Key outcomes
- 18 months of historicals restated under accrual accounting
- ARR, net revenue retention, and CAC payback dashboard built
- Diligence data room assembled and shared with lead investor
- Closed Series A at original term-sheet valuation
The challenge
The CEO had bootstrapped the company on cash-basis bookkeeping done by an offshore provider. When a strategic investor sent a term sheet for a $7M Series A, the diligence list arrived: trailing-24-month accrual P&L, monthly ARR waterfall, deferred revenue schedule, customer cohort retention, and a CAC/LTV breakdown.
None of it existed. The company had 30 days to produce it before the term sheet expired, and the existing bookkeeping setup couldn't generate any of it.
Our approach
We deployed a two-track engagement:
Track 1 — Cleanup (Weeks 1–4): Restated 18 months of financials from cash to accrual. Built proper deferred revenue and contract liability schedules. Reconciled Stripe and Chargebee data against the GL. Established a clean revenue recognition policy aligned with ASC 606 principles (with the company's CPA reviewing methodology).
Track 2 — CFO Deliverables (Weeks 3–8, overlapping): Built a monthly SaaS metrics package: ARR opening/closing, new/expansion/contraction/churn, gross dollar retention, net revenue retention, gross margin, and CAC payback period by acquisition channel. Assembled a diligence data room with policies, contracts, and a 36-month forward model.
The fractional CFO sat in on the second and third investor calls to walk through the model and metrics directly.
The outcome
The Series A closed at the original term-sheet valuation 11 weeks after engagement start. The lead investor's diligence partner specifically called out the quality of the data room as 'unusually clean for a company this size.'
Post-close, the company retained ongoing fractional CFO support to maintain the monthly SaaS metrics package and prepare quarterly board materials. Cash burn visibility — which had been a back-of-envelope exercise — is now driven by the same 13-week cash model used during diligence.