Accounting Buds

VIRTUAL CFO

As a startup you often face new questions and decisions daily, and economic uncertainty only adds to the challenge.  However, opportunity and uncertainty are two sides of the same coin….your support system determines the difference between then!

While learning as you go and wearing multiple hats is thrilling, it isn’t always the best business decision.  Hiring a Virtual CFO means that you don’t have to do everything yourself, and you don’t have to break the bank to hire a full-time executive.

A Virtual CFO is a financial professional who provides CFO services on a part-time or project basis.  Virtual CFO’s bring the expertise of a CFO without the investment of a full-time salary or commitment to a professional with a particular set of background experiences.  In addition, a Virtual CFO brings to your company the benefits of having worked through many of the same problems at other companies, and they can bring the blueprint with them to help your startup work through the same issue (you benefit by having the Virtual CFO bring the answer, while having spent the time learning/figuring it out at another company!)

You might need a Virtual CFO if you
Struggle to create or understand financial reports
Need to pitch financial information to investors and answer questions confidently
Feel overwhelmed by day-to-operations like managing cashflow and paying vendors
Need advice on which financial strategies to choose
Need a plan to extend your cash runway and make your existing capital last longer

Here are a few additional areas where a Virtual CFO
can make a huge difference to your company

Stand Out To Investors

A Virtual CFO knows how to prepare for meetings and how to handle investor questions/concerns.  Virtual CFOs help companies build a robust plan for investors, which add credibility to the numbers, the management team, and the company as a whole.  Investors feel more confident in a Virtual CFO’s due diligence or projections since its their area of expertise.  It also helps that Virtual CFOs aren’t as close to the company as a founder, so they are less likely to be overly optimistic in the eyes of investors. Thorough financial documentation and having a Virtual CFO that can answer technical questions that are hard for founders to answer, will give investors extra confidence, and could mean the difference between a yes by a potential investor and a no. 

  • Give you a third-party perspective on your financial outlook for pitch decks
  • Add credibility to your projections
  • Field complex or technical questions
  • Prepare documents for investors and boards
  • Create an equity and debt financing strategy
Manage Day-to-Day

Think about the first time you tied your shoes versus your most recent time – experience brings speed.  Rather than slowly learning about and creating financial documents, management can hand the task to a Virtual CFO.  Virtual CFOs have the skills, passions, talents, and the experiences in the areas the business needs that maybe even the CEO doesn’t have.

 Letting a Virtual CFO manage day-to-day operations ensures accuracy and compliance while freeing up founder or management team time.  Every moment counts, and a Virtual CFO lets the CEO and management team focus on the areas they can impact most.  A Virtual CFO will implement more efficient and more controlled accounting processes, and sets your company processes up correctly. 

  • Manage day-to-day financial operations
  • Offer on-demand answers to tough questions that arise daily about your business
  • Advise you on in-the-moment financial decisions
  • Ensure your team is staying on track with its budgets, cash flows, and financial plan
  • Implement efficient and controlled accounting processes
  • Give you insight into your financial data
Identify Cost Savings

If you company is concerned about maintaining a solid foundation despite an uncertain economic environment, a Virtual CFO can help.  They’ll identify cost savings, bring attention to risks, and offer suggestions to increase your cash runway.  Sometimes getting a fresh perspective enables you to find opportunities you were too close to see, especial when your Virtual CFO has extensive experience in the cannabis industry!

  • Analyze cash flow and runway
  • Identify cost-saving opportunities within your organization
  • Field complex or technical questions