The Situation
- BlazeOps.AI is a seed-stage cloud operations company.
- Like most seed-stage teams, they needed the CFO function (clean books, numbers that hold up in diligence, someone who knows the business) well before a full-time CFO hire could be justified.
- A full-time finance leader was not the right trade at their stage: the loaded cost of that hire is the comparison Devi cites below.
What They Got
- One integrated team rather than separate vendors: a bookkeeper and CPA from day one, with a fractional CFO on the Growth plan.
- The ClariFi Decision Engine, included with Growth, giving always-current financial intelligence with a human reviewing every output.
- A CFO engaged closely enough with the business to answer investor questions directly, which is the part a spreadsheet and an outside bookkeeper cannot cover.
The Outcome
- Diligence-ready in weeks rather than months, in the founder's own words.
- More than $36,000 per year saved against the cost of a full-time finance hire, by Devi's own estimate.
- A finance function the founder describes as feeling in-house, without the headcount, the equity grant, or the multi-month search.
In Their Words
- “StartupCFO gave us a finance team that feels in-house: ClariFi Decision Engine, a CFO who actually knows our numbers, and we were due-diligence ready in weeks, not months.”
- Devi Malladi, Founder & CEO, BlazeOps.AI
