Industries · Europe
Every business model
breaks finance differently.
Different business models create different finance problems. SaaS turns on recurring-revenue quality and retention. AI turns on compute and usage economics. Marketplaces turn on take rate, payments and liquidity. E-commerce turns on inventory, acquisition and contribution margin. Tech-enabled services turn on utilisation, delivery margin and capacity.
Ad/CFO works with European and internationally scaling technology companies from €2M to €30M annual revenue. We do not start with a template — we start with how the business actually makes, consumes and converts cash.
“What’s a healthy gross margin?”
Depends entirely on what you’re building.
compute sits in COGS40–60%B2B SaaS
ARR-driven, near-zero serving cost75–85%Marketplace
net revenue on GMVtake rate, not marginE-commerce / DTC
after COGS, shipping, returns25–40%Tech-enabled services
after delivery cost and utilisation35–55%
01 · CFO for B2B SaaS
Build a finance layer that holds up under growth and diligence.
CFO question: “Do we have enough runway to reach the next financing or profitability milestone?”
When companies call us: ARR looks healthy, but cash visibility, metric definitions and board reporting have not caught up with the business.
What’s breaking
- Runway burns faster than the pipeline closes
- ARR looks healthy while cash is tight
- No one owns the driver-based financial model
- The board asks for metrics that cannot be produced on demand
- Churn and expansion live in scattered spreadsheets
- Revenue-recognition assumptions are not aligned with the agreed accounting treatment
How we help
- Build the driver-based model that ties bookings, revenue, hiring and cash together
- Stand up a monthly board pack with consistent metric definitions
- Define the SaaS metrics management and investors should actually use
- Align revenue-recognition assumptions with the company’s applicable reporting framework and the treatment established with its accountant — IFRS 15 or the applicable local GAAP; ASC 606 where US reporting or investor requirements make it relevant
Metrics we speak
ARR/MRR · NRR · gross & net churn · LTV/CAC · CAC payback · magic number · Rule of 40 · burn multiple
Typical deliverables
- 13-week cash forecast
- Monthly board pack
- Driver-based financial model
- SaaS metrics dashboard
Built so management can explain the same numbers consistently to the team, the board and investors — without rebuilding the story for every meeting.
Relevant Fixed-Fee Projects: Fundraising Readiness · Pricing & Margin Architecture · CFO Decision Review or CFO Support Packages →
No documents required for the introductory call.
02 · CFO for AI-native companies
Know whether usage creates margin or consumes it.
CFO question: “Does usage improve margin — or destroy it?”
When companies call us: investor and pricing conversations have shifted from product usage to whether the economics improve as usage scales.
What’s breaking
- Inference and training costs sit inside COGS but are not visible by customer or use case
- Compute spend scales with usage faster than monetisation
- GPU or model-provider commitments distort the runway
- Pricing does not reflect cost per call, token or workflow
- Heavy users can become the least profitable customers
- The margin path is difficult to explain to investors
How we help
- Model true cost per query, inference or workflow
- Map gross-margin sensitivity to usage, provider mix and pricing
- Build GPU- and compute-aware burn and runway
- Translate inference economics into pricing and monetisation decisions
Metrics we speak
cost per query/inference · gross margin trajectory · compute % of COGS · GPU utilisation · tokens/usage economics · burn multiple
Typical deliverables
- AI gross-margin model
- Cost-per-query analysis
- GPU-aware runway
- Pricing and usage-economics scenarios
Built so management can see which usage patterns create contribution and which pricing or infrastructure choices need to change before scale magnifies the problem.
Relevant Fixed-Fee Projects: AI Margin & Monetisation · Enterprise Deal Economics Review · Fundraising Readiness or CFO Support Packages →
No documents required for the introductory call.
03 · CFO for marketplaces & platforms
Separate GMV growth from the economics that actually reach the business.
CFO question: “What is real revenue after payouts, fees and float?”
When companies call us: GMV is growing, but management, the accountant and the board are using different bridges from transaction volume to revenue and cash.
What’s breaking
- GMV is confused with accounting or management revenue
- Payouts and settlement timing obscure the cash picture
- Take-rate pressure is invisible until contribution slips
- PSP reports do not reconcile cleanly with internal reporting
- Escrow and float complicate liquidity planning
- Unit economics differ across the two sides of the market
How we help
- Build a GMV-to-management-revenue and cash bridge
- Stand up take-rate and transaction contribution analytics
- Forecast cash with payouts, settlement timing and float modelled explicitly
- Use the principal-versus-agent and statutory revenue treatment agreed with the company’s accountant, while modelling management economics around that treatment
Metrics we speak
GMV · net revenue · take rate · contribution per transaction · liquidity · float · payout timing · two-sided CAC
Typical deliverables
- GMV-to-net-revenue bridge
- Take-rate analysis
- Escrow- and payout-aware forecast
- PSP economics reconciliation
Built so growth in transaction volume can be translated into a consistent view of revenue, contribution and cash — without treating GMV as the answer.
Relevant Fixed-Fee Projects: Independent Payment Economics Review · Enterprise Deal Economics Review · Cash & Runway Decisions or CFO Support Packages →
No documents required for the introductory call.
04 · CFO for e-commerce & DTC
Know which growth actually converts into cash.
CFO question: “Are we scaling contribution or simply buying revenue?”
When companies call us: sales are growing, but inventory, acquisition, returns and payment costs are consuming more cash than the topline suggests.
What’s breaking
- Cash is trapped in inventory while sales climb
- Marketplace and payment fees are fragmented across reports
- Contribution margin is not visible after acquisition and fulfilment
- Seasonality creates working-capital peaks the budget does not capture
- Blended CAC hides which channel actually contributes
- Returns and discounts erode product-level economics
How we help
- Build an inventory-aware cash forecast
- Compute contribution margin by channel, product or SKU
- Separate blended acquisition metrics from channel-level economics
- Plan working capital, reorders and supplier terms around real cash requirements
Metrics we speak
contribution margin (post-ad) · blended vs channel CAC · MER/ROAS · inventory turns · cash conversion cycle · AOV · repeat rate
Typical deliverables
- Cash-conversion-cycle analysis
- Channel/SKU profitability
- Inventory-aware forecast
- Payment-cost view
Built to show which products and channels create contribution after acquisition, fulfilment, returns and payment costs — and where growth is absorbing cash instead.
Relevant Fixed-Fee Projects: Independent Payment Economics Review · Pricing & Margin Architecture · CFO Decision Review or CFO Support Packages →
No documents required for the introductory call.
05 · CFO for tech-enabled services
Scale capacity without letting delivery margin disappear.
CFO question: “Can we hire ahead of demand without turning growth into idle capacity?”
When companies call us: revenue is growing, but utilisation, delivery margin, client concentration and hiring commitments make the next stage harder to forecast than the P&L suggests.
What’s breaking
- Headcount is added before contracted demand is visible
- Gross or delivery margin varies materially by client and service line
- Utilisation is measured operationally but not connected to financial planning
- Large clients create concentration and collection risk
- Backlog does not translate cleanly into hiring and cash requirements
- Revenue growth can mask declining revenue per FTE
How we help
- Connect pipeline, backlog, utilisation and hiring in one operating model
- Measure delivery margin by client, team or service line
- Set hiring gates around contracted demand and cash capacity
- Make client concentration, DSO and capacity risk visible before commitments are made
Metrics we speak
utilisation · delivery margin · revenue/FTE · capacity · backlog coverage · DSO · client concentration · cash conversion
Typical deliverables
- Capacity and hiring model
- Client/service-line margin analysis
- Revenue and cash forecast
- Hiring and concentration scenarios
Built so hiring and capacity decisions are tied to demand, margin and cash — rather than to topline growth alone.
Relevant Fixed-Fee Projects: CFO Decision Review · Pricing & Margin Architecture · Cash & Runway Decisions or CFO Support Packages →
No documents required for the introductory call.
Next step
What engagement fits your stage?
One consequential decision is usually a fixed-fee project. Recurring financial leadership belongs in ongoing CFO support.
30 minutes · No documents required
Bring the decision that matters.
We use the introductory call to understand the decision, the economics it turns on and whether a Fixed-Fee Project or ongoing CFO Support Package is the right fit. If it is a decision you should make yourself, we will say that too.
Discuss a decisionOr write to hello@adcfo.eu