Investor-ready in 30 days

Investor-ready financials in 30 days.

A three-statement model, forecast and data room built to diligence standard — so your raise runs on your timetable, not your spreadsheet's. And when the raise is done, we stay on as your finance department.

Book a 30-minute call See the 30-day scope
Built for
Founders raising $500k–$10M Search funds & ETA buyers Owner-operated SMEs $3M–$25M revenue
The 30-day sprint

Investor Ready in 30 Days.

For owners raising equity, refinancing debt, or testing the market. We work from the numbers you already have — no bookkeeping rebuild, no six-week discovery phase, no scrambling three days before a diligence call. Whatever it takes to get you in front of investors ready, we do.

Fixed fee
One number, agreed before we start.
Priced on the size and complexity of your raise — a seed round and a growth round aren't the same job. Not hourly, and not revised halfway through. You'll have the figure on the discovery call.
Book a 30-minute call
  • Days 1–5 Diagnostic and drivers. What you're raising, from whom, and against what numbers. We map the business model and agree the story the financials need to tell.
  • Days 6–15 The model. Three statements, monthly, with sensitivities and returns analysis. Built so an analyst can follow it without ringing you.
  • Days 16–24 Deck and exec summary. The investor deck — or a credit memo if it's a debt raise — plus the one-pager you send on a warm intro.
  • Days 25–30 Revisions and rehearsal. We keep working it until you're happy to send it, then a walkthrough call where we sit on the other side of the table and ask the awkward questions first.

What you get

  • Three-statement financial model with sensitivities and returns analysis
  • Investor deck, or a credit memo for a debt raise
  • One-page executive summary for warm intros
  • Sources and uses, and a cap table showing what the round does to ownership
  • Investor Q&A pack — the questions they'll actually ask, answered in advance
  • A management presentation script to go with the deck
  • Data room checklist built to diligence standard
  • Investor update template for once the money's in
  • Revisions until you're happy to send it
  • A walkthrough rehearsal call before your first investor meeting

The scope is the outcome, not a checklist. If getting you investor-ready takes something that isn't on this list, we build that too. Best when you're going to market in the next 60–90 days — and if your underlying records won't support a diligence-standard model, we'll say so on the call rather than take your money. Building on bad data just moves the problem into a room full of investors.

Who we work with

Two types of owner. One playbook.

We do one thing well, for two closely related groups of people. If you don't see yourself below, we're probably not the right fit — and we'll say so on the call.

Acquisition entrepreneurs

You've just closed (or are about to close) on a small business. The previous owner kept the books in a shoebox. The lender wants reporting. You need to know what's actually going on.

  • Search funds & ETA buyers, 0–18 months post-close
  • Self-funded acquirers integrating an inherited finance function
  • Raising acquisition finance or refinancing an existing facility
  • Lender or SBA reporting covenants you can't afford to miss
  • Quality-of-earnings shock and the post-close reality check

Owner-operated SMEs

You've built a real business. It's profitable. But finance is held together by a part-time bookkeeper and a feeling, and you're starting to feel exposed every time someone asks for numbers.

  • $3M–$25M revenue, 10–80 employees
  • Run by a non-finance founder or family operator
  • Raising equity, refinancing debt, or preparing for an exit
  • Opening a second site and needing to prove it works on paper first
  • Tired of running the business with your eyes half-closed
What we fix

The boring fundamentals, done properly.

Most owners we meet don't need a strategy weekend. They need the basics working, on time, every month, by someone who actually understands the numbers.

01Monthly close that lands on time

Books closed by working day 10. Standardised P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow. Same format every month so trends are obvious.

02A KPI pack you'll actually read

Five to ten numbers that matter for your business. Trended. Annotated. Delivered with a one-page commentary, not a 40-tab spreadsheet.

0313-week cash flow forecast

So you stop wondering if payroll clears. Updated weekly. Owner-friendly. The single most useful tool in any small business.

04Lender & investor reporting

Covenant packages, board packs, monthly investor updates. Done in the format your bank or partner actually wants, not the one that's easiest for you.

05The decisions hiding in your numbers

Pricing, hiring, capex, expansion, exit prep. Models that answer the question instead of generating more questions.

06An adult in the room

Someone who's seen the post-close mess before, who'll tell you the truth, and who isn't trying to upsell you into audit or tax work.

Also available

Just need the model?

Not every owner is raising. If you already know exactly what you want and it's a clean, usable model you can drive yourself, this is the smaller way in.

2 weeks $4,000

The Operating Model

A clean, usable, owner-friendly financial model in 14 days. For owners who say "I just need a proper model."

  • 30-min kickoff to capture the business model and key drivers
  • Three-statement monthly model (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow), 36-month horizon
  • 13-week rolling cash flow forecast
  • Single-tab KPI dashboard with 5–8 metrics
  • Two scenarios (base + downside) with one-page commentary
  • 45-min handover so you can drive it yourself

Best when: you're not raising and not ready for a retainer, but want something serious to run the business from.

The embedded finance department

You don't need a CFO. You need a finance department.

Bookkeeping, controls, monthly close, reporting and CFO judgment under one monthly fee. One team, one number to call — no handoffs between your bookkeeper, your accountant, and whoever's building the forecast this quarter.

Core
The full finance function, running on a steady monthly rhythm.
  • Bookkeeping and transaction processing
  • Monthly close landed by working day 10
  • KPI pack with one-page commentary
  • 13-week rolling cash flow, updated weekly
  • One strategy call per month
  • Ad-hoc questions by email or Slack
  • Annual planning session
Plus
For owners deciding what's next — a raise, a refinance, a second site.
  • Everything in Core
  • Quarterly board pack
  • Scenario & forecasting work
  • Two strategy calls per month
  • Lender & investor relations support
  • VAT and payroll coordination
Premium
For owners running hard at growth or exit.
  • Everything in Plus
  • Weekly cadence, embedded in operating reviews
  • M&A support (buy-side or sell-side)
  • Exit-prep & vendor due diligence
  • Direct access, same-day response
From $5,000/mo

Scoped on the discovery call — what you pay depends on transaction volume, entity count and reporting cadence, and we'd rather quote it properly than guess on a web page. Six-month minimum, no long lock-in after that.

When the problem is deeper than the raise

The 60-Day Finance Reset.

Investor-ready in 30 days assumes your numbers are broadly trustworthy. Sometimes they're not — the books are in a shoebox, or you've just inherited a finance function from a previous owner. This is where those businesses start. By day 60 you'll have a clean close, an operating model, a KPI dashboard and a 13-week cash forecast — and a real decision to make about keeping us on.

Fixed fee
$11,500
60 days. Defined scope. No discovery phase, no surprise invoices, no upsells.
Book a 30-minute call
  • Week 1 Diagnostic. Where are the books? What's missing? What does good look like for this specific business? Written report at the end of week 1.
  • Weeks 2–4 Rebuild the close. Clean chart of accounts. Standardised monthly close process. Working with your bookkeeper, not around them.
  • Weeks 4–6 Operating model & KPI dashboard. Three-statement model and the 5–10 numbers that actually matter for your business.
  • Weeks 7–8 13-week cash flow & handover. Forecast built. Owner / bookkeeper trained to update it. Decision on retainer made on a no-pressure call.
About

Built and run by Tom McCollum.

London · New York · Lisbon

Tom McCollum
Trained at KPMG ACA Chartered Accountant 10+ years finance leadership £10m–£250m deal experience

I'm an ACA-qualified finance director with ten-plus years across M&A, private equity, and CFO roles for growth-stage and founder-led businesses. Compass & Ledger is the firm I'd have wanted to hire on the way through.

I trained at KPMG in Corporate Finance, working on M&A transactions in the £100m–£200m range across the TMT sector — buy-side and sell-side due diligence on private equity deals. From there I moved into buyside investment, running LBO, DCF and credit models on transactions from £10m to £250m, spanning debt raises, refinancings, MBOs, and minority stake sales.

Since 2021 I've been the embedded finance lead for a small number of venture-backed startups, off-market real asset platforms, and hospitality and consumer brands — building finance functions from scratch, running monthly close and KPI reporting, and supporting capital raises along the way.

I've sat on the other side of the table. I know what an investment committee does with a model at 9pm the night before a decision, and I know which five things they check first. That's what the 30-day sprint is built around.

Most fractional CFO offerings either drown owners in jargon or hand them a bookkeeper with a fancier title. Neither helps. What helps is someone who can sit across from you, look at the same numbers you're looking at, tell you what they actually mean, and then go and build the systems so next month's numbers come out cleaner.

That's the work. It's not flashy. It compounds. I take on a small number of clients at any time so each gets real attention — if we're not a fit on the discovery call, I'll tell you and try to point you somewhere better.

Book a 30-minute call

Common questions

Things owners and acquirers ask before we start.

What does "investor ready in 30 days" actually mean?
A model, deck and data room an investor's analyst can work through without coming back with forty questions. It does not mean funded in 30 days — nobody can promise that, and anyone who does is selling you something. It means the materials stop being the reason your raise slips.
What if my books aren't clean enough for a 30-day turnaround?
We'll tell you on the call, before you've paid anything. If the underlying records won't support a diligence-standard model, the 60-Day Reset comes first. Building a polished model on bad data doesn't solve the problem — it just moves it into a room full of investors.
Do you replace my bookkeeper or accountant?
On a retainer, we take the bookkeeping on ourselves — that's the point of hiring a finance department rather than a fractional CFO. If you've got a bookkeeper you like, we'll work with them instead and own the layer above: close, controls, reporting and forecasting. Your tax accountant stays where they are. We don't do tax returns or audit, and we're not trying to sell you either.
What if I just acquired the business and the books are a mess?
That's exactly what the 60-Day Reset is built for. We assume nothing works. We start with a diagnostic, fix the chart of accounts, rebuild the close, and have you running on a clean monthly rhythm by day 60. Most of our acquirer clients arrive in roughly this state.
Why fixed fee instead of hourly?
Hourly billing punishes both sides. You're afraid to send an email; we're incentivised to drag work out. Fixed fees mean you know what you're paying, and we're incentivised to do the work efficiently and well. Same reason your accountant doesn't bill the audit hourly.
Should I start with the 30-Day Sprint, the Operating Model, or the Reset?
If you're going to market for capital in the next 60–90 days, start with the 30-Day Sprint. If your finance function is genuinely broken or you've inherited a mess from a previous owner, start with the 60-Day Reset. If you just need a clean, usable model and don't have wider finance issues to fix, start with the $4,000 Operating Model. We'll tell you on the discovery call which one fits — and if none of them do, we'll say so.
Why aren't the 30-Day Sprint and the retainer priced on the page?
Both scale with things a web page can't see. The sprint is priced on the size and complexity of your raise — a seed round and a $10M growth round are not the same piece of work, and the scope runs to whatever it takes to get you ready. The retainer includes bookkeeping, which scales with transaction volume, entity count and how messy the last twelve months were. Quoting one number would mean overcharging the simple cases or underquoting the complicated ones and clawing it back later. What is genuinely fixed-scope — the Operating Model and the 60-Day Reset — is priced openly above, and you'll have a firm, fixed number for the sprint before any work starts. Retainers start at $5,000/mo.
Do I have to start with a project before going onto a retainer?
Almost always, yes. A project — most commonly the 30-Day Sprint or the Reset — gives us both a defined, low-risk way to find out if we work well together, and it leaves you with real deliverables even if you decide not to continue. We occasionally take on retainer-only clients, but only when the finance function is already in good shape.
How is this different from hiring a full-time financial controller or CFO?
A financial controller in the US averages around $111,000 a year before benefits and payroll taxes, rarely brings strategic perspective, and you still need a bookkeeper underneath them. A full-time CFO averages north of $300,000 all-in and is over-engineered for a $5M business. Our retainers start at $60,000 a year for an entire finance function — bookkeeping through to CFO judgment — run by someone who's seen the same problems across many similar businesses. Once you're past $20M revenue or genuinely need full-time presence in the building, we'll tell you and help you hire.
Do you work with US clients?
Yes. We work with UK and US-based owners and acquirers, async-friendly, and we're familiar with both UK GAAP / FRS 102 and US GAAP at the level needed for owner-operated businesses. For audit-grade US work we'll partner with a US CPA.
What industries don't you work with?
VC-backed software startups (different game), regulated financial services (different specialism), and very early-stage businesses below $1.5M revenue. Beyond that, we're industry-agnostic — the finance fundamentals look similar across most operating businesses.
Next step

Thirty minutes. No pitch deck. Just your situation, and what we'd do.

If we're a fit, we'll tell you. If we're not, we'll tell you that too — and where to look instead. Either way you'll leave the call with a clearer picture of what good finance looks like for your business.

Book a 30-minute discovery call

Or email tom@compassandledger.co.uk directly.