Head of Finance / Finance Manager first

• Operational excellence in finance
• Defining and implementing processes

🚩 Risks of not hiring finance professional early

1. Haphazard that leads to poorly constructed operations plan
2. Mismanaged financing
3. Affected company valuation and ability to fundraise

Series A/Early Revenue Stage

<aside> 💡 This is the critical juncture when a company needs to seriously consider making their first core finance hire, certainly not any later than Series B. In a Series A financing, a company can raise on ideals of product market fit, early customer adoption and founding team because meaningful metrics are hard to calculate and less reliable in a company’s short lifespan. But once the company is trying to accelerate its growth, the expectation is a core understanding of these metrics is in place in order to recognize whether or not the operation of the business is successful (CostanoaVentures)

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Why is it essential at this stage?

• You’re scaling a business, not an idea/product. Series B funding is a bet on repeatability and scalability of the sales engine. Basic business metrics help prospective investors understand businesses’ prospects despite massive differences in go-to-market or product approaches.
• You must have confidence in your numbers. Seasoned investors spend a lot of time evaluating your business model, sometimes even building their own with people who are business analysts. They will look hard at your numbers, and it is an indicator of how much faith they should have in your team and your business plan.

A great finance hire may evolve into the CFO and start building the team beneath. More likely, a CFO augments this hire, bringing executive leadership, management capability and a transactional skillset that is generally attained with years of relevant experience. When timed appropriately, the first finance hire can provide the biggest return on investment in the earliest stages of a company’s journey.

VP of ops/finance check