A lot of founders confuse feeling like a real company with running one.
Somewhere between the first wire hitting the bank and the first investor update, the panic kicks in:
“We need a CFO.”
No, you probably don’t.
You probably just need someone who can do basic accounting without crying.
What You Actually Need First: A Competent Bookkeeper
Most early‑stage “finance problems” are not sophisticated.
They’re:
- No idea what your real burn is
- Invoices are late or missing
- Receipts living in email, WhatsApp, and the void
- Tax and compliance are being handled by “future you”
A good bookkeeper solves 90% of this:
- Records every transaction properly
- Reconciles the bank and cards
- Sends and tracks invoices
- Keeps payroll, GST/VAT/sales tax, and filings under control
- Produces clean monthly P&L, balance sheet, and cash summary
For pre‑seed and seed, that’s usually enough. You need clarity, not a CFO-shaped accessory.
The Early‑CFO Trap: Expensive Cosplay
Founders love the optics of a CFO:
- Fancy title on the deck
- Feels “grown‑up”
- Sounds serious on LinkedIn
But here’s what actually happens:
- You add a six‑figure salary (or equivalent)
- You hand out equity for a role you don’t really need
- You increase opex without increasing revenue or runway
- The “CFO” spends half their time… doing bookkeeping and making slides
So you’ve:
- Diluted yourself
- Swollen your fixed cost base
- And still don’t truly understand your unit economics
That’s not maturity. That’s very expensive insecurity.
How to Know You Don’t
Need a CFO (Yet)
If most of these are true, hiring a CFO is overkill:
- One legal entity, one geography
- Simple revenue model (subscriptions, services, basic product sales)
- No debt, no complex instruments, no regulatory maze
- Your biggest questions are:
- How much cash do we have?
- What’s our monthly burn?
- How many months of runway?
In that world, what you need is:
- A bookkeeper
- A tax accountant
- A founder who can read a basic P&L without having a spiritual crisis
That’s it.
When a CFO‑Level Brain Actually Makes Sense
A CFO (part‑time or full‑time) starts to be rational when:
- You’re raising meaningful institutional capital and due diligence actually matters
- You’re looking at venture debt, revenue‑based financing, or complex cap table structuring
- You’ve got multiple products, markets, or entities, and the financial knock‑ons are non‑trivial
- Your decisions now swing millions, not thousands
- The CEO is spending half their life in Excel instead of running the company
Even then, you often don’t need full‑time:
- Fractional CFO + strong bookkeeper beats a “cheap full‑time CFO” pretending to enjoy admin
- Use senior finance strategically: fundraise, structure, pricing, strategic planning… not chasing receipts
The Sane Setup for Most Startups
If you’re early and not delusional:
- Hire a proper bookkeeper. Not a friend doing it “on weekends.” A real one. Pay them properly. Demand clean books every month.
- Use an accountant for tax and structure. Let them handle filings and basic structuring. This is not DIY territory.
- Rent a CFO, don’t buy one. Bring in a fractional CFO around fundraising, big deals, or when complexity jumps. Project basis. Clear scope.
- Graduate to full‑time CFO when the work exists. When there is genuinely enough strategic finance work to fill a week, not just your ego.
Set up a consult if you want an honest answer on whether you need a CFO or a bookkeeper.