The Financial Operating System
Your financial foundation.
Built in 30 days.
A calibrated 3-statement operating model. A full Financial Health Assessment. A prioritized 90-day plan. The infrastructure most $2M–$25M founders don't have — and the reason their next decision isn't as confident as it should be.
30 minutes. No deck. We talk through what's actually in front of you.
The Pattern
You know the feeling. It usually shows up at one of these moments.
Board meeting in 3 weeks.
You don't have a model. You're stitching something together from QuickBooks exports and your bookkeeper's monthly P&L, and you're going to walk into that room hoping nobody asks about cash burn past Q3.
A potential acquirer reached out.
They want to see your financials. The numbers exist, but they live in 14 different tabs across three Google Sheets, and there’s no story tying them together. You have a week to look like a company that runs on more than gut.
Your bookkeeper sends you the P&L every month.
You read it. You don't know what to do with it. The numbers you actually need — runway, unit economics, what happens if you hire two more people next quarter — aren't anywhere on the page.
None of this is about being bad at finance. It's about not having the infrastructure that turns numbers into decisions. That's what the FOS builds.
What You Walk Away With
Here's what's in the box.
Five deliverables. Thirty days. One financial system you actually own and understand.
Financial Health Assessment
Full Health Matrix scoring across all four dimensions — Cash Health, Profitability, Operational Efficiency, and Growth & Scalability. Stage- and industry-aware thresholds. Written interpretation and prioritized findings. The same diagnostic that flags things like a misclassified SAFE distorting your working capital from "insolvent" to "healthy."
Standalone
$97
Calibrated 3-Statement Operating Model
Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow — monthly with quarterly and annual rollups. Revenue module built for your business type (SaaS, CPG, services, e-commerce). Two to three scenarios with sensitivity toggles on the assumptions that actually move the model. Tied to your historicals. Built to be used, not admired.
Standalone
$7,500
90-Day Financial Action Plan
Three to five prioritized actions, each tied to your weakest Health Matrix dimension. Every action includes the what, the why, the expected impact, and how to measure progress. Not a 40-page deck — a memo your team can act on.
Standalone
$2,500
Two to Three Working Sessions
A 60-minute kick-off to align on context, scope, and assumptions. A build check-in if needed. A 60-minute delivery call to walk you through the model, the assessment, and the plan. Lead with the punchline. You drive into details.
Standalone
$1,500
Recorded Model Walkthrough
A 10–15 minute Loom walking through the model so you can re-watch it any time, share it with a co-founder, or hand it to your next finance hire. You don’t get a black box. You get a system you understand.
Standalone
$500
Total standalone value
$12,097
The model is yours. The action plan is yours. The priorities are yours. Whether or not we keep working together after, you walk away with the financial infrastructure to make consequential decisions without guessing.
Your Investment
$6,500
About half the standalone value. Less than a single month of a fractional CFO retainer with no defined scope. A fraction of what a custom modeling firm charges to build the model alone — and that's before you've gotten the assessment, the plan, or the walkthrough.
A fractional CFO retainer with no defined scope runs $5,000–$10,000 a month. A senior strategy consultant runs $400–$600 an hour. The FOS gives you what most of them deliver in their first 90 days — fixed price, fixed timeline, fixed scope.
The Process
Three steps. Thirty days.
Week 1
Connect
You send 12–24 months of P&L and Balance Sheet — Excel, CSV, or QuickBooks export. Whatever you’ve got. We get on a 60-minute kick-off call to walk through your business, your goals, and the assumptions that matter. By the end of week one, you have a completed Financial Health Assessment in hand.
Weeks 2–3
Build
I build your operating model from a battle-tested template, calibrated to your historicals with a revenue module matched to your business type. While I’m building, I’m drafting the 90-day plan against your weakest Health Matrix dimensions. You’re not on hook for anything during this phase — the work is mine.
Week 4
Deliver
60-minute delivery call. I walk you through the model, the assessment, and the action plan. You get a Loom recording so you can re-watch any of it. You walk away with a financial system you actually understand and a clear next 90 days.
Real Talk
This isn't for everyone.
This is for you if:
- You’re running a $2M–$25M company and currently "own" finance by default
- You have a bookkeeper or controller, but no one is building models, running scenarios, or telling you what your numbers mean for the next move
- You’re a CFO or finance lead at a $5M–$25M company who needs a senior technical partner for a defined build — operating model rebuild, FP&A buildout, transaction prep — without adding to your team’s headcount
- A board meeting, fundraising round, acquisition conversation, or strategic decision is on the horizon
- You’re tired of figuring it out in spreadsheets at 11 PM
This isn't for you if:
- Your books aren’t current — start with a controller or bookkeeper first; we work on top of clean books, not in them
- You’re pre-revenue or under $1M and still finding product-market fit — a model isn’t your problem yet
- You need ERP selection, NetSuite implementation, or someone to fill a finance seat — different work, different partner
- You want a "CFO" title on your website but not the actual analytical work behind it
- Your only criterion is hourly rate
If you're not sure which side of that fence you're on, the scoping call is the place to find out. No charge for the conversation.
Credibility
Who's building your foundation.
The person reviewing your financials and building your operating model:
- Built and walked through models for $2B+ in M&A and capital-raise transactions at Jefferies in New York — Media & Telecom, where models get torn apart by both sides of every deal
- Senior instructor at Training The Street since 2015 — teaches financial modeling, valuation, and accounting to incoming classes at investment banks, private equity firms, and Fortune 500 finance teams globally
- 15+ years across investment banking, Fortune 500 finance (Raytheon FLDP), and operating CFO roles in CPG, EdTech, senior living, and the creator economy
- Currently advising founders across the same $2M–$25M revenue range you’re operating in
- Dual degrees in Physics and Finance from Boston College — analytical rigor as the foundation, finance as the application
Risk Reversal
Here's the deal.
If at the end of the FOS you don't believe the foundation is built — model isn't calibrated, plan isn't tied to your business, action items don't feel actionable — I come back in 90 days at no charge. We re-run the scorecard against your actual results, look at variance, and walk through what moved.
A $3,000 Quarterly Strategic Advisory session, on me — so the FOS earns its keep on the only thing that matters: whether your numbers actually moved.
Ready to build the foundation?
Thirty minutes on a call. We talk through what's actually in front of you, what the FOS would look like for your business, and whether this is the right next step. If it is, we get going. If it isn't, we don't.
The point of the FOS isn't to sell you the next thing. It's to leave you with the foundation. Some clients continue with us into ongoing advisory. Others take the deliverables and run with them internally. Both are fine outcomes.
Or email us directly: info@thelhgrp.com
Already know it's a fit and want us to review your numbers first? Send your financials →