Field notes from inside stalled funded-tech engagements. The walking dead pattern, decision-first finance, and how stalled Series A/B portcos come back.https://decisive.finance/en-ushttps://decisive.finance/blog/down-round-conversation-timing/https://decisive.finance/blog/down-round-conversation-timing/Most down rounds get decided six months later than they should have been. Here is how to recognize the window, who raises it first, and how the conversation should actually run.Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/independent-director-playbook/https://decisive.finance/blog/independent-director-playbook/Independent directors have an asymmetric seat when a portco starts to drift. Here is the three-move playbook for using it well.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/how-to-read-a-deck-hiding-the-stall/https://decisive.finance/blog/how-to-read-a-deck-hiding-the-stall/A stalled post-Series A or Series B deck has specific tells: forward-looking slides up front, a logo parade in the middle, a pricing-page reshuffle at the back. Here is the investor's reading guide.Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/what-gps-should-ask-next-board-meeting/https://decisive.finance/blog/what-gps-should-ask-next-board-meeting/Three questions, in order, that take a drifting board meeting and restore operating posture inside forty-five minutes. With the expected answers and the follow-ups.Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/how-gps-spot-walking-dead-early/https://decisive.finance/blog/how-gps-spot-walking-dead-early/The early tells are in the monthly update, the board deck, and the way the CEO answers a specific follow-up question. Here is the GP playbook for early detection.Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/stalled-portco-field-guide-for-investors/https://decisive.finance/blog/stalled-portco-field-guide-for-investors/For VC operators, LPs, and independent directors: the 12 signals that tell you a Series A or B portco is walking dead two quarters before the raise stalls, and what to demand when you see them.Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/walking-dead-recovery-day-1-to-90/https://decisive.finance/blog/walking-dead-recovery-day-1-to-90/A ninety-day sequence to pull a stalled post-Series A or Series B company out of the walking dead pattern. Day-by-day, dollarized, with exactly who owns what.Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/how-the-stalled-raise-happens/https://decisive.finance/blog/how-the-stalled-raise-happens/Stalled raises almost never fail at the partner meeting. They fail at a specific sequence of soft signals 120 days earlier. Here is the anatomy of the stall and the 30-day move that reverses it.Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/ceo-investor-fracture/https://decisive.finance/blog/ceo-investor-fracture/A specific fracture opens between the CEO and the lead investor around month fourteen of the Series A. Here is what it sounds like, why it happens, and how to repair it before the raise stalls.Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/the-board-question-shift/https://decisive.finance/blog/the-board-question-shift/When your board stops asking sharp operating questions and starts asking gentle orientation ones, your company has already been diagnosed. Here is what the shift looks like and how to respond.Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/walking-dead-portco/https://decisive.finance/blog/walking-dead-portco/A walking dead portco looks alive on the cap table and dead in the forecast. Here are the Six Trap Diagnostic™, the three paths out, and the $22,500 to $30,000 of forward-reallocation potential most Diagnostics surface in 14 days.Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/the-cfo-mirage/https://decisive.finance/blog/the-cfo-mirage/A competent CFO in a walking dead portco can look like a performing CFO for two quarters before the mismatch shows up. Here is how to spot the mirage and what to do about it.Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/first-14-days-operational-scan/https://decisive.finance/blog/first-14-days-operational-scan/Day-by-day, inside the $22,500 to $30,000 trapped-capital scan. What gets touched, what does not, and what the client actually sees by the end of week two.Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/financial-rhythm-system-monthly-cadence/https://decisive.finance/blog/financial-rhythm-system-monthly-cadence/Three instruments, one page each, run monthly, produced before the close deck is written. Here is what the Financial Rhythm System is and why it replaces retrospective finance.Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/decision-first-finance/https://decisive.finance/blog/decision-first-finance/Decision-first finance is the CFO methodology built around the five decisions that actually move a funded tech company's trajectory. Here's what it is, how it differs from fractional CFO work, and what 90 days of it looks like.Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/why-retrospective-finance-fails-growth-stage/https://decisive.finance/blog/why-retrospective-finance-fails-growth-stage/Close the books, build the deck, walk the variance, repeat. Here is why that cadence breaks a Series A or Series B company and what to install instead.Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/ratio-mirage-when-metrics-stop-tracking/https://decisive.finance/blog/ratio-mirage-when-metrics-stop-tracking/Gross margin, LTV/CAC, net revenue retention, all inside acceptable bands, all uninterpretable. Here is how the ratio mirage forms and how to break it in 14 days.Tue, 30 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://decisive.finance/blog/one-page-decision-slide-for-boards/https://decisive.finance/blog/one-page-decision-slide-for-boards/Five lines, one page, one decision. The Decision Slide is the single most useful artifact a board can receive in a growth-stage company. Here is the template and how it runs.Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT