Virtual CFO services · Professional services
Be the virtual CFO a founder calls when the bank asks for numbers the books cannot give.
A founder in Hyderabad runs a D2C food brand whose sales have grown fast over two years.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
A virtual CFO service gives a growing company a part-time finance head: budgets, cash flow, MIS, fundraising support and board reporting, without a full-time salary. Marketing puts your name in front of founders and promoters who have outgrown their accountant. Sales turns a conversation about worry into a scoped engagement. GullySales prepares the service pages, the sample reports and the introduction notes.
The CA files GST and income tax correctly, but the founder cannot say which product makes money, how much cash the business needs for the next quarter, or why the bank's working capital limit keeps being queried. An investor has asked for a model. The founder does not need a full-time CFO and does not know that anything lighter exists.
Most virtual CFO practices are started by a CA or an ex-finance head with a handful of founder friends. Growth then stalls, because the service is hard to describe: it is not accounting, not audit and not consulting. A founder who searches for "CFO" sees job listings, and one who searches for "outsourced finance head" sees five firms using the same sentence.
Last updated 18 Oct 2026.
How buyers decide
How virtual CFO services are chosen.
The founder or managing director decides, and the trigger is a bank, an investor or a cash crunch. The founder asks a CA, an investor, a founders' group or another promoter, then sits through a call or two. The test is whether the person understands that kind of business, will tell the truth about the numbers and can speak to a banker or investor in their language.
Fees and scope are the sticking point. A founder compares a retainer to a salary and wonders why to pay for part of a person. The practice that explains clearly what it does in the first quarter, which reports it builds and what the founder will stop worrying about, is easier to choose than one that promises to "manage finance strategically". Chartered accountants in the practice should check their Institute's current guidance on advertising before a page goes live.
The problem
What usually goes wrong for virtual CFO services.
What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.
“Founders do not know the service exists”
They hire a full-time accountant, a consultant for a loan and another for a model, never asking whether one part-time finance head could take the work.
“We are mistaken for a bookkeeping firm”
Founders compare our fee with an accounting package or a clerk's salary and call it too high.
“Every lead is a friend of a friend”
We have never had a regular source of founders we have not met, so the pipeline moves with our social life.
“Our website says strategy, planning and insights”
A founder cannot picture what will land in the inbox each time, so the call is polite and goes nowhere.
“Engagements end after a fundraise”
The founder needed us for the round, the money came in, and a full-time finance manager was hired.
“We cannot show our work without breaching confidence”
Everything we do is inside a client's books, and we have no sample that proves we are good.
What we do
What we do for virtual CFO services.
Everything included for virtual CFO services.
A page that says what a first quarter looks like
A plain page describing what the founder will have after the first quarter of an engagement, such as a cash forecast, a profit report by product and a list of questions the bank will ask.
Pages for the kinds of company you serve
One page each for D2C brands, manufacturers and startups preparing a round, naming the problems each has with cash, stock and margins.
Sample report templates with dummy numbers
A cash flow forecast and a product-wise profit sheet with invented figures, clearly marked as examples.
A scoping conversation guide
Questions on turnover, bank limits, existing accountant, investors, reporting needs and what the founder worries about at night.
A record of engagement triggers
A list of engagements with the trigger that brought each one, so you can see which kinds ran beyond a fundraise.
How the result is measured
- Enquiries by source and kind of company
- Calls converted to scoped engagements
- Gap between a first enquiry and the first reply
- Engagements still running after the funding event
- Referral sources and the work each sent
- Proposals sent against engagements signed
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Every service, written for virtual CFO services
Each has its own page: what it involves for virtual CFO services, what you get, and what it is measured on.
- Lead generationFind the founders who are one bank query away from needing you.
- SEOBe the page a founder reads when they search for help with cash and projections.
- Social media marketingLet founders watch you explain a balance sheet before they hire you to read theirs.
- Content marketingWrite the guide a founder wishes they had been handed before the bank meeting.
- Buyer personaKnow the founder behind the worry before you write a word to them.
- CRMKeep a record of every founder conversation so no engagement is lost to memory.
- Follow-up systemsReply to the worried founder while the worry is still on their desk.
- WhatsApp marketingAnswer the founder's first message on the app they already have open.
- Digital marketingPut the same clear offer in front of founders on every screen they use.
- WebsiteBuild a site where a founder sees what lands in their inbox before they ever call.
Worth a page and a campaign of their own
Management accounts and MIS for the founder · Cash flow forecasts and working capital planning · Budgets and variance review · Fundraising models and investor reporting · Bank loan and working capital documentation support · Unit economics and product-wise profit · Board and investor reporting · Setting up the finance team and processes
Priority campaigns
Campaigns for what virtual CFO services most want to sell.
Each one planned around when your buyers decide, and measured against the baseline.
Bank query campaign
A page and ads for owners searching for what to do when the bank queries a limit or asks for projections.
Before the fundraise campaign
A guide and outreach for startups preparing a model and data room, offering to speak to founders and their investors' associates.
Founders' group and investor network talks
A short talk or note for angel networks, startup communities and chambers.
CA referral campaign
A clear note to chartered accountants who file for growing companies, explaining what you take on and what stays with them.
Re-engagement campaign
A note to past clients who ended an engagement after a round, about the budget, bank review or expansion that is coming next.
Beyond search
Where we reach buyers of virtual CFO services, beyond Google.
Search matters, but it is rarely the only way this industry's buyers find a supplier.
Chartered accountants and tax advisers
A CA who files for a fast-growing company hears the founder ask for a cash plan the CA does not build. A note says what you take and what stays with the CA.
Angel networks and venture investors
A list of the investors in your city, with a note they can pass to a portfolio company that has no finance lead.
Bankers and NBFC relationship managers
A relationship manager whose borrower cannot produce projections needs a name to give. One page says what you prepare for a loan review.
Founders' communities and chambers
The groups where your kind of founder meets, chosen from your engagement list, each with a short talk outline.
Founders searching on Google and LinkedIn
Search pages for terms such as part-time finance head and cash flow help, and a LinkedIn presence for the partner.
Who it is for
This is written for these virtual CFO services.
- D2C and consumer brands past the first crore of sales
- Manufacturers with working capital loans and rising stock
- Startups preparing for a funding round
- IT and services firms with growing teams and project billing
- Healthcare chains and clinics expanding to new sites
- Real estate developers needing project-wise cash flow
- Family-run businesses planning succession or a new unit
- Exporters managing forex and incentives
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- You want a guaranteed Google ranking or a guaranteed number of leads. Nobody honest can promise either.
- You need enquiries by next week and have nobody to answer them.
- You want posts and reach reported, not enquiries and orders.
How it works
How the work runs for virtual CFO services
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Read your current engagements
Who they are, what brought them, how long they stayed and what you actually built for them.
- 2
Choose the founders to lead with
One or two kinds of company whose books you understand best.
- 3
Write the pages and sample reports
Drafted with you on dummy figures, not a client's data.
- 4
Introductions and search pages
CAs, bankers and investor networks get a note; founders typing "part-time finance head" find a page; the partner's LinkedIn is brought in line.
- 5
Record each conversation to scope
Where the founder came from, what worried them, what was proposed and what they decided.
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
GullySales builds every engagement from three pieces of sales work. This page is not one of them, but the same three steps apply to the business behind it.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions virtual CFO services ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Can we describe ourselves as a CFO?
Will you tell founders what returns or funding to expect?
How do we show our work if clients' data is private?
Does GullySales do the finance work?
Where do we begin?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
Part of Professional services. See the other industries in the sector.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.