Insights

• Your CFO should read the security questionnaire before your engineers do

  Most founders will read that and disagree. Security is an engineering problem. The CFO does spreadsheets. Why would finance see it first?

• Contrary to a16z, AI won't fix your finance

  Recently, a16z published "You Need a New CFO." Two numbers in it are going to change a lot of founder conversations.

• Five questions before the investor's engineer opens your code

  You have a raise on the calendar. The deck is close. The numbers finally tie out. Then...

• Stop building your own financial model

  There's a belief in startup culture that's treated as gospel: a great founder builds their own financial model.

• At $2M ARR and raising next quarter? Wait 90 days.

  This is the advice nobody gives founders, because nobody makes money from it.

• AI wrote your code. Who owns it?

  A two-person team can now ship like ten. Features that used to take a sprint take an afternoon. The demo works. Customers are happy. For a founder at $2M ARR, it feels like the engineering problem finally solved itself.

• When Infinia does not work

  Here is the list you should read before talking to us. A list of times when Infinia will not work, and a few times when it does.

• When to hire a part-time CFO or CTO, and when not to

  You know the hire. It's the one you think about at 11pm. It might be the CFO who could make your board deck reconcile on the first try. It might be the CTO who could tell you whether your team is slow or careful.

• My CTO quit. Our GitHub was empty.

  My CTO asked if I had a minute. He'd taken another job and was "happy to help with the transition." After he left, I opened our GitHub and found nothing.

• What I couldn’t say to my board

  The board meeting is Friday. It's Tuesday and I'm in a spreadsheet trying to make churn match what I told them last quarter. Collections are messy, and one board member has started redoing our metrics himself. No one has said they don't trust the numbers. No one had to.

• Why you should have a Fractional CFO

  Most founders aren't short on money. They're short on confidence in their numbers, and that costs them time.

• Which of your customers is quietly costing you money?

  Ask a founder who their best customer is, and they'll answer right away. Usually it's the biggest logo, the largest contract or the account that's been around the longest.

• Why you don’t have more clients

  Focus the sales call on the prospect’s problem, let them do most of the talking, and connect your experience only when it directly applies. Reduce sales pressure and guide them naturally toward pricing and the next step.

• Are you a Fractional Executive or a Consultant?

  Most Fractional CXOs still operate like consultants. Consultants sell services and labor; true Fractional CXOs sell outcomes and business value.