Where You Stand.
What’s Next.
Where founders turn financial complexity into clarity — and clarity into action.
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The Challenge
The Financial Clarity Gap
Most founders are navigating critical growth decisions without a clear picture of their financial health.
See where you stand →Runway optimization feels like guesswork. Working capital is inefficient, cash conversion cycles are unpredictable, and forecasting remains uncertain.
You're making critical decisions with delayed or incomplete data. Manual reporting creates blind spots — and by the time you see the problem, it's already compounding.
You can see what happened, but not what it means for your next decision. Knowing your gross margin slipped two points is data; knowing whether that's pricing, mix, or cost creep — and which to fix first — is the part you're missing.
The Solution
The Founder Finance Health Matrix
We evaluate your financial health across four dimensions that matter most — a clear, structured view of where you stand and where to focus.
Runway, burn rate & near-term liquidity.
Revenue-to-profit conversion & margin quality.
Working capital management & cost structure.
Revenue growth trajectory & operating leverage.
What You Get
Not Just a Score — a Read on What to Do
Every dimension comes with the metrics behind it and a written interpretation for a company at your stage. Real sample output — anonymized data.
Financial Health Assessment
Prepared for Acme Software Co. · Series A · SaaS / Software
Executive Summary
Strong
Overall Financial Health
Acme Software Co., a Series A company in SaaS / Software, is showing strong overall financial health based on 6 months of financial data. Operational Efficiency is the best-performing dimension (Excellent), while Cash Health warrants the most attention (Stable). One factor worth monitoring: management noted that a large portion of the company's revenue comes from one customer — this concentration may influence multiple dimensions of financial health going forward.
Cash Health
Runway, burn rate & near-term liquidity
Key Metrics
Runway calculated using Cash Flow from Operations (CFO) indirect method. Trailing 3-month avg CFO: −$16K/mo. Trailing 6-month avg CFO: −$22K/mo. Headline runway uses trailing 3-month CFO. Trailing 6-month CFO is materially worse, indicating operations are improving.
Most recent month (March 2026) CFO: −$8K (Net Income −$3K, working capital change −$5K driven by AR growth). Trailing window methodology smooths month-to-month volatility; single-month figures are not used for the headline runway.
What This Means
Cash is adequate for near-term needs, but runway should be actively monitored as you move forward.
Your liquidity cushion exists — but it's not wide. Staying close to your cash position is important.
Recommended Action
Set a target cash reserve floor (typically 3–6 months of operating expenses) below which you would not let cash drop without a fundraise or material change. With current runway at 7.4 months on a 6-mo basis (10.6 months on a 3-mo basis), build a 13-week cash flow forecast that surfaces when the floor would be breached under the current trajectory — that date becomes the latest viable trigger for fundraising or operating change. The forecast itself is the deliverable; the floor and trigger date are what make it actionable.
+ 3 more dimensions in your full assessment
The Process
From Numbers to Clarity in Three Steps
Fill out our secure intake form with your income statement and balance sheet data. Takes about 15 minutes or less.
Your financials are evaluated against established financial health standards across all four dimensions of the Health Matrix.
Get your personalized Financial Health Scorecard within one business day — with a shareable link you can reference anytime.
What People Are Saying
Pricing
Two Ways to Get Started
See where you stand across four financial dimensions. Get top-level health indicators and status ratings for your business.
- —Overall Financial Health Score
- —Four-dimension Health Matrix
- —Status rating per dimension
- —Shareable scorecard link
See what’s behind your scores. The specific metrics driving each result, what they mean for a company at your stage, and a prioritized action plan.
- —Everything in the free scorecard
- —Full metrics breakdown per dimension
- —Interpretation for your stage & model
- —Prioritized action plan
- —30-minute walkthrough with an advisor
Need hands-on advisory support? Assessment clients can explore strategic advisory engagements with The Lighthouse Group.
Have a Model Already?
The Model Audit
Already have a financial model running your business? Get a senior practitioner’s read on it before the next consequential reader does — investor, board, acquirer, or the version of you about to make a real decision. Fixed scope. Five business days.
A diagnostic written for the decision-maker — findings by Health Matrix dimension, severity-rated risks, and the five to seven questions a sophisticated reader will ask.
Your model back with structural findings, tab-by-tab callouts, and surgical comments on the issues that matter. We mark what needs attention. We don't rebuild.
A 20–30 minute Loom walking through the findings live in your model — re-watchable, shareable with your co-founder, finance lead, or board.
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The Financial Operating System
The assessment tells you where you stand. The Financial Operating System translates your goals into a calibrated forecast — a clear view of where you’re headed, so every decision from here is grounded in your numbers. Delivered as a cohesive system over thirty days.
A 3-statement operating model calibrated to your business. Built on an institutional-grade template and tuned to your numbers — the forecasting tool you’ll use for every decision going forward.
90-day action plan organized by Health Matrix dimension. Three to five prioritized actions tied to your weakest scoring areas, each with expected impact and how to measure progress.
Hands-on advisory tailored to your business. Working sessions where we walk through the model with you, pressure-test priorities, and dig into the questions that matter most for what’s next.
Powered by The Lighthouse Group
What Makes the Insights Different
Most financial guidance comes from one lens. Founder Finance is built on three.
The analytical rigor, modeling discipline, and strategic perspective of investment banking.
The pedagogical foundation that comes from educating institutional finance teams.
The operating reality of running finance inside founder-stage companies across multiple industries.
The Result
Insights that hold up to investor scrutiny, frameworks you can actually understand and use, and recommendations grounded in what real businesses look like — not theory.
FAQ
Common Questions
Your numbers are used only to generate your scorecard or assessment — never shared or sold. Uploads are secure, and we’ll sign an NDA on request.
No. A reasonably current P&L and balance sheet is enough — we work on top of your numbers, we don’t close them. If your books are months behind, start with your bookkeeper first.
Start with the free scorecard. The right next step is usually obvious from there.
A senior practitioner — investment banking, Fortune 500 finance, and operating-CFO experience, who teaches financial modeling globally. A person reads your numbers — not software alone.
They tell you what happened. This tells you what it means — and what to do next.
The free scorecard and the $97 assessment are both delivered within one business day.
Actionable insights and financial fluency for growth-stage founders.
A short monthly briefing for founders who want to think more clearly about their numbers without becoming the CFO.
One concept worth getting right — a metric, framework, or financial pattern that comes up across founder-led companies, explained clearly with a worked example.
One signal worth tracking — something shifting in capital, M&A, or operating norms that affects how growth-stage companies should be thinking.
One thing to do this month — a concrete action tied to your stage, organized by Health Matrix dimension.
Opens your email client. One quick click and you’re on the list.