for post-seed founders who need a CFO three days a month — not another full-time seat on the cap table.
Elderflower Advisory runs your 13-week cash forecast, board pack, and raise model on a fixed monthly engagement. Based in Nashville, working with growth-stage teams from seed through Series B.
a startup rarely dies from a bad quarter. it dies from a founder who learns about the bad quarter six weeks too late.
the operating premise of every engagement
the operating rhythm — the same six artifacts, every month
13-week cash model
A rolling short-horizon forecast rebuilt every Monday against actuals, so the runway figure in your head matches the bank balance. Every version ships with base, bull and bear lines and the assumptions behind each.
monthly close review
Books reconciled and a variance memo against plan in your inbox by the tenth business day — no waiting on the bookkeeper.
board pack
A narrative-plus-metrics deck investors will actually read: cash position, plan vs. actual, the two numbers that moved, and the ask. Drafted, not just formatted.
raise model
Bottoms-up ARR build with dilution and 409A-aware cap table scenarios — ready for a data room, not a napkin.
KPI instrumentation
Burn multiple, CAC payback, net revenue retention and gross margin wired directly to your billing and ledger data.
the founder's one-pager
A single screen you can open before any investor call: runway in weeks, projected cash-out date, gross margin trend, and this month's largest variance.
three ways to put a CFO on the desk
monthly CFO
The core engagement: three days a month on your finance function, from close through board narrative. For post-seed teams past their first hire but before a full-time CFO makes sense.
- 3 days / month on the desk
- 13-week rolling cash model
- monthly close review + variance memo
- KPI dashboard, wired to your data
- the founder's one-pager, updated weekly
fundraise
A defined project scoped to your round: the model, the data room, and the diligence support to get to a term sheet with your numbers holding up under scrutiny.
- bottoms-up operating & ARR model
- dilution + cap table scenarios
- data room build & hygiene review
- investor Q&A prep + metric defense
- diligence support through signing
board & reporting
For teams whose close is already solid but whose board communication isn't. A lighter engagement focused on the deck, the update, and the metrics narrative.
- quarterly board deck, drafted
- monthly metrics pack
- investor update template + narrative
- KPI definitions your board agrees on
- ad-hoc analysis, two asks a month
base · bull · bear
Every model ships with three runway lines and the assumptions behind each — so a board conversation starts from a range, not a single hopeful number.
closed by day 10
Books reconciled and a plan-vs-actual variance memo in your inbox by the tenth business day of every month, without chasing the bookkeeper.
what the first ninety days usually cover
A first quarter rarely starts with a forecast. It starts with a reconciliation: getting the ledger to a state where the numbers can be trusted, then wiring the KPI feed so the dashboard updates itself instead of a founder rebuilding it in a spreadsheet at 11pm.
By month two the 13-week model is live, the close cadence lands by day ten, and the first board pack goes out with a narrative rather than a wall of tables. By month three the raise model exists — a bottoms-up build you can defend line by line — whether or not a round is imminent.
The point isn't more reports. It's that the founder walks into every board seat and investor call already knowing the answer to the hard question, because it was on the one-pager that morning.
from intake call to on the desk in two weeks
the intake call
Thirty minutes. We map your runway, your raise timeline, and where the reporting currently breaks. If a fractional CFO isn't what you need yet, this call ends with that said plainly.
the diagnostic
Two weeks reviewing your ledger, existing model, cap table, and last board pack. You get a written read on what's solid, what's fragile, and exactly which of the three engagements fits.
on the desk
Three days a month, month-to-month, no annual lock-in. Close review, cash model, and a board-ready pack from the first cycle. Cancel with thirty days' notice.
the job isn't to produce more reports. it's to make sure you never walk into a board meeting surprised by your own numbers.