Dan DeGolier: How Fractional CFOs Become a CEO's 'Strategic Teammate'

In the startups I worked at, we never had spare laptops. 

When we hired someone, we’d order their laptop that day. That’s Startup Cashflow 101: don’t spend money until you have to.

The same principle applies to your leadership team. Hiring a CMO before product-market fit? Too soon. 

And a CEO can handle COO duties for a while. Most seed-stage companies don’t need a full-time CFO either. 

A good controller can handle day-to-day finances, while a fractional CFO can plan future fundraising and create investor-friendly forecasts — all without reducing your runway.

To understand why a fractional CFO might be the smarter move, I spoke to Dan DeGolier, founder of Ascent CFO Solutions.

Runtime 27:21 Episode Breakdown

(1:44) Dan explains Ascent CFO Solution’s origin story.

(4:53) Why so many founders hire full-time CFOs before they actually need to.

(6:33) A list of specific value-adds a fractional CFO can provide.

(7:29) “We might be two days a week or three days a week. But we are very much a part of that team.”

(8:57) Inside Dan’s client onboarding process.

(12:44) “Part of it is getting a handle on cash flow and spend.”

(15:24) “Understanding what the risk factors are to your runway is really critical.”

(18:39) Which stats and KPIs are most important to share with the entire company?

(20:51) If you want cash flow to break even, “be capital efficient to begin with.”

(23:31) Clients “often supplement a VC round with a venture debt round so they can extend that runway a little bit further.”

(25:09) How to interview a CFO if you don’t have an entrepreneurial background.

(26:08) Resources Dan recommends for founders seeking financial discipline.

Links

• Dan DeGolier
• Ascent CFO Solutions
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't, Jim Collins
• Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
• Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business, Gino Wickman
• EOS One®

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Thanks for listening!

– Walter.