CASE STUDY — FINANCE
The Context
The client was a tech company operating in the HR and legal tech space — building workflow automation tools for compliance-heavy sectors.
They approached us with multiple challenges: their books weren’t in order, they lacked financial visibility, and they were struggling to get investor interest despite having a promising product and early revenues.
We stepped in as their Virtual CFO, helping clean their books, get investor-ready, and start conversations with the right funding networks. Over time, we supported their successful fundraising, built healthy cap structures, and now we’re actively helping them with company formation and finance structuring for their UK expansion.
The Challenge
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Books Not Investor-Ready: Financials were scattered, partially updated, and not in a usable format for due diligence.
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No Real-Time Burn or Runway Tracking: Founders couldn’t see how long their current cash would last.
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Cap Table & Salary Structuring Gaps: Existing ownership structures were unclear; founder compensation wasn’t set up properly.
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No Warm Investor Access: They had no network to pitch beyond cold LinkedIn reach-outs.
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Lack of Global Readiness: No roadmap for international compliance, structure, or multi-entity finance.
Our Approach
We operated as their CFO partner, working across five stages:
Clean the past
Build real-time visibility
Secure the right investors
Structure capital sensibly
Enable future expansion with compliant systems
What We Did
1.
Bookkeeping + Compliance Fixes
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Migrated all financial data to Zoho Books and cleaned 12+ months of backlogs.
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Reconciled revenue from multiple payment sources (Stripe, Razorpay, direct transfers).
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Ensured TDS, GST, and ROC compliance was up to date for due diligence.
2.
Real-Time Finance Visibility
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Built a Google Sheets dashboard to track burn, runway, expenses, and collections.
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Linked to bank accounts + invoices for real-time updates.
3.
Financial Model & Fundraising Support
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Created investor-grade projections with CAC, LTV, MRR, headcount cost modelling, and growth scenarios.
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Assisted with investor targeting and pitch alignment across 3 active networks.
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Supported during term sheet review and post-funding financial alignment.
4.
Cap Table + Salary Structuring
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Cleaned and updated the equity cap table, incorporating past SAFE notes and ESOP pool.
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Structured founder pay into base + deferred + milestone-based bonuses to maintain capital discipline.
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Aligned equity-to-debt ratio to support future dilution scenarios.
5.
Global Expansion Support (Ongoing)
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Currently supporting the company in setting up a UK entity.
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Advising on holding company structure, taxation, and cross-border payout planning.
Services Provided
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Virtual CFO Services
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Bookkeeping Setup & Cleanup (Zoho)
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Financial Dashboard & Burn Tracking
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Formation of Pitch Deck
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Investor-Grade Financial Modelling
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Cap Table Structuring & ESOP Design
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Term Sheet & Investor Support
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International Expansion Advisory (UK Entity Formation)
Results (Across 6 Months)
What Worked
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Fundraising became possible only after the basics (books + burn + structure) were fixed.
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Our position as a CFO partner helped the founders pitch with clarity and negotiate with confidence.
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Aligning cap table and payout structure helped protect both valuation and long-term incentives.
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Global setup was easy to execute with foundational finance systems already in place.
Key Takeaways (For Us)
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Early-stage startups don’t need just compliance — they need CFO-level strategy that scales with them.
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Investors take founders seriously when their numbers are tight and their payout structure is transparent.
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Helping founders “own” their finance story makes a bigger difference than any pitch deck design.
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Thinking globally from day one makes expansion less reactive — and more strategic.
