Strategic Finance • Founder Advisory
You don’t need a CFO yet. But you do need one in the room.
A senior finance partner when the decisions get hard — bringing the thinking, the tools and the challenge that founders can’t get from their bookkeeper and don’t yet need full-time.
Start a conversation →The Problem
talks about
Post-raise, founders face a paradox: the complexity that justifies a senior finance hire is exactly the complexity they’re not equipped to navigate without one.
A permanent CFO is premature — too expensive, too permanent, too much equity at risk. So decisions pile up, runway clarity erodes, and reporting suffers.
Ratio works in this gap.
sound familiar
- Burn rate is rising but the number feels abstract.
- Investors are asking for reporting you’re not ready to send.
- You’re about to hire — but unsure you can actually afford to.
- Capital decisions are being made reactively.
- Your accountant handles compliance. Nobody does strategy.
- A full-time finance hire is still 6–18 months away.
This is exactly the moment to bring in Ratio.
The Engagement
- Cash runway visibility and scenario planning.
- Capital allocation and resource prioritisation.
- Hiring affordability and burn-rate decisions.
- Investor, lender, and board reporting readiness.
- Senior financial input on founder decisions.
Engagements run 3–6 months. A monthly working session underpinned by ongoing background stewardship. Months 1–2 build the tools (model, reporting, finance architecture). Months 3 onwards: calibration, decision support, and raise readiness where relevant.
The thinking of a senior finance partner — without the cost, permanence, or equity of a full-time hire.
Protect equity.
Improve decisions.
Buy time until the right hire.
Who We Are
13 years across corporate finance, investment, and advisory — working with founders and leadership teams on the decisions that determine where a business ends up.
Ratio is built on one premise: the quality of your financial thinking in the early years sets the ceiling on what you can build. Founders deserve a senior partner in that conversation.
If this sounds like your situation, it’s worth a conversation.
No pitch. No commitment. Just an honest discussion about where you are and whether Ratio can help.
gdm@ratioadvisor.com