How Hiring a CFO Early Can Generate Millions in Returns

During my years running a YC-backed startup back, I hated doing the books. It was time-consuming, and not an activity I enjoyed. So I did what founders do best and asked other founders how they managed accounting. The answer? Many shared with me that their wives did the books. It’s wild to think of all these YC-backed founders going home to their kitchen tables to find out how much cash they have left in the bank or where gross margin stands. But that wasn’t going to work for me (being wifeless and all), so I decided to hire a part-time bookkeeper and a fractional CFO to support me as I was driving growth and fundraising. Hiring financial specialists early in the life of my startup was a game changer for my company.  My company took off, the numbers were clear (to me, and to key stakeholders), and I was able to make competent, clear decisions about how to grow the company - no wife necessary. 

And now that I’m sitting in the investor seat, the CFO role seems to be climbing the priority list for many founders. At our recent Burnt Island Ventures Founder Forum, Mick O'Dwyer, CEO of recently exited SwiftComply, offered one piece of wisdom he wished he had been told earlier, “hire a CFO, at least fractional, earlier than you think you should. It could have accelerated our trajectory, and shaved off years in reaching our growth targets to build the business”. 

Since my time as a growth-stage CEO, the role of a dynamic CFO in driving early-company growth has become more evident to founders. They are networked, commercially oriented, alongside core FP&A chops. During 2025 San Francisco Climate Week, I spoke with a climate entrepreneur and finance guru Hannah Friedman who is looking to redefine the traditional CFO role. Her depth of understanding of capital structures, combined with her 10+ years of finance connections, ideally suited her for the development of complex capital stacks for FOAK projects. It was clear that the value she could bring to the business went far beyond core FP&A, but drove right to the core of how a business could structure itself financially to maximize revenue and returns. And, now she is leading global thought leadership on funding complex infrastructure & FOAK projects with Mark1. 

At the 2025 Global Water Summit in Paris this Spring, I had the pleasure to sit down with Birgitte Lind-Hjertum, the stellar CFO behind Flocean, a BIV company developing deep sea desalination. She explained how in her role she structures commercial strategy and contracts, ensures bankability of project structures, sets up tax compliance and tax advantageous programs (per country), cost accountability, and capitalization planning and support. Her specialization and passion were clear: she was a 3x CFO for long-term offtake style businesses. That’s not a job you would delegate to your kitchen table. That’s a job you need at the front and center of your business. I walked away wondering if I could bottle Birgitte and hand her out to each of our portfolio companies. She exemplifies exactly what a transformative CFO brings to a startup

So what should founders learn? What should they look for in this key hire?

A Strategy Builder

The best early-stage CFOs are highly strategic company builders whose skill sets extend far beyond accounting and financial management. They contribute to company financing, craft structures for commercial deals, understand the puts and takes of inventory management, and can also lead vendor & real estate negotiations (“hey landlord, you pay for these building improvements”). And importantly, they also make sure your company is compliant with the SEC, tax authorities, and the like. This role is for real doers with high commercial acumen that can serve as pivotal entrepreneurial partners to the CEO. 

A Serious Operator

The right CFO is an essential right hand person for both finance connections and rigorous financing processes. Financing the business includes routes such as venture capital, lines of credit, private credit, venture debt or project finance. There are also finance structures for customer projects and deals including top co / bottom co structures, FOAK, project finance, bankability requirements, non-dilutive capital and more. CFOs should understand the mechanics of each of these, what is appropriate for your company, and the process and admin to get the financing over the line. Our recent investment in Previsico was co-led by their rockstar CFO Craig Deacon. His involvement made a world of difference as he iterated on their financial pro forma and swiftly modeled cap table and waterfall scenarios as term negotiations played out. 

A Contract Ninja

Contract terms matter, a lot, and not just the legal ones. An adept master of her craft will help structure favorable payment terms (more upfront and net 30 please), more aggressive pricing & margins, and warranty liability protection, as a start. She will understand business model cash flow implications within the payment term, and even tax. Sales teams want the close, heck, we all want the close, and a commercially oriented CFO whose responsibilities extend to cash flow management, debt commitments, profitability and quality of earnings, will ensure contracts play out as strong as the sales team dreams them to play out.

Financial Controls in Check

Financial controls and FP&A also matter. Is your financial pro forma kept current and dynamic so you can track actuals against the plan to inform the required spending and cutting decisions?  Are you conducting annual or biannual quality of earnings reviews to ensure best practices on the revenue side (once every 1 to 2 years between $1M and $5M of revenue)? Do you close the company books monthly and provide quarterly financial statements and a coherent financial dashboard to board members and investors?  

This all exemplifies operational hygiene and excellence.  

Building a company is really hard, and hiring for often-overlooked key roles earlier than you think can help more than you realise. And if you aren’t there yet, it's ok, but I wanted to provide the earliest of breadcrumbs to kick-start the thought process. For most companies pre-Series B, a fractional or part-time CFO is the most affordable option. Most fractional CFOs cost between $2000 and $8000 a month, depending on your company size and the scope of work expected.  For high-growth companies, or complex companies with infrastructure finance needs for example, full-time CFOs typically join earlier and full-time. Some of our favorite fractionals include Enduring Planet, Burkland Associates, Punch Financial, but there are many more. Founders Circle Capital published a CFO Hiring Playbook that is excellent. And your founder network is always a fantastic place to find referrals. The key is to think about how a CFO can play a role in shaping your business and to hire accordingly.