The moments where finance becomes the critical path.
Most clients don't need a CFO every day. They need one right now, for one of these.
You're raising a round
The model, the data room, and investor diligence all need to hold up, and you need someone who's been on both sides of the table.
Runway is under 18 months
Time to tie spend to milestones, prioritize vendors, and lay out the options before they narrow.
The board wants better numbers
Reporting that answers the questions directors actually ask, delivered on a reliable cadence.
Your CFO just left
Interim coverage that keeps the bank, the board, and the investors steady while you hire.
An audit or accounting issue is coming
Audit readiness, technical accounting positions, and SEC reporting from someone who has signed off on them.
A transaction is on the table
Licensing, M&A, or strategic alternatives, with valuation and cash consequences modeled before you commit.
The full CFO seat, sized to the stage you're at.
I set the strategy and do the work myself. No junior staff, no handoffs, no learning curve on your dime.
Capital raising & investor relations
Financing strategy, investor-grade models, market sizing, data rooms, diligence, and coordination with bankers and placement agents.
Cash, burn & runway
Thirteen-week cash forecasts, runway scenarios, vendor prioritization, and spend tied to the milestones that unlock the next round.
Board & investor reporting
Board decks, KPI frameworks, and investor updates that make the company easier to fund and easier to govern.
FP&A & operating model
Budgets, forecasts, and scenario models that leadership actually uses to make decisions, not just to report on them.
Process, controls & audit
Process improvement, audit readiness, technical accounting memos, and SEC reporting for public and pre-IPO companies.
Transactions & strategic alternatives
Licensing economics, rNPV and valuation work, M&A support, and contingency planning when the plan changes.
Deep in life sciences. Fluent across industries.
Two decades across four sectors means I recognize the pattern quickly, whatever the business.
Life sciences
Clinical-stage biotech and therapeutics. Runway planned around clinical milestones, CRO budget oversight, licensing deal economics, rNPV, and public-company reporting.
Media & entertainment
Studio-scale finance experience: content economics, segment reporting, and planning across complex, multi-entity organizations.
Financial services
Investment banking and banking backgrounds: valuation, transaction analysis, and regulatory-grade reporting.
Real estate & growth companies
Founder-led businesses scaling past the bookkeeper-and-spreadsheet stage, and real estate operators who need institutional-quality reporting.
What the work looks like in practice.
Client names are withheld. References are available on request.
Built the financial case for a Series B raise.
Situation. Founder-led company preparing an institutional round with a placement agent and a concentrated insider base.
Work. Financing model, market sizing built from claims data, investor materials, and diligence support.
Outcome. In progress.
Managed cash through a strategic transition.
Situation. Clinical-stage company with constrained cash and a partner-driven strategic process.
Work. Runway models and sensitivities, board-level vendor prioritization, license termination modeling, and rNPV review of the lead asset.
Outcome. Avoided insolvency until the next funding.
Built a bottom-up operating budget the business runs on.
Situation. Leadership needed a budget the organization could actually manage to, not a top-down target.
Work. Department-level budgets built from the bottom up, connected to purchase-order approvals and tracked against actuals every month.
Outcome. Spending is checked against plan before it happens, and every department owner sees their variance.
Three ways to work together. Clear scope from day one.
Fractional CFO
An ongoing seat on your leadership team: monthly reporting, forecasting, board meetings, investors, and the decisions in between.
Capital raise or project
A defined mandate such as a financing, audit readiness, or a transaction, with a fixed scope and a clear finish line.
Interim CFO
Full coverage after a departure, through the search, and through a clean handoff to your permanent hire.
Diagnostic
Cash position, financial model, operating plan, and board materials, reviewed end to end.
Plan
A written priority list with owners and dates, agreed with the CEO and, where relevant, the board.
Operating cadence
Monthly reporting, a rolling forecast, and quarterly board and investor readiness.
Jay Karimi
I've spent twenty years in finance, from investment banking and global media companies to Nasdaq-listed biotech. That range is the point: I've seen how large organizations run finance, and I know which parts a growing company actually needs.
My background spans FP&A, technical accounting, SEC reporting, and financial modeling. Today I serve as a fractional CFO to founder-led companies, with a particular depth in clinical-stage biotech, where cash, milestones, and financing are inseparable. I also write Biotech Capital & Clarity, a newsletter for biotech CEOs, CFOs, and founders.
Let's talk about what's next for your company.
A 30-minute call to understand where you are. You'll leave with a clear view of what you need, whether or not it's me.