DMW Advisory

The Challenge

A fast-growing EdTech SaaS company had hit $8M in annual recurring revenue — but their financial infrastructure hadn’t kept pace. Their lone bookkeeper was handling month-end close, but leadership had no visibility into unit economics, customer acquisition costs, or runway projections. Board meetings were a scramble of last-minute spreadsheets that nobody fully trusted.

The CEO described the situation bluntly: “We were making decisions based on gut feel and a bank balance. At $2M that works. At $8M it’s terrifying.”

What We Did

Phase 1: Financial Foundation (Weeks 1-4)

We started with a full diagnostic of their accounting stack. QuickBooks Online was handling the basics, but chart of accounts wasn’t structured for SaaS metrics. We restructured the COA to separate recurring vs. non-recurring revenue, segment costs by department, and enable proper FP&A reporting.

  • Rebuilt chart of accounts for SaaS-specific reporting
  • Implemented accrual-basis revenue recognition for annual contracts
  • Created automated bank reconciliation workflows
  • Reduced month-end close from 3 weeks to 5 business days

Phase 2: KPI Dashboard & Forecasting (Weeks 5-8)

With clean books in place, we built a real-time CFO dashboard tracking the metrics that actually matter for a SaaS business: MRR growth, net revenue retention, CAC payback period, LTV:CAC ratio, gross margin by product line, and burn rate.

  • Built automated KPI dashboard refreshing weekly
  • Created 13-week rolling cash flow forecast
  • Developed scenario models for three growth trajectories
  • Established monthly financial review cadence with leadership

Phase 3: Board Readiness (Weeks 9-12)

The company had a board meeting every quarter but dreaded the prep. We built a standardized board deck template with actual vs. budget variance analysis, cohort analytics, and forward-looking projections that told a clear story.

The Results

Within 90 days:

  • Month-end close: Reduced from 21 days to 5 days
  • Board prep time: Cut from 2 weeks of panic to 2 hours of review
  • Gross margin visibility: Discovered one product line was margin-negative — restructured pricing and recovered $340K annually
  • Fundraising readiness: Clean financials and projections enabled a successful Series A process 6 months later

“DMW didn’t just clean up our books — they gave us a financial operating system. For the first time, I could walk into a board meeting feeling prepared instead of anxious.” — CEO

Key Takeaway

Most SaaS companies between $5M and $15M hit the same wall: they’ve outgrown their bookkeeper but aren’t ready for a $300K full-time CFO. A fractional CFO bridges that gap — delivering Wall Street-caliber financial leadership at a fraction of the cost.

Ready to get the same clarity for your company? Book a free consultation →

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