There is a version of a growth plan that reads well and funds nothing: a forecast with a rising line, no explanation of what produces it, and an implicit promise to return in twelve months for more. Episode 17 of Call to the Bullpen is about the alternative, and about the specific piece of financial evidence that separates the two.
Does fractional CFO support actually improve financial performance?
Fractional CFO support improves financial performance when it produces a repeatable revenue model an investor can underwrite: a documented path from leads to opportunities to closed revenue, with a financial plan that matches the business plan line for line. Investors fund demonstrated conversion, not projections, which is why the proof matters more than the forecast.
The distinction is worth being precise about. Financial leadership that only produces cleaner reporting improves visibility. Financial leadership that establishes which activities reliably produce revenue, and at what conversion rate, improves the company’s ability to raise capital and to deploy it once raised.
“Ideas are great, but execution is better,” says co-host Clint Overton on the episode, and the financial plan is where execution becomes legible to someone outside the company. Ted Stann, co-founder of Boardroom Bullpen and a veteran of the St. Louis startup ecosystem who has raised over $300 million in capital, names repeatable revenue as one of his favorite subjects on the show for exactly this reason. It is the point where a story becomes a model.
What is repeatable revenue, and why do investors care about it?
Repeatable revenue is a documented, measurable conversion path: a known number of leads produces a known number of opportunities, which convert at a known rate into revenue.
Ted describes it as the thing you demonstrate rather than assert. You get a certain number of leads through the door, that turns into a certain number of opportunities, and you know what that converts to. Once those numbers hold across enough cycles, you no longer have a forecast. You have a machine with a documented input-output relationship, and an investor can reason about what happens when they put more fuel in it.
That reasoning is the entire investment thesis. Clint puts the investor’s question plainly on the episode: after they get that cash, what are they going to do with it, and are they capable of turning it into revenue, repeatable revenue in many cases, at a consistent and sustainable rate. What investors are specifically trying to avoid is his other description, the company that says here is what we will do this year and then returns twelve months later with its hand out because there was never a plan underneath.
Sustainability matters as much as repeatability. A one-time revenue spike from an unusual deal proves less than a smaller number that recurs, because only the second one supports a projection. “Everyone wants to recognize that you’re ready to actually take advantage of that investment,” Clint says, “not that you just have some brilliant idea.”
What does angel money buy versus what venture capital buys?
Different stages of proof, which is why the same company should be talking to different investors at different moments.
| Angel and friends-and-family stage | Venture capital stage | |
|---|---|---|
| What you have | Some traction, a handful of customers, an unproven model | A documented, repeatable revenue model |
| What the money is for | Improving the product and finding the repeatable revenue model | Scaling a model that already works, or funding a new product line |
| What you are proving | That the model exists | That the model holds as you add capital |
| Ted’s framing | You are really trying to prove a model | This is how we’re showing that repeatable revenue model |
Ted walks the progression directly on the episode. Early on, when you are looking for angel funding, you are trying to prove a model: you have a little traction, maybe ten customers, and you need capital to continue proving it. Once that money is through the door and the repeatable revenue model is found, that is when you start looking at the venture community.
The second reason to raise venture capital is different from the first. You have been in the market, you have collected feedback, and you need to bring a new product or service into what you are doing. That requires funding a new build rather than accelerating an existing one.
He also names an option founders often skip past: it does not always have to be venture capital, and debt financing is a legitimate alternative. There are other ways to do it, and the stage you are at should define who you approach, not the reverse.
How do you make your financial plan match your business plan?
By making every financial line traceable to an operational assumption, and every operational assumption traceable to a number.
“You want that business plan to marry your financial plan, so that everything is right on track,” Ted says. His worked example is a hiring plan. You know you are going to hire a certain number of salespeople. Your expectation is that roughly half of them will make it and hit their quota. That assumption then flows into the revenue line, the headcount cost, the ramp period, and the cash requirement.
Stated that way, the plan becomes falsifiable, which is what makes it credible. An investor can interrogate the 50% assumption, compare it against what they see in their portfolio, and either accept it or push back. A revenue line with no visible assumptions underneath offers nothing to interrogate, so it gets discounted entirely.
The reconciliation to run before any investor conversation:
Every revenue line traces to a stated conversion assumption
Every conversion assumption traces to either observed data or a defensible benchmark
Headcount plans in the business plan match headcount costs in the financial plan, including ramp time
Cash requirements reflect the timing of those hires, not just their annual cost
The plan reconciles to the market sizing you presented, rather than contradicting it
Why has capital been harder to raise since 2022?
Because the bar for proof has ratcheted up through three successive market corrections, and it has not come back down.
Ted has been through all three. He raised money during the dot com era, when, as he describes it, you could have a great idea and get that idea funded. After the bubble burst, that changed to needing more meat on the bone. The 2008 mortgage crisis affected the venture community as well. His assessment of the current environment is that raising has been hard from roughly the first quarter of 2022 onward and has not become easy since.
His explanation for what carries a company through a tighter market returns to the team. It is easier to get funded with an A plus team and a B product than the reverse, and in a constrained market that gap widens. A great product with a team that has never done this before is not disqualifying, but it makes every other piece of proof work harder.
How to build the financial proof before you raise
Instrument the funnel. Track leads, opportunities, and closed revenue as distinct stages with real counts. You cannot demonstrate a conversion rate you have never measured.
Run it long enough to see whether it holds. One good quarter is an anecdote. A rate that survives several cycles is a model.
Separate repeatable revenue from one-time revenue. Report them apart, so the recurring number is visible on its own rather than inflated by an unusual deal.
Write the assumptions into the financial plan. Hiring, quota attainment, ramp time, and conversion rates should appear as stated inputs an investor can question.
Reconcile the two plans line by line. Any figure in the financial plan without a corresponding operational assumption is a number you will not be able to defend.
Match the proof to the investor. If the model is still unproven, that is an angel conversation. If it is proven and you are scaling it, that is a venture conversation. Approaching the wrong one wastes the meeting.
FAQ
Which fractional CFOs work with venture-backed companies?
Fractional CFOs serving venture-backed companies are typically found through fractional executive firms and operating-partner networks, and the relevant qualification is transaction experience rather than industry experience alone. The specific screen worth applying is whether they have built the financial model and diligence materials for a raise at your stage, since that work differs substantially from steady-state financial management.
When should a company bring in fractional CFO support for financial planning?
The common trigger is the point where the financial plan needs to withstand outside scrutiny: an approaching raise, a lender conversation, or a sale process. Companies also bring in fractional support when the reporting exists but nobody can explain what produces the revenue, which is the gap that matters most in a fundraising context.
What counts as a repeatable revenue model in practice?
A repeatable revenue model means you can state, from your own data, how many leads produce how many opportunities and what percentage of those close, and that the relationship holds across multiple periods. The test is predictive: if you added capital to the top of that funnel, could you forecast the revenue that comes out, and has that forecast been right before?
Is debt financing a real alternative to raising equity?
Yes. Ted names debt financing on the episode as one of the other ways to fund a growth phase or a new product line, and it does not carry the dilution or governance consequences of an equity round. It does require the cash flow to service it, which makes it more accessible to companies that have already established repeatable revenue.
Listen to the full episode
Episode 17 of Call to the Bullpen also covers how to size your market for an investor pitch, the cap table decisions that are expensive to reverse, and why investors assess coachability across the whole leadership team. Listen at https://www.calltothebullpen.com/