The Challenge

YAi is an early-stage company. As part of its financial planning, the founders needed to produce a detailed 5-year plan and financial forecast to present to investors. The founders had prior business experience but lacked the financial knowledge to develop the detail and accuracy required by investors. With no historical data to draw from, they needed an experienced fractional CFO who understood the realities of the startup world and had been through the fundraising process before.

“When your company is just starting out, it's very hard to think how it might all pan out, in a way that is plausible to investors, over the next five years.”

The Solution

YAi came across Ferrock through a London-based community for start-up founders. Scott, the Founder of Ferrock, met with Yana, the Founder of YAi, to understand where the company was at and what they needed from aFractional CFO.

Scott shortlisted just one Portfolio CFO for Yai Digital,John. His profile was an ideal match, with experience in both startups and scale-ups, and a background in the SaaS advertising space. John was able to quickly grasp YA’s needs and create a solid financial model that the founders were confident in. He was a proactive partner, answering questions, providing ad-hoc support, and even participating in conversations with investors.

“John's profile was spot on. He had experience with scaleups and startups, and he worked for a SaaS business in the advertising space.We're not an advertising business, but we are marketing technology so it’s a similar audience and end user. We spoke a few times, and it was clear that John knew what to do, so we went ahead with him, and we never looked back.”

The Result

By engaging a fractional CFO, YAi was able to create a robust, realistic yet flexible financial model to present to investors. John took the time to explain to the founders how the process worked and what to focus on in their conversations with investors, as well as actively participating in conversations with YAi’s investors himself. John also saved the company valuable time, allowing them to focus on their fundraising. As a result, YAi was able to raise £250,000 from a SEIS fund that had thoroughly examined their financial modelling and was satisfied with the findings. The company secured the total of £300,000 of pre-seed investment.

“John knew what to do. He was very diligent with his process. He knew the questions he needed to ask, and he made it as painless as possible for us to go through this process. It was clear that he wasn't doing it for the first time. I think he saved us lots of time.” – Yana Lapitskaya, Founder, YAi Digital

"Our fractional CFO was brilliant, and I'm sure we will continue working together in the near future. He took away the stress, and it saved us time. We knew we had a solid financial model that we were comfortable with. What I really, really like about John is that he's so responsive. I never had to wait more than a couple of hours to get a response from him, and that’s so important for a startup. I would definitely recommend Ferrock to other businesses." – Yana Lapitskaya, Founder, YAi Digital