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The capital event is real. The story and the numbers need to be too.

Project-based finance leadership for companies preparing for a fundraise, sale, audit, refinance, or board-level strategic decision. Institutional-grade work product on a defined timeline, month-to-month with no annual commitment.

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  3. Strategic Finance Advisory

The Challenge

A real capital event is on the calendar. The term sheet is three months out, or the LOI just landed, or the lender wants a restated three-year financial package in 45 days. You can feel that what you have internally is not going to hold up. The model was built for operations, not diligence. The reporting pack makes sense to you but will not make sense to a private equity analyst or a lender's credit committee. The historicals are clean but the forward story is a spreadsheet your controller put together over a weekend.

You have one shot at this. You do not need a fractional CFO on a 2 to 4 day per month cadence for the next 18 months. You need an operator who has sat on the other side of the diligence table, knows exactly what is about to be asked, and can produce an institutional-grade package on the deadline.

Our Approach

We scope the engagement against a specific event: the fundraise, the sale, the audit, the refinance, the restructure, the board-level strategic decision. Engagements are typically 8 to 16 weeks with a defined deliverable date, not an open-ended retainer. The first week sets the target artifact list against the event (what diligence will ask for, in what format, by when) and a work-back schedule. From there we build the artifacts the event actually requires: the institutional-grade three-statement model, the quality-of-earnings ready adjusted EBITDA bridge, the data room, the management presentation, the capital structure analysis, whatever the event demands.

Brian has sat across the table from investors, lenders, and auditors on Wall Street for 25+ years across a Big Four professional services firm, global investment banks, institutional asset managers, and a boutique institutional long/short equity asset manager, and has founded or co-founded multiple companies of his own. The work product is built to survive that table. We do not produce a pretty deck and leave you to defend it. We sit in the diligence calls, answer the questions, and stay through close.

What You Get

  • Target artifact list mapped against the specific capital event
  • Institutional-grade three-statement model with explicit driver-based assumptions
  • Adjusted EBITDA bridge with add-back documentation ready for quality-of-earnings review
  • Data room structure, population, and ongoing management through close
  • Management presentation built for the audience (investor, lender, acquirer, board)
  • Capital structure analysis with scenario comparison
  • Diligence response package including Q and A tracking
  • Live participation in diligence calls, lender meetings, and board-level reviews through close

Engagement Model

8 to 16 weeks typical, scoped to the specific event and deliverable date. Month-to-month billing with a defined end-date, not an open-ended retainer. Brian holds the seat directly on every engagement. Scope changes are surfaced in writing and approved before billing. Many engagements extend into a fractional CFO relationship after close. Many do not. Neither is the default.

Who It's For

Built for $2M to $50M companies with a real capital event on the calendar inside the next 3 to 6 months. Typical triggers are an institutional fundraise, a sale-side or buy-side process, a refinance, a complex audit, or a board-level strategic decision that requires institutional-grade financial work product. We are not the right fit for companies exploring the idea of a future capital event with no timeline or mandate. That is a fractional CFO conversation, not this one.

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Financial Planning & Analysis

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Executive Leadership

  • Fractional CFO
  • Fractional COO
  • Interim CFO
  • Interim COO
  • How We Work
  • All services

Finance & Operations

  • Financial Planning & Analysis
  • Cash Flow Management
  • Budgeting & Forecasting
  • KPI & Reporting Dashboards
  • Profitability & Margin Analysis
  • Strategic Finance Advisory
  • Fundraising & Investor Readiness
  • Revenue Cycle Optimization
  • Controller & Accounting Oversight
  • Finance Systems & ERP
  • AI-Powered Finance
  • AI-Enabled Bookkeeping

Who We Serve

  • VC-Backed Startups
  • Founder-Led Lower Middle Market
  • PE Portfolio Companies
  • Professional Services Firms
  • Established SMBs & Family Businesses
  • AI-Native & Technology
  • All sectors

Insights

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  • Case Studies
  • Testimonials
  • Resource Library
  • FAQ

Company

  • About Catalyst
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