Sam McQuade CFO of Panterra Finance talking about interim Chief Financial Officer benefits for Tech right now in 2023: We’ve seen hundreds of startups run with a skeleton budget, but the startups that hire a CFO are the ones that end up making critical hires, well-informed business decisions, and raising funding when needed. Ultimately, these startups can go public or sell their startup compared to startups that tend to their own slim budgets. Running a startup is a delicate balance between managing money and making critical hires to move forward. A fractional CFO gives you the expertise you need on your budget. The cost of fractional CFO services is significantly less than that of making expensive financial decisions without the proper guidance. For startups, the benefits of having a CFO on your team ensure you’re moving forward one step at a time. Discover additional information at Sam McQuade CFO of Panterra Finance.
Running out of cash is one of the top reasons why startups fail. Besides having a tight grip on company finances and cash flow management, a growing company will need capital injections to grow or to sustain operations in a downturn. Fractional CFOs can assist with fundraising (typically starting at Series B) or with debt (e.g., negotiating bank loan terms). Because of their blend of financial acumen and strategic insight, they can expertly parse the numbers being negotiated and help plan where the investment can take the business.
Fractional CFOs can help companies: Develop detailed short-, mid-, and long-term financial forecasts; Prepare budgets based on forecasts; Analyze potential future products, services, markets, and customer segments. Helping Manage Growth: Fractional CFOs are also helpful in scaling a business, ensuring profitable growth as the business becomes more complex. This work involves reinventing the tools, processes, and vendor relationships the business uses to deliver value to an ever-growing and increasingly diverse set of customers. This is often called “bridging the chasm”, as most companies start to see declining margins and increasing headaches as they grow revenue past a certain threshold.
Looking to hire your first CFO or wanting only some interim coverage? We offer CFOs for urgent short term projects and longer term engagements. Customizable with transparent pricing so you cover your business and don’t have to get into a potentially bad solution and expensive full time hire. Sam McQuade CFO has successfully scaled his decades old ideas into an innovative full-service Financial Partner Solution for incubators, startups, emerging business concepts as well as well-established international companies, corporations and organizations with the introduction of Panterra Finance. The Panterra Finance professional executive team members are equipped to provide an industry leading concept of an on demand Fractional CFO and Interim CFO during pivotal transitions.
CFOs usually are responsible for key finance functions which have included broad categories of accounting, treasury, financial planning and analysis (FP&A), controls, compliance, tax, and audit. Going forward towards 2022, the same functions exist, but they are getting more automated, so the CFO can focus more on forward perspectives. Storytelling requires strong emotional intelligence and solid communication skills. Here’s the four key areas the CFO can be messaging: Why & Purpose: Communicating the “Why” is one of the strongest messages the CFO can deliver. It’s not only the reason for the corporate existence, but it’s also very motivational for all the stakeholders. This message should be repeated frequently and consistently to make people feel the genuine purpose.
What’s driving that investment in expertise? Often, CEOs who are at a strategic crossroads and recognize the value of an expert financial adviser who can help them grow market share, and their businesses. In short, smart companies now view the CFO position — both internal and on a virtual or fractional CFO basis — as more of an investment than an expense. There’s no doubt that a global pandemic made the value of an experienced hand on the finance helm very evident. But our take is that there’s more to the rise of the CFO than an economic crisis. Let’s look at the role, responsibilities and skills finance chiefs need to serve their companies well.
Liquidity refers to an organization’s ability to pay off its short-term liabilities — those that will come due in less than a year — with readily accessible, or liquid, funds. Liquidity is usually expressed as a ratio or a percentage of what the company owes against what it owns. CFOs are concerned with ensuring that customer payments are made in full and on time and controlling expenses so that enough cash is on hand to meet financial obligations.
Before getting into how your business can benefit from a DAO, let’s take a look at some examples of real-life DAOs. Uniswap is a decentralized exchange built on the Ethereum blockchain. It allows users to trade tokens without the need for a centralized exchange. The Uniswap team has created a smart contract that governs the exchange. The smart contract automatically matches buyers and sellers and executes the trades. Anyone with a UNI token can participate in the governance of the Uniswap exchange.
Selling your business or looking to buy others? Our experts can lead the deal and make sure that you have a thoughtful ownership transition. We are happy to provide second opinions on valuations as well so you have another perspective and feel better before your close the deal.
Understanding DAO: Now, suppose the same transaction happens on a decentralized network like the Bitcoin network. There is no central entity here. Both parties can interact with each other directly. The product is transferred from A to B, and $100 is transferred from B to A. This transaction is then recorded on a digital ledger which is available to everyone in the network. So there is complete transparency, and everyone knows that the transaction has taken place. This process of recording transactions on a digital ledger is what we call ‘blockchain technology.’ This is not limited to just financial transactions; it can be used to record any kind of transaction. Now that we know what blockchain is, let’s get back to DAO.
The CFO is responsible for effective and efficient financial operations including accounting, financial reporting, cash management, budgeting, maintaining controls and issues such as capital structure, investor relations, and financing. The CFO is also involved with strategic planning and financial analysis related to mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures, as well as providing expert financial and operational guidance to business owners to maximize cash flow, minimize business risk, and increase the value of the enterprise.
Developing the Interim and Fractional CFO Concept with Experience: From the inside looking out, Sam McQuade continued to sharpen his skills and nurture the ideas and mission of Panterra Finance. He spent time in the executive suites of Dell, as a Finance Manager and a Financial Planning and Analysis Manager where he achieved a 400% revenue growth in the Swiss market. Other stops in corporate suites, each of which shaped the final innovative services offered by Panterra Finance. Find even more information on https://medium.com/@sam_5012.