Field notes on the numbers behind the next call.
Working theory, recovered dollars, and the operating rhythm that turns your books into a system of decision.
The profit paradox
Why revenue climbs, profit stalls, and the numbers can not tell you why.
The stalled portco: what it is, how to spot it, how to come back
A funded-tech company 18 months past the raise looks alive on the cap table and stalled in the forecast. Here are the Six Trap Diagnostic™, the three paths out, and the recoverable value the Diagnostic guarantees in 14 days.
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Decision-first finance vs. the fractional CFO
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The Six Trap Diagnostic™, explained
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Trapped value in stalled portcos: where it sits and how to name it
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What a stalled portco actually is
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The trap-stack inventory: mapping which traps are compounding in your portco
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The 18-month mark: why the stall shows up before the metrics do
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The down-round conversation: how to time it
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Walking dead recovery: day 1 to day 90
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How the stalled raise actually happens
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The CFO mirage: when a competent hire is the wrong hire
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The ratio mirage: when your metrics stop tracking reality
Decision-First Finance
The method that turns your books into a system of decision.
Decision-first finance: the methodology behind the recovery
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.
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How to run the first Decision Review meeting without blowing it up
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The CFO debrief: how to tell if your finance function has stalled with you
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The board packet rewrite: three sections to cut, four to add
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What a Diagnostic finds that an annual audit misses
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What the first 14 days of a Diagnostic actually look like
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The Financial Rhythm System: what a monthly cadence looks like
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Why retrospective finance fails growth-stage companies
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The one-page decision slide every board should see
For boards, advisors, and investors
For EOS implementers, Vistage chairs, operating partners, and directors.
A field guide to spotting stalled portcos before the next raise
For VC operators, LPs, and independent directors: the 12 signals that tell you a Series A or B portco is stalled portco two quarters before the raise stalls, and what to demand when you see them.
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What the lead investor is actually asking when they ask 'what's new'
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The independent director's playbook for a drifting portco
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How to read a deck that is hiding the stall
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What GPs should ask at the next board meeting
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How GPs spot stalled portcos early
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The CEO/investor fracture: the silent break in year two
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The board question shift: when softer questions are the real signal
The writing is free. The Diagnostic pays for itself.
Guaranteed 3x your Diagnostic fee in recoverable value, in 14 days. Typical 5x to 10x. The owners who book usually started in the field notes.