From a fragmented finance stack to a board-ready operating model in nine weeks.

The problem

Three sources of truth — accounting, billing, and a founder-built spreadsheet — disagreed on revenue by enough to spook lead investors during the first round of diligence. The CFO seat was open. Burn was rising and runway estimates carried a six-week variance.

Approach

• Embedded a CPA-led team into the operating cadence: weekly finance review, monthly close, quarterly board pack.
• Rebuilt the three-statement model from primary sources, anchored to bank reality rather than accounting policy.
• Reconciled billing-system ARR to GAAP revenue with a documented bridge investors could audit.
• Stood up a forward-looking burn forecast tied to hiring plan, payroll runs, and committed software spend.

The AI tooling

• Continuous reconciliation across QuickBooks, Stripe, and HRIS — flagging variances within hours instead of at month-end.
• Scenario planning across hiring scenarios, churn assumptions, and pricing tests — collapsed from days to minutes.
• Investor-question pre-flight: model audited against the most common diligence prompts before each meeting.

Outcome

The round closed at the original target valuation with no material findings in financial diligence. The lead's analyst sent a one-line note after the close: "cleanest model we've seen this quarter."