Kinetech’s Post

The Evolution of the Finance Team in Scaling Tech Startups: A Journey from Series A to Series D 🌱➡️🚀📈 As tech startups grow, their financial operations transform significantly. Here's a roadmap of how finance teams evolve through funding stages, with insights tailored to the London startup ecosystem 🇬🇧: Series A: Building the Foundation 🏗️💡 At this stage, the finance function is lean, often managed by a fractional CFO or Finance Director supported by an outsourced team. The focus is on cash flow management, financial forecasting, and compliance. Outsourcing ensures cost flexibility while bringing access to necessary expertise. Series B: Bringing Operations In-House 🏢👩💼 With additional funding, startups begin to build their in-house finance capabilities. A permanent CFO or VP of Finance leads, supported by FP&A, financial operations, and controllership teams. This provides tighter controls, improved reporting, and strategic insights to support rapid growth. Series C and Beyond: Strategic Expansion 🌍🤖 By Series C and D, financial teams require further sophistication. Dedicated Data and BI teams enable better decision-making with analytics, while tax specialists address global expansion and compliance complexities. These functions are critical for managing scale and preparing for IPOs or other exit strategies. 💡 Top Tip: A strong finance team aligned with growth milestones is vital for success in the competitive London market. If you're a VC or a startup/scale-up tech business looking to bolster your finance team as you grow, I'd love to help! #FinanceLeadership #TechStartups #VentureCapital #ScaleUp #SeriesAtoD #LondonTech #StartupGrowth #FinancialStrategy #CFO #ScalingUp

Why Every Startup Needs Financial Oversight Even Without a Full-Time CFO In the early stages of building a startup, every penny counts. It's easy to overlook the importance of financial oversight when you're focused on growth, product development, and customer acquisition. However, proper financial management from day one is crucial for long-term success. Here’s why ✅ Cash Flow Clarity- Cash is king, and having a clear picture of your cash flow ensures you can make informed decisions, avoid shortfalls, and seize growth opportunities. ✅ Investor Readiness- Whether you're bootstrapping or raising funds, clean, organized financials show potential investors you're serious. They want to see clear numbers before committing to your vision. ✅ Tax Compliance & Legal Protection- Startups often get caught up in tax issues because they haven’t kept up with compliance. Proper financial management helps you avoid penalties and stay on the right side of the law. ✅ Informed Decision-Making- Financial data isn’t just about keeping the books straight—it’s the foundation for making strategic decisions about where to invest, scale, or cut back. The best part? You don’t need to hire a full-time CFO to achieve this. Our  Fractional CFO services provide startups with essential financial oversight, reporting, and compliance management—at a fraction of the cost of hiring a full-time CFO. With a flat monthly rate, we handle your bookkeeping, financial reporting, tax compliance, and offer light advisory services to ensure you’re set for growth, investor-ready, and compliant. Start strong. Stay focused. Let us handle the numbers. #startup #fractionalCFO #financialmanagement #cashflow #investorready #fintech #entrepreneurship #earlystage #businessgrowth

Do you need a full-time CFO for a successful fundraise? The fractional CFO in a cash-strapped startup has become pretty popular: ▶Much lower cost ▶No need to give them equity ▶Numerous tech tools available that simplify financial management. So some startups get by without a full-time CFO until they raise Series A. That's when you really need someone dedicated to managing the capital. But why wait for Series A? 1️⃣ A strong CFO who understands investors and financing options can be key from the outset. 2️⃣ Having a dedicated CFO also adds credibility and horsepower to the exec team Or bring on a Head of Finance with the potential to step up. In this market, it can help to have everything lined up for a successful raise. So why risk falling short? Thanks to Dan Allred at TechCrunch for the useful perspective - which I'd say applies fairly well in Europe too. #cfohiring #fractionalcfo #startups #fundraising #executivesearch

Hiring a CFO is a key strategic decision that involves several important questions, one of which is cost. A Fractional CFO is usually more affordable than hiring a full-time CFO. They work on a contractual or part-time basis, deferring the need for a hefty salary and benefits package. 💰 This cost-effective approach makes financial expertise accessible to startups without straining their budgets, ensuring that financial resources can be strategically allocated to other critical areas of the business. https://lnkd.in/gqr-NeDQ #fractionalCFO #startups #startupfinance

🚀 Scaling your startup without a CFO? Think again. Kevin hits the nail on the head—many startups rely on bookkeepers or accountants, but they’re not strategists. A CFO, even fractional, is the strategic partner startups need to navigate growth, funding, and sustainability. 🌟 ✨ Key takeaway: Scaling without financial clarity is like flying blind. Fractional CFOs offer the expertise you need to thrive. 👉 Curious about the difference a CFO can make? Click to read Kevin's insights and share your thoughts!

✅ We surveyed 120 startup finance teams to find out how they're running their businesses. These were the most surprising learnings: 1. Half of early-stage startups are trying to get to profitability before their next funding round 44% of Seed/Series A and 52% of Series B+ companies are targeting profitability to get off the VC treadmill 🏃♂️ Unsurprisingly, 3/4 of bootstrapped companies are already profitable 😄 2. Revenue Forecasting is the most common financial priority among startups, even more than Reducing Burn Almost half of companies put Revenue Forecasting in their top 3 priorities, far more than any other single priority. Other common priorities were Reducing Burn (1/4 of companies), and Automating Manual Workflows (1/4 of companies). 3. Most planning and budgeting is still done centrally by the finance team Despite all the hype around FP&A giving ownership to business functions and tools that claim to 'democratise planning', most companies (even late stage) still manage budgeting and planning centrally in finance. 4. Most companies start to build their in-house finance team above 50 headcount Before reaching 50 employees, 30% of companies outsource finance to fractional CFO firms, and at earlier stages, finance is often part of a combined role like Business Operations. 5. 57% of companies prefer Google Sheets to Excel I honestly expected that to be higher, just given the ease of sharing and collaboration, but I guess finance people love their Excel! Check out the video for more details, and stay tuned for our full survey results coming soon!

🚀 Attention Startups! 🚀 Are you launching your dream venture? 🌟 As a seasoned accountant, I understand the challenges startups face, especially when it comes to managing finances. 💡 🔍 Why hire a consultant like me? Cost-Effective: Hiring a full-time accountant can be expensive. But at this crucial stage, you need financial guidance without breaking the bank. That’s where I come in! 📊 Strategic Insights: I’ll help you set up robust financial reporting systems that not only ensure compliance but also provide actionable insights for better decision-making. 📈 Risk Mitigation: Startups thrive on calculated risks. Let’s analyze various scenarios and create solid budgets that safeguard your business against uncertainties. 🛡️ 🌐 Why wait? Let’s chat! Connect with me to discuss how I can support your startup’s financial success. 🤝 Fishburners #startups 😊👍

At EmergeOne we provide fractional CFO support to venture backed tech startups from Seed to Series B. Most people have no clue what that means and what we do, so let's break it down: Fractional - Not full time, we work flexibly througout the week depending on the needs of our client, occasionally that ramps up (for example during a fundraise) or is more sustained (during a project) but we're not employees. CFO support - CFOs are responsible for the capital management and strategic financial direction of a company, as well as oversight of the finance operations. Venture backed - Companies that have raised investment from one or several venture capital (VC) firms. Tech startups - We index to businesses where technology is a fundamental part of the product, not just the delivery mechanism, that could be software as well as hardware products, but occasionally may include physically traded goods too. Seed to Series B - There is no real definition of these terms that couldn't be challenged, but essentially from the first institutional raise where the business is moving towards product / market fit to the first truly sizeable fundraise (>$20m) after which if the startup isn't looking for a full time CFO, investors almost certainly will be. So what does a CFO do then? Here are some of the regular activities we get involved in: → Capital Raising (investor reachout) → Capital Management (runway / burn) → Capital Structuring (debt / equity) → Capital Allocation (resource planning / 'investing') → KPIs, metrics and reporting → Investor relations and management → Board reporting → Financial Planning and Analysis → R&D claim preparation → Fundraise support → Financial modelling, forecasting and scenario planning → Pitch deck preparation → Data room management → Due diligence → M&A → Strategic Finance → Oversight over finance operations And a whole plethora of activities - some wholly obvious and finance related, others across a number of areas. The reason VCs refer their portcos to us is because we've built up a huge amount of trust in the ecosystem, and, the reason clients work with us is because we've truly 'been there and done that', many of us having been founders ourselves. So if you've read this and thought, that might be helpful drop me a note, I'm always happy to give you a steer even if it isn't quite the right time just yet. And remember, your accountant... Is NOT your CFO ;) __________________ I'm Aarish, founder of EmergeOne, host of Nothing Ventured and author of Off Balance where I talk and write about about tech, startups, Venture Capital, finance and CFO stuff. ✍🏾 Sign up to Off Balance, my newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e4_wZWjW 📖 Sign up for early access to my book - Off Balance - 100 lessons from 2 decades as CFO and CEO: https://lnkd.in/dDgZHrC7 #Startups #CFOInsights #VentureCapital #NothingVenturedPodcast #founder #business #finance

A top question we hear from founders is: Why should my startup hire a Fractional CFO instead of a full-time CFO? Our answer: Hiring a Fractional CFO offers several advantages related to the unique needs of startups. 1️⃣ First, it provides cost flexibility, giving you access to high-level financial expertise without a full-time salary commitment. Fractional CFOs typically work on a part-time or project basis, making it a cost-effective solution for startups. 2️⃣ Additionally, they bring a wealth of experience gained from working with various companies, offering a diverse background and skill set that can be invaluable during different stages of your startup’s growth. 👉 “Using Burkland for financial guidance and tactical operations support allows us to focus on our customer offerings and growing our business.” ~ Adam DeVito, CEO, Monj https://lnkd.in/gqr-NeDQ #fractionalCFO #startups #startupfinance

Joining a startup as head of finance is not for the weak! If you support or advise business owners, this is a good primer of area s of financial operations that could use some attention. If you are a business owner and seeking to reset on finance, this information could also be beneficial. If you are an angel investor, know the financial management challenges that founders face and offer some support in these areas. #finance #financialoperations #startups #businesssupport #smallbusiness #busimessfunding #fractionalcfo https://lnkd.in/gfZCURMT