The pattern that is yours
What we see most in this world
The model nobody actually runs
No living forecast the leadership team uses, and the financial model lives in one founder's spreadsheet.
Soft metrics under a clean top line
ARR, NRR, burn multiple, and CAC payback that take too long to pull and are hard to fully trust.
Deferred revenue in a spreadsheet
ASC 606 exposure living outside the ledger, invisible until a raise or an audit surfaces it.
Fundraising costs distorting CAC
Investor and raise costs miscategorized into marketing rather than G&A.
How we help
From murky to buttoned up
We get the books accrual clean, build a living forecast and a KPI dashboard the board believes, and make sure deferred revenue and the chart of accounts are built for diligence. As the raise approaches, we frame the numbers the way investors read them.
The numbers that matter here
Where this usually lands
Most software and AI founders fit Scale (forecasting, a 13 week cash model, a KPI dashboard, and board ready reporting). Earlier stage teams that just need clean, trustworthy books start at Discover or Embark.
Signals you are ready
Trigger events
- A raise planned in the next 12 to 18 months
- Investors asking about financial infrastructure
- Deferred revenue getting messy
- A 409A or option refresh due
- The first board seat filled
Why Shawn
Shawn keeps AI and software founders fundable and alive through the burn, with the regulated vertical rigor most generalist firms never bring.
Questions founders ask
Quick answers
- Do you work with AI startups?
- Yes. AI and software founders are a core focus. The work is the same discipline, runway and burn, a model investors believe, and a clean story for the raise, with attention to the cost structure specific to AI companies.
- How do you handle deferred revenue and ASC 606?
- We move revenue recognition out of spreadsheets and into your accounting system on an accrual basis, so deferred and recognized revenue are right and hold up under audit and diligence. Clean ASC 606 treatment is table stakes before a serious raise.
- What SaaS metrics should I be tracking?
- The ones a board and an investor will ask for, and that you can act on: ARR and how it is moving, net revenue retention, gross margin, burn and the burn multiple, CAC payback, and runway. We build the dashboard and make sure the numbers underneath it are real.
- How do I know if my runway is accurate?
- Runway is only as good as the burn and assumptions behind it, and many early models quietly use a simple average that can swing the answer by months. We rebuild it from your real burn, your committed spend, and a few honest scenarios, so the number holds when the board asks.
- Can you get my financials ready for a raise?
- Yes, and it is some of our highest value work. We get the books accrual clean, build a living forecast and the metrics investors read, and prepare the data room so diligence starts from clarity. Starting twelve to eighteen months out, not six, is what separates a smooth raise from a painful one.
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The first step
See where you fit.
A short conversation about where you are and what you need. If we are a fit, we will tell you how we would help.
See If We Are a Fit (15 minutes)