The First 90 Days of Finance at a Seed-Stage Startup
After raising your seed round, building a functional and focused finance process becomes essential. As traction builds and teams grow, finance can no longer be handled informally. Early decisions in this area create the foundation for long-term operational clarity.
This guide outlines how to approach the first 90 days of finance at a seed-stage startup with clarity, sustainability, and alignment in mind.
First 30 Days: Establish the Fundamentals
The first month is about gaining financial visibility.
Clean up your books. For example, if engineering software subscriptions are being lumped into general expenses, reclassify them under R&D. A clean chart of accounts helps you see where money is going.
Create a central folder structure. Use shared drives to store investor decks, signed contracts, bank statements, and board notes. Organization now saves time later.
Reconcile your cash position. Understand exactly how much cash is available and how quickly it is being spent. If you have $1.2M in the bank and are burning $100K per month, that gives you 12 months of runway.
Segment expenses early. Even with a small team, break down spend by department or initiative. For example, group all marketing expenses together, even if they’re handled by generalists.
Finance at this stage should provide a clear mirror. It is not about projections, but about building an honest and detailed picture of current operations.
Days 30–60: Build a Reporting Rhythm
Once visibility is in place, the next step is to make reporting consistent and actionable.
Create a monthly reporting package. Include metrics like MRR, new customer count, gross margin, and a short variance summary explaining why expenses differed from expectations. For example, if contractor spend spiked, explain whether it was a one-time project or ongoing work.
Plan regular investor updates. A short monthly note with bullet points on traction, product updates, and runway builds trust. For example, if your customer count doubled due to a new partnership, highlight that.
Improve tracking structure. Use tags or labels in your accounting software to sort spend by vendor, initiative, or team. This makes later reporting and analysis easier.
Choose metrics that matter. A SaaS startup might prioritize MRR, CAC, net retention, and churn. A hardware startup might focus on unit margin, inventory turnover, and customer acquisition velocity.
These reports are your internal decision support system. If sales are flat while marketing spend increases, you’ll catch that quickly and adapt your strategy.
Days 60–90: Add Forward-Looking Insight
With actuals and reporting in place, begin building your forward view.
Draft a 12-month forecast. Start with headcount and basic revenue expectations. If your team plans to grow from 8 to 12 over the next year, model the related increase in salaries, benefits, and tools.
Flag upcoming milestones. For example, if you expect to raise Series A in 9 months, identify the KPIs and narrative that will support that raise, such as 3x growth in MRR or a clear path to breakeven.
Document simple processes. Clarify who approves vendor contracts, who owns the monthly close, and how reporting gets shared. These don’t have to be formal policies, but everyone should know the flow.
Look for repeatable patterns. If customers close faster after webinars, or churn drops after onboarding calls, use these insights to allocate budget and effort.
This stage transitions you from looking back to looking ahead. You are preparing to lead, not just track.
Final Thoughts
You do not need a full finance department in your first 90 days, but financial discipline is critical.
Prioritize visibility, then structure, then insight. Start simple, maintain consistency, and expand when ready.
Strong early habits shape how your team manages capital, how your investors perceive your leadership, and how you operate as the company grows. A few well-maintained spreadsheets and clear routines can lay the groundwork for scalable, investor-ready finance operations. For help establishing these processes early feel free to get in touch today.
