Virtual CFO for Ecommerce in Sydney

Your numbers in 90 days. Fixed scope, fixed price, then it stops.

Ecommerce brands grow on revenue and ad spend, then quietly run short of cash because every dollar of growth is funded by stock bought months in advance. Profitable on the P&L, tight in the bank.

The 90-Day Number builds the forward view that ties inventory, ad spend, and margin together, and hands it over on day 90.
See if you're a fitBook a 30-min intro
Senior finance for $2m-$15m Sydney businesses. The work is led by Chartered Accountants, with experience across public, private, and owner-led businesses.

Every virtual CFO sells a retainer. We sell a deliverable.

$17,850

+ GST
That is $5,950 a month for three months, then it stops. Fixed. No retainer pressure after day 90.
what's included

Four deliverables. Two modules. One fixed price.

Everything that lands in your hands by day 90, built around how an ecommerce brand actually runs. No more, no less. Scope-creep proof.
1
A simple 13-week cashflow model
Tied to inventory buys, supplier terms, and ad spend, the three places cash actually goes in a stock business. Five minutes every Monday and you know what is in the bank across the quarter.
2
Three KPIs that drive the week
Usually contribution margin after ad spend, inventory days, and blended CAC, set to your model. The three numbers your operating week runs on, reviewed every Friday, not a thirty-metric dashboard.
3
A 12-month budget
The plan you run the year by, with the next stock buy, channel, or hire costed against the run rate and the season built in. Assumptions you can defend to a lender or yourself. Updated monthly.
4
A one-page board readout you want to read
Revenue, margin, cash, KPIs, inventory, on a single page. The page you would hand a lender, an investor, or yourself in twelve months. No eighty-slide pageantry.
5
Headcount & Capacity Planning
Maps your hiring and buying plan to revenue, cash, and output. Whether margin supports the next hire, or sales support the next stock order. Trigger logic for when you commit the cash.
6
Margin & Pricing
Gross margin and contribution by channel and SKU, after freight, fees, and returns. Pricing and discount scenarios modelled. The numbers that tell you whether you have a real business or a busy one.
who it's for

Built for $2M to $15M ecommerce founders past instinct, short of a CFO.

Three profiles where the 90-Day Number consistently lands here.

The scaling DTC brand.

You are growing fast on paid acquisition, revenue climbing every month. At around $6.5M revenue your contribution margin after ad spend sits near 22%, and most of your cash is locked in stock.

The faster you grow, the tighter cash gets, because every order ships from inventory you bought months ago.

The omnichannel or wholesale brand.

You sell across your own site, wholesale, and marketplaces, each with different margins, fees, and payment terms.

At $8M and up the blended margin hides which channel actually makes money. You need contribution by channel before you decide where to push the next dollar of stock and spend.

The profitable brand hitting a cash ceiling.

You are profitable on the P&L and somehow always short of cash. At $3M to $5M the issue is working capital: stock bought up front, suppliers paid before customers pay you.

You need to see exactly how much cash your growth consumes before the next order locks it up.

why owners pick this

Why ecommerce founders pick this over an indefinite retainer.

Four reasons the structure of the 90-Day Number works where the standard virtual CFO retainer does not.
A 90-day decision point
The standard offer is an open-ended retainer at $4K to $8K a month with no end date. You sign on in March, cannot tell if it is working by July, feel awkward cancelling by September. This ends on day 90 by design. You decide what is next: continue, project work, or wrap with the four deliverables.
One fixed price, on the page
$5,950 a month for three months. $17,850 total, fixed. Not "from $X", not "$300 an hour", not "scoped after a discovery call". You price your range to a margin and a landed cost. You should expect a CFO to price their own work.
One named CFO, every week
Same person on day one, day forty-five, day ninety. Not a roster, not an account manager between you and the senior. You meet your CFO on the intro call and they run the engagement. Founder-direct, no layers.
Four documents, not eighty slides
We hand over the cashflow model, the three KPIs, the budget, and the one-page board readout. If it does not fit in those four documents, it is not strategic finance. It is theatre.
If your virtual CFO can't tell you the deliverable on day 90, you don't have a virtual CFO. You have a retainer.
how to start

Four weeks to a finance function. Twelve more to operate it.

Book a 30-minute intro. We talk through your stage, your numbers, and what you are trying to work out. We can meet in person around Sydney, or over a call.

If the 90-Day Number is a fit, we send a scoping doc within 48 hours and start the following Monday.

The diagnostic lands at the end of week one. The model is working by week four. The board readout is in your hands on day 90.
Book a 30-min intro

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Frequently Asked Questions

The questions founders ask before signing. Plain-English answers.
Do you work with ecommerce and DTC brands?
Yes, they are a core part of the work. The pattern repeats across Sydney ecommerce founders between $2M and $15M: revenue climbing, the brand profitable on paper, and cash forever tight because growth is funded by stock and ad spend. That forward view, tying inventory and acquisition to cash, is exactly what a virtual CFO builds.
We are growing fast but the bank balance is not. Why?
Almost always because growth is funded by inventory. Every extra dollar of sales needs stock bought in advance, so a fast-growing brand can be profitable and cash-poor at the same time. We quantify exactly how much cash your growth consumes and build it into the budget, so the next order does not catch you out.
What does $17,850 +GST buy an ecommerce founder?
Three months of senior virtual CFO work and four named deliverables: a 13-week cashflow model, three KPIs, a 12-month budget, and a one-page board readout. Plus two modules, headcount and capacity, and margin and pricing. Fixed price, billed as three monthly payments of $5,950, then it stops.
How is this different from my accountant?
Your accountant handles the backward view: tax, structuring, compliance, year-end. We handle the forward view: cashflow, budget, KPIs, the decisions in front of you this quarter. Most founders need both. We work alongside your accountant, not instead of them.
What KPIs make sense for an ecommerce brand?
Usually contribution margin after ad spend, inventory days, and blended CAC, though we set them to your model in week one. The test is three numbers that move revenue, margin, or cash, reviewed every Friday, not a thirty-metric dashboard nobody opens.
Our cash is tied up in stock and ad spend. Can a 13-week cashflow handle that?
That is the case it is built for. Cash sits in inventory you have bought but not yet sold, and in ad spend you have paid but not yet recouped. The 13-week model maps stock buys, supplier terms, and ad spend against sales, so you can see the squeeze weeks before it arrives.
We sell across DTC, wholesale, and marketplaces. Can you show margin by channel?
Yes, and for a multi-channel brand it is usually the most valuable single output. Each channel carries different fees, freight, and payment terms, so the blended margin hides the truth. We build contribution by channel so you can see which one actually funds the business and where the next dollar should go.
How do you handle returns, freight, and platform fees in the margin?
We build them in, because they are the difference between a gross margin that looks healthy and a contribution margin that is the real number. Freight, payment and platform fees, and returns all come out before we call anything profit, so your pricing decisions are made on what you actually keep.
We are planning a big stock buy or a new range. Can you tell us what we can afford?
Yes, that is exactly what the cashflow and the headcount and capacity module do together. We model the stock buy against your cash, supplier terms, and expected sell-through, so you can see whether it funds itself or drains you, before you commit the order.
What happens after day 90?
You have the four deliverables and a working operating rhythm. We have a short conversation about what is next, with three honest options: continue on an optional monthly retainer with no lock-in, take on a scoped project, or wrap with the deliverables and stay in touch.
We have outgrown the bookkeeper but cannot justify a finance hire. Is this the in-between step?
Yes, that is the exact gap. A full-time finance lead at this stage is a $200K to $300K commitment with super, leave, and recruitment on top. This builds the layer that hire would own, hands it over documented, and leaves you running it for a fixed $17,850.
Is there a lock-in or minimum term?
No. The 90-Day Number is fixed at $17,850 +GST and ends on day 90. It does not auto-renew. If you continue afterwards, that is month to month with no lock-in either. You decide what is next, not a contract.
Pitt Street, Sydney
Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand Member
hello@sydneyvirtualcfo.com
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