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The Founder's Finance Roadmap

What to have in place at every stage of growth, from first dollar to investor-ready. A two-page reference built for founders: the checklist for each stage, the reports that matter, and the benchmarks worth watching.

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SANDHILL HQ · FINANCE AS A SERVICE The Founder's Finance Roadmap

01 Foundation

02 Traction

03 Growth

04 Scale

The four stages

Where are you on the roadmap?

01 · Foundation · Pre-revenue to first customers

Build a foundation clean enough that growth never means cleanup

Separate business banking and credit
Entity, EIN, and state registrations in order
Accounting system set up correctly from day one
Books reconciled monthly, not at tax time
Runway and burn tracked every month

Sandhill covers this: Bookkeeping & Operations →

02 · Traction · Early revenue to $1M ARR

Know your numbers well enough to trust them

Monthly close, done on a schedule
Payroll and contractor compliance (W-2 vs. 1099)
Sales tax nexus reviewed as you sell across states
Deferred revenue tracked, not lumped into income
Baseline unit economics: gross margin and CAC

Sandhill covers this: Accounting & Reporting →

03 · Growth · $1M to $5M ARR

Financials that drive decisions, not just tax returns

Move from cash to accrual accounting
Revenue recognition aligned to ASC 606
Budget vs. actual reporting, reviewed monthly
SaaS metrics: NRR, churn, burn multiple, LTV:CAC
A documented month-end close process

Sandhill covers this: Accounting & Controller support →

04 · Scale · $5M+ or raising capital

Numbers that stand up to diligence

GAAP-compliant financial statements
Audit-ready support and documentation
Board-ready monthly reporting package
Forecasting and scenario modeling
Data room prepared for due diligence

Sandhill covers this: Controller Services →

From page two

The metrics worth benchmarking

If these aren't on a dashboard somewhere, they're running your business without you. The full roadmap includes the complete reporting stack for every stage.

Metric	What it tells you	Healthy target
Gross margin	Whether the product can fund growth	70–80%+
Net revenue retention	Growth from customers you already have	100%+ · best-in-class 110%+
CAC payback period	How fast sales & marketing pays for itself	Under 12–18 months
LTV : CAC	Return on acquiring a customer	3:1 or better
Burn multiple	Cash burned per $1 of net new ARR	Under 2x · elite under 1x
Rule of 40	Balance of growth and profitability	Growth % + margin % ≥ 40
Runway	Months of cash at current burn	12–18+ months

Benchmarks are directional and vary by stage, market, and model. The point is to know yours and watch the trend.

Get the full roadmap (PDF)