do we actually need a cfo?
Before Series A, probably not a full-time one. You need the work a CFO does at four specific moments. That’s the whole menu, and it’s on this page with prices.
Fractional CFO · Staten Island, NY · Priced per engagement
not a cfo on retainer — four finance jobs, each with a price and an end date.
Cledara builds the cash-flow forecast, the operating model, the board pack and the fundraising process for startups that aren’t ready to put a full-time CFO on payroll. You pay for the job. When it’s done, we leave.
The first call is free. If we’re the wrong fit, you’ll hear it on that call — not after an invoice.
Cash on hand, $k — a sample 13-week forecast
week 9 your cash floor
- 13-week cash flow
- three-statement model
- hiring plan by month
- burn multiple
- plan vs. actual
- investor update
- data room
- diligence Q&A
- cap table sanity check
Asked on nearly every first call
the questions you’d ask if you weren’t being polite
Straight answers, including the ones that cost us work. Scroll sideways — there are seven.
why per engagement, not a monthly fee?
Because monthly fees bill you for the quiet months too. Every job here has a scope, a fixed price and an end date. Want us back next quarter? Rebook. No auto-renew.
do you take a cut of the round?
No. A percentage of the raise makes an advisor root for the bigger number instead of the right one. The fundraising engagement is one flat fee, whatever you close.
will you do our bookkeeping?
No, and we’d push back if you asked. We’ll tell you whether your books are clean enough to model on, and point you to a bookkeeper if they aren’t. Same person doing both hides mistakes.
how fast can you turn it around?
A forecast takes about two weeks once we have bank and ledger access. A full raise runs 10–14 weeks. Anyone promising a round in a month is selling you something else.
what’s the catch?
We only run a handful of engagements at once. Sometimes the honest answer is “not until next month.” We’ll say that on the first call instead of overbooking you.
do we have to be on staten island?
No. We work out of 435 Adams Ave; most clients meet us on video and some drop by. For board meetings in the city, we’ll be in the room if you want us there.
Drag, scroll or use the arrows
How the work actually gets done
six habits — a few of them cost us clients
We keep them anyway. They’re the reason the numbers hold up when an investor leans on them.
we open your bank export before your pitch deck
Decks describe the company you hope to be. The ledger describes the one you are. Every forecast we build starts from the second one — including the account you forgot you had.
you keep the spreadsheet.
Everything lives in your Google Drive or your Excel. No login to our dashboard, no software you have to keep paying for. When the job ends, you have every file and need nothing from us.
assumptions sit on tab one, highlighted
Growth rate, churn, ramp time for a new rep, the month the second engineer starts. If an investor pokes the model, you’ll already know which cell gives first.
one analyst, one set of numbers
Whoever builds your model is the person sitting in your board meeting. Your company doesn’t get handed down to someone new halfway through.
bad news goes on slide one
If burn is up or a cohort is churning, it leads the deck. Directors forgive a rough quarter. They don’t forgive discovering it on slide fourteen.
we’ll tell you when you don’t need us
If the sheet you already have answers the question, we’ll say so and not invoice you to rebuild it. Some first calls end in ten minutes. That’s a good call.
The quiet part, out loud
most startups don’t need a cfo. they need a forecast before month nine, a model before the raise, and someone in the board meeting who has actually read the numbers.
Tell us which one you need
Not sure? That’s what the free call is for. Bring the number that’s bothering you.
The four jobs, in the order startups usually need them
four engagements, four fixed prices, read left to right
Book one, skip the rest. Nothing here is bundled, and nothing renews unless you ask it to.
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01 · When you’ve under 18 months of cash
the runway forecast
A 13-week rolling cash-flow forecast built from your real bank data, plus an 18-month monthly view. You see the tight week before your bank does.
- Weekly cash in and out, by category
- Payroll + renewal calendar
- One-page burn summary
- An hour of handover so you can run it
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02 · Before a raise or a hiring push Start here if unsure
the operating model
A three-statement model — P&L, balance sheet, cash — driven by the levers you actually pull: hires, pricing, churn. Assumptions on tab one.
- Base, lean and stretch scenarios
- Hiring plan by month
- Unit economics tab
- Walkthrough with your co-founder
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03 · About 10 days before each board meeting
the board pack
We build the deck, the KPI appendix and the plan-vs-actual page, then sit in the meeting and field the finance questions so you don’t have to improvise.
- 12–18 slide deck + appendix
- Variance to plan, explained
- We attend — video or in person
- Follow-up memo for directors
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04 · 4–6 months before you need the money
the raise
Fundraising advisory for pre-seed through Series A: the financial story, the investor model, the data room and the diligence answers. Flat fee, no cut of the round.
- Investor-grade model
- Data room, built and indexed
- Diligence Q&A, drafted with you
- Term-sheet read-through with your lawyer
The trade-off, plainly: a fixed price means we scope tightly up front. If you want something outside the scope mid-job, we’ll quote it separately rather than quietly absorb it and resent you. You’ll see the quote before any work starts.
Homework, but light
what to send before the first call
None of it needs to be tidy. Messy is normal at your stage — we just need to see it.
Send what you have to info@cledaraofficial.com a day ahead and the 30 minutes goes on your problem, not on us asking for files.
Read-only access is all we ever ask for. We don’t need passwords that move money, and we’ll decline them if offered.
bank exports, last 12 months
CSV from every account, including the savings account nobody looks at.
read-only ledger access
QuickBooks, Xero or whatever you use. We never need to post an entry.
your cap table
A Carta export or the spreadsheet your lawyer sent. Either is fine.
the last board deck or investor update
So we can see what you’ve already promised, and to whom.
a hiring plan, even a rough one
Roles and rough start months. Payroll is usually most of the burn.
the number that keeps you up
Every founder has one. Tell us on the call — it’s usually where we start.
05 · The first call
thirty minutes, no charge, no pitch deck required
We’ll tell you which of the four jobs you need — or that you need none of them yet. Both answers are useful, and only one of them makes us money.
Write to us · or come by Adams Ave
send the short version — we reply the same business day
Messages that land after 6pm get answered the next weekday morning. Weekends we’re away from the spreadsheets.
When someone picks up
| Mon–Fri | 8:30am–6pm |
|---|---|
| Sat–Sun | Closed |
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