FRACTIONAL CFO
For owners who have outgrown a bookkeeper and aren't ready for a full-time CFO. Someone to run the numbers with you before you commit, not explain them afterwards.
Book a callSmall decisions get analysed. Which software, which supplier, whether to renew the lease on the printer. Then something genuinely consequential comes up, a second location or a senior hire or an offer for the business, and it gets decided over a weekend on instinct and a bank balance.
That isn't carelessness. It's that the people around most owners are equipped to report on what happened, not to model what might. So the question gets asked to whoever is nearest, which is usually a friend who runs a different kind of business entirely.
Opening a second location.
What it costs before it earns, how long the gap lasts, and whether the first location can carry it.
A senior hire.
Not whether you can afford the salary. Whether you can afford the salary through the quiet quarter.
Changing how the business is structured.
Structure affects what you keep. It's worth revisiting when the business has changed shape and nobody has looked since.
Raising money or taking on debt.
What the numbers need to look like before you ask, and what the terms actually cost you over time.
Repricing.
What you need to charge to be profitable rather than busy, and what happens to volume if you move.
Selling, eventually.
What a buyer will look at, and what you'd want to have been doing for two years before that conversation starts.
Twenty minutes, and no pricing pressure on the call.
Book a callModel the decision before you make it.
Not a spreadsheet emailed over. A conversation where we put the numbers on the table, argue about the assumptions, and you leave knowing what you're actually betting.
Tell you the true cost of what you sell.
Including the parts most owners leave out. Delivery time, rework, the client who needs three calls a week. You can't price properly without it.
Keep a long view running.
Where the business is heading over years rather than quarters, updated as things change, so a decision gets weighed against the direction and not just this month.
Say no.
The most valuable thing a CFO does is talk you out of things. If the numbers say don't, we'll say don't, and we'll show you why.
Fractional CFO means different things at different firms, so here's the boundary.
It isn't a full-time CFO.
It's senior financial thinking at the frequency a business your size actually needs, which is not five days a week. If you need someone in every operational conversation, you need to hire.
It isn't investment or wealth advice.
We work on the business. Personal financial planning, investments and wealth management are a different profession and we'll point you to people who do it properly.
It isn't fundraising.
We'll get the numbers ready and tell you what a lender or investor will pull at. We don't make introductions or run the raise.
Being a founder is fraught with uncertainty and ambiguity. That’s why all my time should be spent solving the strategic opportunities I have in front of me. Any distraction or lack of clarity reduces my chances of being successful. That’s why our relationship with Liberty Horizons has been so valuable. When it comes to the nuts and bolts of finance, having a trusted partner that can ebb and flow with my business is paramount, and Liberty Horizons plays that role commendably. Sometimes I just want to hear, ‘Don’t worry about it, we got it.’ I can’t tell you how welcoming those words are after 50 hours of brain-straining, sometimes existential decisions, on a weekly basis. They ‘got it’, so I don’t need to.
Gary L.
Founder | Everme
A named team.
You get the names of the people doing your work in week one. Not a support queue, not a ticket number.
A direct channel.
Dedicated Slack or WhatsApp. Questions get answered the same day, not the following month.
A full-time North American team.
No contractors, no offshore handoffs, no one learning your business from a spreadsheet overnight.
Plain English.
If we use a word you would have to look up, that's our mistake. Say so and we'll explain it properly.
You'll have a number in writing before anyone starts.
Book a callMost people who ask for a CFO need the layer below it first. In the first thirty days we work out which, and we'll tell you honestly.
Book a call.
Twenty minutes. Tell us the decision that's actually in front of you.
We scope it.
Priced to the complexity of the business and how often you need us in the room. You get the number in writing before anyone starts.
We start with the decision you called about.
Not a three month discovery phase.
Twenty minutes. Bring the decision you're stuck on and you'll get a straight view on it, whether or not you end up working with us. No pricing pressure on the call.
Book a callStart the conversation. We’ll come prepared with the right financial insights.
