🎯 Why Most Pitch Decks Fail Without This | Full Send CFO

💡 You spent 40 hours on your pitch deck… but only 4 minutes on your balance sheet.
Bad news: investors are more interested in your financials than your fonts.

In this episode of Full Send CFO, we break down:
• Why messy financials kill deals (even with a beautiful deck)
• The 4-step financial prep playbook before raising capital
• How to build investor-ready financials that actually get funded
• What founders get wrong about KPIs, forecasts, and capital strategy

⸻

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 – Why Pretty Pitch Decks Don’t Raise Capital
00:30 – The Truth About Fundraising: Your Numbers Matter Most
01:20 – Problem: Most Founders Can’t Answer Basic Financial Questions
02:00 – Investors Want Proof, Not Just Potential
02:45 – The Consequences of Poor Financial Preparation
03:10 – ✅ Step 1: Clean Up Your Financials (P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow)
04:00 – ✅ Step 2: Build a 12-Month Model (Focus on Assumptions + Burn)
06:00 – ✅ Step 3: Know Your KPIs Cold (CAC, LTV, Margin, Retention)
07:00 – ✅ Step 4: Map Your Capital Strategy (How Much, Why, and What If You Don’t Raise)
08:30 – How to Handle “What If You Had $0” Questions from Investors
09:00 – Spreadsheets Over Slides: Show Me, Don’t Just Tell Me
09:30 – Final Takeaway: Investors Don’t Invest in Decks. They Invest in Proof.

⸻

💡 Key Takeaways

✔️ 65% of Early-Stage Investors Say Messy Financials Are a Dealbreaker
Don’t lose a deal over unclear numbers. Audit your financials before the pitch.

✔️ The 4-Step Pre-Fundraising Financial Prep Playbook
1. Clean Historical Financials: 24 months of clean P&L, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow
2. 12-Month Forecast: Focus on cash burn, runway, and capital deployment
3. Master Your KPIs: Know metrics like CAC, LTV, Gross Margin, Retention cold
4. Capital Strategy: Why this amount? Why equity vs debt? What if you don’t raise?

✔️ Design Isn’t a Substitute for Data
An investor-ready spreadsheet builds more trust than any template or AI-enhanced slide deck.

✔️ Demonstrate, Don’t Just Declare
Investors are from the “Show Me State.” They want proof, not projections without support.

⸻

📌 Next Steps
• Review your P&L and clean it up.
• Build a 12-month cash model with clear assumptions.
• Prep for questions like: “What’s your CAC?” “What happens if you don’t raise?”
• Forward this to your co-founder, CFO, or accountant. They need to hear it too.

🔗 Learn more at thefullsend.com

⸻

#FundraisingTips #StartupFinance #FullSendCFO #SeriesA #CFO #FinancialModeling #RaiseCapital #VentureCapital

Thanks for listening! Come Say Hi!

Full Send | Accounting & Data

LinkedIn: Roman Villard, CPA
X: @FullSendCPA
YouTube: Full Send - Accounting & Data
Data Podcast: Data Fuel

📊 Why Your Fractional CFO Should NOT Be Doing Your Accounting | Full Send CFO Podcast

👉 Are you using a Ferrari to deliver DoorDash? That’s what it’s like when your fractional CFO is stuck doing bookkeeping and reconciliations instead of strategic financial planning.

In this episode of Full Send CFO, we break down:

• What a CFO should actually be doing
• Why mixing accounting and CFO work can hold your business back
• How to build the right financial team stack for scale
• How to tell if you’re wasting money on the wrong financial setup

⏱️ Chapters

01:10 – CFO as Strategic Partner, Not Bookkeeper

01:45 – What a Fractional CFO Should Focus On

02:15 – What a Fractional CFO Should Not Be Doing

04:15 – Bookkeeping, Controllers, and CFOs: Defined

05:30 – Who Should Be Steering the Financial Ship?

07:10 – Real Example: Margins Drop, Who Solves It?

08:00 – Mistakes to Avoid: Don’t Hire One Person for Everything

09:10 – The Finance Lane vs The Accounting Lane

09:40 – Speed of Hire vs Smart Financial Structure

🧠 Ask Yourself:

• Is my CFO focused on strategy or in the weeds?
• Who’s really owning the financial systems in my business?
• Am I paying top dollar for tasks that could be delegated?

📌 Subscribe to Full Send CFO for more financial leadership insights that help your business grow with clarity and confidence.

Thanks for listening! Come Say Hi!

Full Send | Accounting & Data

LinkedIn: Roman Villard, CPA
X: @FullSendCPA
YouTube: Full Send - Accounting & Data
Data Podcast: Data Fuel

💰 Stop Getting Blindsided by Tax Bills | How to Build a Smart Tax Reserve System | Full Send CFO

🔔 Subscribe for stress-free financial strategies!

📢 Are you scrambling to pay taxes every April? You’re not alone. Many business owners make money but forget to plan for the IRS. In this episode of Full Send CFO, we break down:

✔️ Why most business owners get surprised by tax bills

✔️ How to calculate your monthly tax reserve

✔️ Step-by-step system to automate tax savings

✔️ Common tax planning mistakes—and how to avoid them

⏱️ Chapters

00:42 – Real-World Example: “Where’s the Cash to Pay My Taxes?”

01:06 – Why You Must Plan for Taxes Year-Round

01:35 – The Types of Taxes You Actually Owed (Sole Prop, S Corp, C Corp)

03:15 – Revenue vs. Net Income: Know the Difference Before You Save

04:00 – Monthly Tax Savings Routine: What % to Set Aside

05:00 – Automating Tax Transfers Using Bank Rules or Accounting Tools

06:00 – Use a Simple Spreadsheet to Track & Forecast Your Tax Dollars

08:30 – Why Last-Minute Tax Payments Hurt Your Business

08:50 – Action Plan: Set Up a Tax Reserve Account Today

✅ Key Takeaways

✔️ Net income is what you’re taxed on—not your total revenue.

✔️ Set aside 15–30% of net income depending on your entity structure.

✔️ Create a separate tax savings account and transfer monthly.

✔️ Use QuickBooks/Xero or a spreadsheet to calculate and track.

✔️ Automate transfers if possible to remove the guesswork.

✔️ Businesses that proactively save are 2x less likely to face IRS penalties.

✔️ Update your estimates quarterly as income changes.

💬 Are you using a system to save for taxes year-round? Drop your method (or your horror story) in the comments.

🔔 Like & Subscribe to Full Send CFO for weekly episodes on financial clarity, growth, and tax-saving strategies.

Thanks for listening! Come Say Hi!

Full Send | Accounting & Data

LinkedIn: Roman Villard, CPA
X: @FullSendCPA
YouTube: Full Send - Accounting & Data
Data Podcast: Data Fuel