CFO insight
What is a fractional CFO?
A fractional CFO is a senior finance leader who joins your company part time, usually one or two days a week. They own the numbers the way a full time CFO would: cash, margin, runway, board packs, fundraising, at a fraction of the cost of a full time hire.
The word fractional describes the time, not the seniority. A good fractional CFO has run finance functions before, often through raises and exits, and splits their week across a small number of companies. Your company gets the judgement of someone expensive for the hours you actually need.
What a fractional CFO actually does
- Owns the number in front of the board. Not preparing it for someone else. Owning it.
- Closes the month and keeps runway live. Cash, margin and burn answered today, not three weeks after the month.
- Runs raises and exits from the inside. Evidence collected as you go, so diligence stops being a panic.
- Builds the machinery. The modern version of the job includes wiring AI into the finance function so the repetitive work runs itself.
Fractional CFO versus full time CFO
A full time CFO costs a full salary, equity and a notice period, and takes months to hire. A fractional CFO is in the position within a week and can be stopped any time. The trade is simple: you get one or two days a week of someone with more experience, instead of five days of someone you can afford full time.
What it costs
At Beyond Elevation, fractional starts from $4,800 per month. Every CFO we place has exited at least once as the finance lead and has taken a startup past a $1B valuation. The first call is free, and if a fractional CFO is not what you need, we say so on the call.
