Built by a CFO operator.
Run as a firm.

Not a freelancer with a logo. A fractional CFO partnership built on one operator's playbook and delivered by a senior team, so founders get the seat without the full-time price tag.

12 yrs
in the CFO seat
2× $20M+
$0 to $20M+ ARR scaled, twice
$23M+
raised for companies she led
Mariya Valeva, Founder & Managing CFO
Mariya Valeva
Founder & Managing CFO
— A note from the founder

The CFO I wish every founder had.

Hey founder, I'm Mariya. I'm a startup CFO turned founder. I get a little too excited about a clean P&L, and a little too fired up watching brilliant founders build brilliant things, then lose the company on the numbers no one ever taught them to read.

In twelve years as an operating CFO, scaling B2B companies from $0 to $20M+ ARR twice, I watched too many good founders get stuck in the same place: a kind of startup neverland, too small to raise at venture scale, too bloated to run lean and profitable. Caught between two playbooks, running neither well.

Almost every time, the thing keeping them there was the same. They treated their numbers as an afterthought, or something to be intimidated by, instead of the clearest map they had.

That's why I built FounderFirst: to put that seat next to you, a senior CFO who's already made your call, before you make it. The founders who come out ahead are the ones with options, the room to scale, sell, or own on their own terms. And it starts with owning your numbers.

Every engagement runs on my playbook, delivered by a senior team I've trained, so the standard holds no matter who's in the room.

Think like a CFO. Build like a founder.
"

Mariya is not only exceptionally talented and thoughtful in her approach to sustainable growth, she is an absolute joy to work with.

Alexandra Chabaneix
Alexandra ChabaneixFounder, Globally Inspired Ventures · Site partner
— The difference we make

What changes when a real CFO owns the seat.

Most founders have finance that tells them what already happened. Here's the shift when someone owns them, and looks ahead.

Finance as a rear-view
Where most founders are
×You find out a month later that the numbers moved.
×Pricing, hiring, and burn get decided on gut and hope.
×Money runs tight before anyone sees it coming.
×No benchmark for what "good" even looks like at your stage.
×Growth feels good, but no one can prove it's efficient.
Finance as a forward instrument
Where we take you
✓You decide with the numbers in front of you, not a gut feeling.
✓Every dollar of spend is tied to the outcome you're building toward.
✓When an investor or lender digs in, you're ready: model, data room, and answers in hand.
✓You can defend any number, to a board, a buyer, or yourself, without flinching.
✓You know your efficiency cold, against plan and against the market.

That shift, from reacting to the numbers to running the company from them, is what a senior CFO in the seat buys you. Not a prettier report. A better-run company.

— What we believe

Five rules we don't bend.

Whatever your stage, your goal, or the pressure, these hold.

01
The destination sets the math.
Scale, sell, and own are three different companies on paper. We pin down where you're going, then build every number to serve it.
02
Finance is a decision, not a record.
Your accountant tells you what happened. We tell you what to do about it: raise or wait, fund the hire or hold, push price or protect it.
03
A founder who knows what's possible is dangerous.
The strongest founders aren't guessing. They know exactly what they can afford to do, and what they can't, and they move while everyone else hesitates.
04
A number is only as good as the judgment reading it.
The same forecast can point two different ways. Which one you act on comes down to who's reading it, and whether they've made that call before.
05
A fractional CFO isn't for every stage, and we'll say so.
Too big to wing it, too early for a $300K+ hire: that's the window. Before it, you may just need a project. Past it, you need someone full-time, and we'll tell you plainly, and help you hire them.
— Who we work with

We do our best work for a specific kind of founder.

We'd rather be the perfect fit for a few than a vague option for everyone.
If you're a B2B founder between $2M and $20M ARR with a raise, a sale, or a profit goal ahead, this is built for you. If you're not, we'll say so on the first call.

We're a fit if you're:
  • A founder-led B2B SaaS, AI, or tech-enabled services company
  • Roughly $2M to $20M ARR, venture-backed or bootstrapped
  • Past the point a bookkeeper can answer your real questions
  • Months from a raise, a board cycle, or a sale
  • Looking for strategy and ownership, not just reporting
We're not a fit if you need:
  • Pre-revenue help, or you're still searching for product-market fit
  • An e-commerce, CPG, hard-tech, or robotics business
  • Basic bookkeeping, payroll, or invoicing
  • A freelancer for the occasional finance question
  • Someone to record the past, not own the future
— Start here

Want us in your corner?

A short application, then a call. We'll tell you whether we're the right fit for your stage, and what the partnership looks like if we are. No deck. No pitch.

Work with us → See services