Start the Way You Want to Finish: Building Financial Infrastructure for Growth

by Sharai Lavoie | Jan 29, 2026 | Financial Services

Here’s one of our core principles: start the way you want to finish. This doesn’t mean over-investing in systems you don’t yet need, but it does mean thinking strategically about your financial infrastructure.

The most successful companies don’t wait until their current systems break down completely before considering alternatives. They make proactive decisions about financial infrastructure that support their growth plans.

Thinking Beyond Current Needs

Successful companies balance current requirements with future growth plans. If you’re planning significant growth, consider how your current spreadsheet-based tools will handle increased complexity. Think about the financial reporting requirements you’ll face as you scale. Consider the audit and compliance needs that come with business growth.

The strategic question isn’t: “What do we need right now?” It’s: “What foundation will support our growth plans?”

This forward-thinking approach doesn’t mean buying the most expensive systems available. It means choosing solutions that can grow with your business without requiring complete replacement.

Making Proactive Investments

The most successful companies we work with make financial system investments before they absolutely need them. They recognize that changing systems during rapid growth is more disruptive than building proper infrastructure early.

This approach offers several advantages: Your team learns new systems when they have time to do so properly. You avoid the pressure of urgent system changes during busy growth periods. Financial processes scale smoothly instead of breaking down under increased volume.

Think of it like building infrastructure for a growing city. You don’t wait until traffic becomes unbearable to plan better roads. You anticipate growth and build capacity ahead of demand.

Right Sizing Your Investment

“Start the way you want to finish” doesn’t mean buying the most expensive system available. It means choosing solutions that can grow with your business. We think of growth in terms of 10x the company’s current size and complexity. Specifically, if today’s systems cannot handle 10x the current volume, it might be time to evaluate an infrastructure that can.

Consider systems that: Handle your current volume efficiently while supporting planned growth. Integrate with other business systems you use or plan to implement. Provide the reporting and compliance capabilities you’ll need as you scale. Offer automation opportunities that reduce manual work as transaction volume increases.

The key is finding the balance between current needs and future requirements. You want systems that serve you well today while having room to grow.

Building Financial Infrastructure for Growth

Your financial systems should enable growth, not constrain it. The most successful companies view financial infrastructure as a competitive advantage that supports faster decision-making and scaling.

Strategic benefits of proper financial systems: Faster, more accurate financial reporting enables better decision-making. Automated processes free your team to focus on analysis and strategy. Robust audit trails and compliance capabilities support fundraising and partnership opportunities. Scalable systems handle growth without requiring proportional increases in manual work.

These benefits compound over time. Early investments in financial infrastructure pay dividends as your business scales.

Making the Investment Decision

The decision to move beyond spreadsheets should be strategic, not reactive. Consider the total cost of your current spreadsheet-based processes, including the time your team spends maintaining them. Factor in the business risks of continuing with systems that may not scale reliably. Evaluate the strategic advantages of having a more robust financial infrastructure.

Remember: The goal isn’t to spend money on technology but to invest in capabilities that support your business objectives.

The Positive Path Forward

Moving beyond spreadsheet-based financial management isn’t about admitting failure. It’s about recognizing success and ensuring your financial infrastructure supports continued growth.

The companies that thrive are those that: Recognize system limitations before they become crises. Make proactive investments in financial infrastructure. View system upgrades as growth enablers, not necessary evils. Balance current needs with future growth plans.

Your spreadsheet skills and the systems you’ve built got you this far. Knowing when to complement them with additional tools will help take you even further.

Your Next Steps

If you’re currently managing significant financial operations outside the core accounting systems, you’re not alone, and you’re not behind. You’re simply at a natural point in business growth where evaluating your financial infrastructure makes strategic sense.

Start by assessing your current situation: How much time does your team spend maintaining spreadsheets and related analysis? What are your biggest challenges with current systems? What financial reporting requirements do you expect as you grow? Where do you see the highest risk of errors or inefficiencies?

Consider your growth plans: What will your business look like in two years? What financial reporting will you need for investors, partners, or regulatory compliance? How will increased transaction volume affect your current processes?

Ready to Explore Your Options?

Schedule a financial systems assessment to understand how your current processes compare to modern alternatives. We’ll help you evaluate whether transitioning makes sense for your situation and timeline.

Learn about modern financial platforms designed for growing businesses. Today’s systems are more user-friendly and cost-effective than ever before.

Get a customized transition plan if you decide to improve your accounting systems, integrations and tools. We’ll help you plan a transition that minimizes disruption while maximizing the benefits of improved financial infrastructure.

The companies that build strong financial foundations early position themselves for smoother scaling and more confident growth.

Start the conversation today and discover how the right financial infrastructure can support your continued success.

Data Integrity Challenges as Your Business Scales

by Sharai Lavoie | Jan 29, 2026 | Financial Services

In our previous post, we explored why even expertly managed spreadsheet systems eventually become growth obstacles. Now let’s examine the specific data integrity challenges that emerge as your business scales and why these issues compound over time.

As businesses scale, data integrity becomes increasingly critical and increasingly difficult to maintain in spreadsheets. The volume of financial transactions, the number of people handling data, and the complexity of financial relationships all increase simultaneously.

Transaction Volume Challenges

Higher transaction volumes create several spreadsheet-related challenges. Large datasets can slow spreadsheet performance significantly. Manual data entry becomes more time-consuming and error-prone. Complex calculations take longer to process and verify.

What we typically observe: Monthly financial processing takes progressively longer as transaction volume grows. Teams spend increasing amounts of time verifying data accuracy manually. Reports that once generated quickly begin requiring extended processing time.

These aren’t sudden failures but gradual degradation in performance and reliability. The system that worked perfectly at 100 transactions per month struggles at 1,000 and breaks down at 10,000.

Relationship Complexity

Growing businesses develop more complex financial relationships that strain spreadsheet capabilities. Multiple revenue streams with different recognition rules. Complex cost allocations across departments, projects, or locations. Intricate customer billing arrangements that require sophisticated calculations.

Spreadsheets can handle these relationships, but maintaining accuracy becomes increasingly labor-intensive as complexity grows.

Consider a common scenario: You start with a single revenue stream and a straightforward cost structure. Spreadsheets handle this easily. As you grow, you add subscription revenue, professional services, and product sales, each with different recognition rules. You expand to multiple locations with shared costs that need allocation. You implement project-based tracking for better visibility.

The challenge isn’t that spreadsheets can’t do these things. It’s that the manual effort required grows exponentially with business complexity.

Regulatory and Compliance Considerations

As companies grow, they face increasing regulatory and compliance requirements that spreadsheets weren’t designed to address. Automated compliance reporting becomes difficult with spreadsheet-based systems. Regulatory changes require manual updates across multiple files. Audit preparation involves extensive manual compilation of spreadsheet data.

Specific compliance challenges: SOX compliance requires robust controls that spreadsheets struggle to provide. Industry-specific regulations demand audit trails that spreadsheets can’t easily maintain. Multi-jurisdictional operations create complex reporting requirements. Investor or board reporting requires consistent, verifiable data sources.

Modern financial systems handle many compliance requirements automatically, while spreadsheet systems require ongoing manual attention to remain compliant.

Modern Alternatives to Spreadsheets

Today’s financial management systems offer capabilities that weren’t available when many companies first adopted spreadsheets:

• Cloud-based accounting platforms provide real-time collaboration without version control issues.
• Integrated financial systems eliminate manual data transfer between different business processes.
• Automated reporting tools generate consistent, accurate reports without manual compilation.
• Built-in audit trails provide the documentation and transparency that growing businesses need.

These systems complement spreadsheets rather than replace it entirely. Spreadsheets remain excellent for analysis, modeling, and specialized calculations. The key is using the right tool for each task.

Making the Transition

The companies that successfully move beyond spreadsheet-based financial management share common approaches:

They recognize system limitations before they become crises. They view the transition as an investment in growth capability, not just an expense. They plan carefully to minimize disruption during implementation. They maintain realistic expectations about timing and learning curves.

The transition doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. Many companies successfully implement modern financial systems alongside spreadsheets, gradually shifting core processes while maintaining spreadsheets for specific analytical needs.

In our final post in this series, we’ll discuss how to build financial infrastructure that supports your growth plans and when to make strategic investments in your systems.

Start the conversation

The Hidden Dangers of Spreadsheet-Based Financial Management

by Sharai Lavoie | Jan 29, 2026 | Financial Services

Your finance team is incredibly skilled with spreadsheets, such as Excel or Google Sheets. They’ve built sophisticated models, automated calculations, and created reports that impress its audience. But here’s what many successful companies discover as they scale: even the most expertly crafted spreadsheets eventually become obstacles to growth.

Spreadsheets are powerful, familiar, and seemingly capable of handling any financial challenge. The problem isn’t spreadsheets themselves, but what happens when growing businesses outpace what even the best spreadsheets can safely manage.

The good news? Recognizing these limitations early gives you a tremendous advantage. Companies that proactively address spreadsheet dependency before it becomes a crisis position themselves for smoother scaling and more confident decision-making.

Why Smart Companies Eventually Outgrow Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets work for many financial tasks, especially in the early stages of business growth. The challenge emerges as operations become more complex and the stakes get higher. What starts as an efficient solution gradually becomes a source of risk and inefficiency.

The evolution typically looks like this:

Your team builds increasingly sophisticated spreadsheet models to handle growing complexity. Multiple people start working with the same data, creating version control challenges. As the business scales, financial processes require more manual intervention to produce accurate results. Eventually, the time spent maintaining spreadsheet systems exceeds the time saved by using them.

This isn’t a failure of spreadsheets or your team’s abilities. It’s simply the natural evolution of business growth outpacing the tools that got you started.

Common Challenges in Spreadsheet Systems

Understanding the typical issues that arise with spreadsheet-based financial management helps you recognize when it’s time to consider alternatives. These aren’t mistakes but natural consequences of using spreadsheets beyond their optimal scope.

Formula Dependencies and Broken Links

Spreadsheet formulas can be incredibly sophisticated, but they’re also fragile. When someone needs to update a process or add new data, they might inadvertently break formula chains that affect calculations throughout the spreadsheet.

What this looks like in practice: Someone adds a new row of data and forgets to extend formulas to include it. A quarterly update requires changing multiple linked formulas, and one gets overlooked. When files get moved or renamed, linked references break, causing calculation errors.

The more complex your spreadsheet models become, the more vulnerable they are to these kinds of issues. It’s not about user error but about the inherent limitations of managing complex financial relationships in spreadsheets.

Version Control Complications

When multiple team members work with financial data, version control becomes increasingly challenging in spreadsheets. Unlike dedicated financial systems with built in collaboration features, spreadsheets requires careful coordination to ensure everyone works with current data.

Common scenarios we see: Team members create local copies of master files to avoid conflicts. Updates get made to different versions, requiring manual reconciliation. Critical changes get lost when files are overwritten or incorrectly merged. Month end closing becomes delayed while teams verify they’re working with the correct versions.

Again, this isn’t about team organization but about spreadsheets’ limitations for collaborative financial work.

Audit Trail Limitations

Modern financial management requires clear audit trails showing who changed what and when. Spreadsheets provide basic tracking, but it’s not designed for the comprehensive audit requirements that growing businesses need.

The challenge grows when: Regulatory requirements demand detailed change tracking. Investor due diligence requires transparent financial process documentation. Annual audits need clear trails of all financial adjustments and updates. Multiple people need to review and approve financial data changes.

Spreadsheets can track some changes, but it lacks the robust audit capabilities that dedicated financial systems provide.

Recognizing the Right Time to Transition

Most companies eventually outgrow spreadsheets for financial management, but timing the transition properly is important. Too early, and you’re paying for capabilities you don’t need. Too late, and you’re struggling with systems that limit your growth.

Clear Indicators for Change

Several signs indicate it might be time to consider alternatives to spreadsheet-based financial management:

Process indicators: Month end closing takes significantly longer than it used to. Multiple people spend considerable time reconciling spreadsheet data. Financial reporting requires extensive manual compilation and verification. Data accuracy concerns are becoming more frequent.

Growth indicators: Transaction volume has increased substantially. You’re expanding to multiple locations or business units. Regulatory or compliance requirements are becoming more complex. Investor or stakeholder reporting needs are becoming more sophisticated.

Team indicators: Your finance team spends more time on data compilation than analysis. New team members require extensive training on complex spreadsheets systems. Key financial processes depend on specific individuals’ spreadsheet skills.

Planning Your Transition

When you decide to move beyond spreadsheets, careful planning ensures a smooth transition:

Start with your most critical processes: Focus first on areas where spreadsheet limitations create the biggest challenges. Revenue recognition, financial consolidation, and regulatory reporting are common starting points.

Maintain parallel systems initially: Run new systems alongside spreadsheets temporarily to ensure accuracy and build confidence in the new processes.

Invest in training: Ensure your team has proper training on new systems. Most modern financial platforms are designed to be user-friendly, but proper training maximizes their effectiveness.

In our next post, we’ll explore the specific data integrity challenges that emerge as transaction volume and complexity increase, and why these issues compound over time.

Start the conversation

Webinar Recap: The Financial Model That Gets You Funded

by Sharai Lavoie | Jul 15, 2025 | Financial Services

You’ve been working on your pitch deck for weeks, refining your story and perfecting your slides. But there’s one piece that keeps giving you anxiety: your financial model. When investors ask to see your projections, do you feel confident in what you’re showing them? Or do you worry that your forecast model might actually hurt your chances of getting funded?

If you’re in the latter camp, you’re not alone. Most founders struggle with building financial models that actually support their fundraising efforts instead of undermining them.

That’s exactly why our VP and Partner, Matt DeWald, recently teamed up with Charlotte Ketelaar from Capwave for an in-depth webinar on “The Financial Model That Gets You Funded.” If you missed the live session, we’ve embedded the full recording below—plus we’re sharing the key insights that can transform how you approach financial modeling for your company.

Why Your Financial Model Can Make or Break Your Fundraising

Here’s what Matt emphasized during the webinar: “Your financial model usually comes in after your pitch deck, but you really need to know your numbers at the time that you’re pitching.”

The problem most founders face isn’t that they don’t have a financial model—it’s that their model doesn’t align with their pitch deck story. When there’s a disconnect between what you’re promising and what your numbers show, investors notice immediately.

As Matt explained, “As soon as an investor sees your financial model and it all makes sense and everything falls into place, that’s when they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, this founder knows exactly what they’re talking about.'”

The reality is simple: Many investors are finance people. They’ve seen hundreds of pitch decks and thousands of financial models. They know what realistic growth looks like, and they can spot unrealistic projections from a mile away.

The Framework That Actually Works: Matt’s Live Demo

During the webinar, Matt didn’t just talk theory—he showed exactly how to build a defensible financial model using a real pre-seed company example. Here’s what made that model work:

Show Your Work

“I think some of the worst case scenarios that I’ve seen are people who just put in revenue numbers without really understanding the drivers of that revenue,” Matt explained during the demo.

The solution? Make your assumptions visible and easily calculable.

In the live example:

• $25 per user subscription fee (clearly visible input)
• Specific trigger dates for when new features would launch
• Growth rates that decreased over time as market penetration increased
• All inputs color-coded so investors could easily identify and modify assumptions

When an investor wants to test what happens if your customer acquisition cost changes from $25 to $35, they should be able to make that change in one cell and see the impact throughout your entire model.

Focus on Real Business Drivers

The demo company built their model around specific, measurable drivers:

• Number of advisors using their platform
• Average transaction volume per advisor ($3,000 monthly)
• Commission rates tied to specific revenue streams
• Technology development milestones that unlocked new revenue

This wasn’t guesswork—each assumption had a logical basis that the founding team could defend to investors.

Plan Your Team Like You Mean It

One of the most valuable parts of Matt’s presentation focused on hiring plans. As he noted, “I’ve seen VCs really hone in on and really drill in on management and ask the question, who’s going to be your first 10 hires?”

The demo model included:

• Specific roles and start dates for each hire
• Salary levels and department allocations
• Payroll-related costs (that 15% for benefits and taxes most people forget)
• Commission structures for sales team members

The model even projected headcount by department and month—exactly what investors want to see when evaluating your use of funds.

Don’t Forget About Cash Flow

Here’s where many founders stumble. They build beautiful income statements but forget that cash flow is what actually matters for survival.

Matt’s model showed monthly cash flow projections, clearly identifying when the company would hit low cash points and need additional funding. “You want to make sure that you’re reconciling your forecast model into cash,” he emphasized.

The Technology Foundation: Start the Way You Want to Finish

One of the most practical insights from the webinar wasn’t about modeling—it was about the systems that support your model. Matt shared Lavoie’s philosophy: “Start the way you want to finish.”

The Problem with Basic Systems: Most startups begin with QuickBooks because it’s familiar and inexpensive. But as Matt revealed, “9 out of 10, maybe even 19 out of 20” of Lavoie’s new clients need immediate migration to more sophisticated systems.

The Better Approach: “Don’t wait for the wheels to fall off your accounting systems before you turn around and say, ‘Oh, I should have done this a while ago,'” Matt warned.

Almost all seed and pre-seed companies that work with Lavoie get migrated to Sage Intacct because it:

• Handles the volume and complexity of scaling companies
• Integrates KPIs directly into the accounting system
• Provides real-time dashboards for investor reporting
• Aligns with the detailed forecasting models that actually work

Real-World Application: What the Demo Revealed

During the live demonstration, Matt showed a complete financial model for a pre-seed software company. What made this model compelling wasn’t complexity—it was clarity and logic.

Revenue Model Highlights:

• Three distinct revenue streams launching at different times
• Clear trigger dates tied to technology development milestones
• Simple calculations that investors could easily understand and modify

Expense Planning That Makes Sense:

• Detailed hiring plan broken down by department (General & Administrative, Technology, Sales & Marketing)
• Specific start dates and salary levels for each role
• Automated commission calculations tied to revenue performance

Cash Flow Reality:

• Monthly projections showing exactly when funding would be needed
• Working capital considerations for accounts receivable timing
• Clear runway calculations based on actual burn rates

As Matt noted, “You want to keep this maintained as time goes on,” which is why the model was built to easily incorporate actual results alongside forecasts.

The Trust Factor: What We’re Really Selling

One of the most honest moments in the webinar came when Matt talked about Lavoie’s approach: “What we are selling at the end of the day is trust.”

That trust comes from understanding both the startup journey and investor expectations. Lavoie regularly helps companies scale from pre-revenue to over $3,000,000 in monthly revenue while maintaining streamlined financial processes.

Lavoie’s Partnership Approach:

• Lavoie becomes part of the team, not just a service provider
• Focus on building financial infrastructure that scales with growth
• Support throughout the entire fundraising and scaling journey

Key Takeaways for Building Your Financial Model

Whether you’re preparing for pre-seed or Series B, here are the critical principles Matt shared:

1. Make assumptions visible and testable – Color-code inputs so investors can easily modify and understand them
2. Link drivers to financial outcomes – Show exactly how your key metrics (conversion rates, CAC, churn) impact revenue and costs
3. Plan expenses strategically – Your hiring plan should be more than “we’ll hire 10 people next year”
4. Reconcile everything to cash – Income statements don’t keep you alive; cash flow does
5. Keep it simple and defendable – Complexity doesn’t impress investors; clarity does

What Happens Next

The webinar made one thing clear: the founders who get funded are the ones who can clearly articulate how their ideas translate into sustainable, profitable businesses.

If you watched the webinar and realized your financial model needs work:

Start with an honest assessment – Can an investor easily understand your key assumptions and test different scenarios?

Focus on your real drivers – What specific metrics actually drive your revenue and costs?

Plan your systems – Are you building financial infrastructure that can scale with your ambitions?

Ready to build a financial model that actually gets you funded?

Matt emphasized during the webinar that building an effective model starts with understanding your business deeply. As he noted, “I probably spend two hours understanding the business, talking to them, understanding how it works, to one hour building the actual model.”

Start the Conversation to discuss your financial modeling needs and learn how Lavoie can support your fundraising journey. Whether you’re building your first model or preparing for Series B, we’ll help you create financial projections that tell your story convincingly.

Connect with Matt DeWald on LinkedIn for ongoing insights about financial management and fundraising best practices.

The right financial model doesn’t just help you raise money—it helps you build a business that’s actually worth investing in.