than any other executive, the CFO is judged by investors on the reliability of what they produce. The bar rises sharply from Series A to Series B.

• Numbers that reconcile. Board deck, monthly update, data room, and accounting system must agree to the dollar; a mismatch found in diligence damages trust for the entire round.
• A defensible ARR bridge: opening ARR, new, expansion, contraction, churn, closing ARR — reconciled every single month.
• Cohort analysis showing retention and expansion by signup period, plus net revenue retention and logo retention.
• Unit economics with stated assumptions: CAC, CAC payback in months, gross margin by product line, LTV/CAC, and the magic number.
• Burn multiple (net burn ÷ net new ARR) trending in the right direction — the metric that most decides Series B pricing.
• A 13-week cash forecast and a runway number the CFO will defend, including a downside case with named cuts and dates.
• Clean, auditable books: accrual GAAP, ASC 606 revenue recognition, no unreconciled balances, no commingled personal expenses.
• A tight data room: financials, cap table, contracts, customer list with revenue, employee census, IP assignments, and prior board minutes.
• Timely reporting. Monthly investor updates within ten business days of close; quarterly reporting packages per the investment agreement.
• Proactive bad news. Investors expect the CFO to raise a miss the week it becomes visible, not at the quarterly meeting.
• Compliance hygiene: 409A current, 83(b) elections filed, state tax registrations, payroll and equity administration clean.

Board Presentations & Investor Relations

Board and investor communication is a primary deliverable of the CFO role, not an administrative task attached to it.

• Build the financial section of every board deck: P&L versus budget, cash and runway, ARR bridge, cohorts, headcount plan, and KPI dashboard.
• Circulate the deck 48–72 hours in advance and pre-wire anything controversial with each board member individually.
• Present live for 20–30 minutes: results versus plan, the two or three variances that matter, the reforecast, and the decisions being requested.
• Lead the reforecast discussion each quarter — what changed in the assumptions and what the company will do about it.
• Prepare board consent items: option grants, budget approval, audit engagement, debt facilities, and the audit committee package where one exists.
• Own the monthly investor update: KPIs, cash, hires, wins, misses, and specific asks. Consistency of format matters as much as content.
• Maintain a live investor CRM for the next round — target funds, warm intros, and quarterly touchpoints starting six to twelve months out.
• Run fundraising execution: data room, model, diligence Q&A, reference coordination, term-sheet comparison, and dilution scenarios.
• Manage post-close mechanics: closing binder, wire logistics, updated cap table, side letters, and information rights obligations.
• Handle existing-investor pro-rata conversations and, when needed, secondary or bridge financing.

Metrics They Own

• ARR/MRR, net new ARR, and growth rate; the fully reconciled ARR bridge.
• Net revenue retention (Series B benchmark: 110%+ for enterprise SaaS) and gross logo retention.
• Burn multiple, net burn, and months of runway.
• CAC, CAC payback period (typically targeted under 18 months), LTV/CAC, and the magic number.
• Gross margin by product line and by customer segment.
• Rule of 40 as the company approaches later rounds.
• Days sales outstanding, collections, and deferred revenue balance.

Typical Backgrounds

• VP of Finance at a venture-backed company who has been through at least one round from the inside.
• Investment banking or growth-equity background, strongest on modeling and fundraising, usually paired with a strong controller.
• Big Four audit background moving into industry, strongest on controls and audit readiness.
• Prior startup CFO who has taken a company from Series A through C, or through an acquisition.
• At Series A this is very often a fractional CFO working one or two days per week alongside an outsourced bookkeeper.

Qualifications & Skills

• CPA, MBA, or CFA — a CPA carries the most weight for audit and controls, an MBA or banking background for strategic finance.
• GAAP accounting and ASC 606 revenue recognition in a subscription business.
• Advanced three-statement modeling and scenario planning.
• Fluency in SaaS or the relevant industry metric set, including cohort and unit-economics analysis.
• Systems experience: QuickBooks or NetSuite, an FP&A tool, billing and revenue systems, and equity administration platforms.
• Direct fundraising experience: has run a data room and survived financial diligence.
• Board-level communication — the ability to explain a miss in two sentences without defensiveness.

First 90 Days After the Round

• Rebuild or validate the operating model and agree the plan with each functional owner.
• Tighten the monthly close and publish a fixed reporting calendar.
• Lock metric definitions in a written document and get board agreement on them.
• Establish the 13-week cash forecast and the runway trigger points.
• Standardize the board deck and monthly investor update templates.
• Clean the cap table, refresh the 409A, and confirm all equity documentation is filed.
• Assess audit readiness and select an auditor if the company is approaching that threshold.

Common Failure Modes

• Reporting numbers that later have to be restated — the fastest way to lose board confidence permanently.
• Hiring a big-company CFO who needs a team of eight to produce anything.
• Staying purely a scorekeeper instead of shaping pricing, hiring, and capital decisions.
• Waiting until runway is under six months to start the next raise; the process typically takes four to six months.
• Letting each function invent its own version of ARR or churn.

Compensation Benchmarks

Fractional Series A CFOs typically cost $5k–$12k per month. Full-time Series B CFOs generally earn $275k–$375k base with 0.5%–1.5% equity; a first-time CFO with a strong VP Finance track record sits at the lower end.

Ranges reflect typical US venture-backed companies and vary widely by market, sector, and location.