Strategic CFO, Los Angeles

Strategic CFO for early-stage startups.

I build the finance function that turns a fresh round into a plan, reporting your investors trust, and decisions you can defend. You get a CFO who has raised, structured, and operated, without the full-time hire.

Vera Phipps
Vera Phipps, CFO
Who this is for

You just closed a round. Finance is still you and a bookkeeper.

The board wants real reporting. The Series A is 9 to 18 months out. The burn number changes depending on who you ask.

That is the point where a CFO pays for herself. It is also too early to hire one full time.

What I build

The finance function, built once, built right.

  1. 01

    Operating plan

    The model you run the company on, not the one in the deck. Reforecast monthly, tied to hiring and cash.

  2. 02

    Investor-grade reporting

    The board package and the metrics your investors expect, with the narrative. Produced every month, not the night before.

  3. 03

    Cash and runway

    A burn plan you agree to and revisit, not a number you hope is right.

  4. 04

    The finance stack

    I bring the team. Bookkeeping, controller-level close, tax, payroll, and the tools, selected and managed by me. One person accountable for all of it.

Raise readiness runs through all of it. When the next round comes, the model, the metrics, and the data room are already there.

How it works

Three ways to work together.

Advisory

A CFO in the room for the decisions.

From $2,500per month

About 10 hours a month. You have a bookkeeper and a model; you need senior judgment on the calls you are already making.

Core

Own the plan, the reporting, and the stack.

From $5,750per month

About 25 hours a month. The operating model, the monthly board package, cash and runway, and the finance stack, run by me.

Embedded

In the leadership team.

From $10,500per month

40 to 60 hours a month. For companies preparing for the next round, scaling fast, or operating across entities and countries.

Every engagement starts with 30 days of defined deliverables, then a monthly retainer. Three-month minimum. No timesheets. Compare the tiers →

Why me

Eighteen years of building the systems behind the numbers.

18years in finance, most of them next to founders.
10years inside a multi-family office: M&A, structuring, operating oversight.
2continents. US and European entities, run as one company.
30days to the first deliverables in every engagement.

A decade inside a multi-family office. Asset structuring, M&A, and hands-on oversight of the businesses we bought. Institutional standards, applied to companies that were still figuring it out.

Co-founder and CFO of venture-backed startups. I have sat on the founder side of a raise. I know what a board deck feels like from both chairs.

Fractional CFO since 2018. Early- and growth-stage companies through capital raises and financial architecture, across the US, Ukraine, and Europe.

Multi-entity, cross-border structures are where I am most useful. Two countries, three entities, one set of numbers the board can trust.

Proof

What changed in the first 90 days.

AI energy platform, pre-seed to seed

No model, no data room, investor conversations starting.

Built
Operating model, fundraising materials, investor pipeline and reporting.
Changed
A live raise with institutional investors engaged, and a company that could answer any diligence question.
Fashion upcycling startup, seed

Founder-run finance ahead of a raise.

Built
Financial model, valuation logic, investor-ready materials.
Changed
A defensible number and a narrative the founder could hold in the room.
Industrial company, grant-funded

A EUR 500K grant application with no financial model behind it.

Built
The model and the submission economics.
Changed
A submission-ready case and a clear line on which partnerships were worth the price.
Nonprofit operation, multi-entity

Grants, loans, and a new entity structure with no finance lead.

Built
The finance function, reporting cadence, tax compliance, loan accounting.
Changed
A board that gets numbers it trusts, monthly.
Start here

Tell me where the company is.

Thirty minutes. You bring the round size, the runway, and the decision you are sitting on. I will tell you what a finance function should look like for you, whether or not we work together.

Book an intro call