At the beginning, a business has to start small with a lean team. In this stage, it’s natural for the CEO to have a hand in everything: finances, marketing, legal, product, operations, and so forth. But this approach can only last for so long. As we’ve said before—what gets a company off the ground isn’t what it takes to scale it. Scalability creates a new context for leadership and organization. But for the founder who has been intertwined since day one, stepping out of the way can feel like abandoning their own creation. And that’s often where they become the bottleneck of their own company.
Taking a small company to middle-market or enterprise levels is a conversation of scaling—whether that means international expansion, technology, capital, or all the above. That’s why, at this stage, owners and CEOs often consider a private equity (PE) firm as the next step. A PE firm can inject the expertise, investment, and resources that can take a business to the next tier. But what makes a private equity firm interested in buying?
As a company accelerates into the early growth stage, new challenges and priorities arise. Many founders have met this initial success through mentorship, affordable junior talent, contract bookkeepers, and internet advice—an admirable accomplishment. But alongside this growth comes complexity, and the need for an elevated expertise. Whether it's Series A fundraising, risk management, or strategic forecasting, this complexity often prompts startup founders to question: Is it time for a full-time CFO? Founders want to think big-picture, but might lack the nuanced perspective—and hiring a veteran CFO full-time isn’t the only solution.
Ascent CFO Solutions is excited to share a highlight video + full recording of our 2023 Denver Startup Week Session - Ask a Fractional CFO: Ascend to Your Next Stage of Growth! In this session, experienced Fractional CFOs discuss how their role helps entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses that are ready for their next stage of growth. Founders leave the session with a deeper understanding of how both a Fractional CFO and a firm understanding of their financials can help them reach their growth goals.
You may have heard of financial modeling. You may even know it can be a helpful tool to grow your business. But what does this actually mean? In what ways is a financial model helpful? What are the tangible benefits a financial model can provide? Let’s take a CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) startup, for example. Here are four ways a CPG startup can benefit from a good financial model. Even if your company isn’t in the CPG industry, the benefits can still apply to you. Read on!
In the start-up world, it is nearly impossible not to be distracted by all the noise around Unicorns and feel pressure to match the pattern of always getting to the next round of funding. The venture capital mantras of “go faster”, “hockey stick growth”, “multiples upon multiples”, and “crush the competition” are a lot of pressure for founding teams. But what start-up founders need to know is that there is a different way to build a business where you take less capital, keep control and still get to a meaningful exit. Here are the key ingredients to make it happen.
As we look forward to the new year, many of us are finding it challenging to plan for our businesses with economic uncertainty still looming. The difficulty of predicting when we might start to see economic recovery and determining what that means for our business and growth leaves us all wishing we had a crystal ball. At Ascent CFO, we have been working with our clients to address the unknown by building out scenarios that plan for a slow economic recovery with flexibility that allows for acceleration should we see recovery happen sooner than forecasted. Here are a few tips that you may find helpful to put your company in a conservative, yet opportunistic position.
