An anonymised case description from an actual interim CFO mandate. Sector, scale and type of shareholder are stated; the company name is not. All details come from the mandate description on the interim CFO references page. Results are not broken down by date there, so they are given here for the mandate as a whole.
Starting position
A SaaS provider in HR software with more than 50 employees, backed by a venture capital investor. There had been no CFO function until then – the mandate was the first time the role was filled. At the same time a Series A round was coming up.
That starting position differs markedly from a vacancy: there is no existing structure to take over, only one that has to come into being – and it does so under the time pressure of a funding round in which investors expect to see the same documents as in any other process.
Brief
Interim CFO with operational responsibility for the finance function, plus preparing and running the funding round. Mandate type: first-time CFO role and fundraising.
Scope
- Operational responsibility for the finance function
- Preparing and running a Series A round of USD 4 million
- Financial modelling
- Supporting the due diligence
- Investor reporting
Approach
Where a finance function is only just being built, the order matters more than usual: first reportable figures and a cash forecast, then the financial model, then the investor materials. A financial model built on bookkeeping that has not been reconciled cannot be defended in a review.
Investor reporting was built in parallel – not as a by-product of the round but as a running routine that would still hold after closing. The mandate continued beyond the round, which is the rule in this constellation: once the round closes, the reporting obligation towards the new shareholder base begins.
Result
- Series A round of USD 4 million prepared and run
- Financial modelling, due diligence support and investor reporting established
- The operational finance function filled and led for the first time
Duration
20 months, August 2021 to March 2023.
Does this match your situation?
When a round is coming up but nobody in the business owns the finance side, the first question is the numbers, not the pitch deck. What investors expect in financial data is covered in what pitch decks reveal about finance needs after the round. Which staffing models exist is set out in interim CFO, CFO as a Service or a permanent hire. Overview for venture capital investors: Venture Capital.
