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Fractional CFO Services

Fractional CFO for eCommerce — built for Shopify, DTC, Amazon FBA, and CPG operators.

Senior partner attention on the decisions that actually move the business — inventory commitments, paid-acquisition economics, cash plans for peak season, and exit preparation. Not generalist finance. Not a junior associate.

Talk to a CFO How it works

Why ecommerce CFOs need to be different

The CFO role is the same role title across industries. The daily priorities are not. Ecommerce CFOs spend disproportionate time on five things that don't show up in a SaaS or services CFO's calendar: working capital trapped in inventory, customer acquisition cost and payback period, contribution margin decomposed by SKU and channel, peak-season cash planning, and the multi-channel margin stack across DTC, Amazon, wholesale, and retail.

A generalist CFO hired into an ecommerce brand can read the P&L correctly and still miss what's actually happening underneath. The brand that goes wide on Amazon while keeping DTC at 70% margin looks healthy on a blended P&L and is bleeding cash through marketplace fees the dashboard doesn't show. The brand that ships into 12 FBA warehouses creates sales tax nexus in 12 states that the bookkeeper never registered for. The brand that finances peak-season inventory through the wrong product locks itself into 50%+ effective APRs.

These aren't theoretical risks. They're patterns we've seen repeatedly across $5M–$200M ecommerce engagements. The right fractional CFO catches them. The wrong one reads the P&L and moves on.

What an eCommerce CFO actually does

The 7 functions covered in every engagement.

1 — Cash management

13-week cash flow forecast updated weekly. Treasury management. Runway projection. Working capital optimization. Surfaces cash gaps 4–8 weeks before they hit, not after. More

2 — Strategic finance

Driver-based forecasting, scenario planning, variance analysis, board materials. Translating operating strategy into financial mechanics that survive scrutiny. More

3 — Capital strategy

Debt vs equity vs working-capital financing decisions. When to raise. When MCAs and RBF make sense (rarely). When SAFEs are appropriate vs priced rounds. More

4 — M&A and exit prep

12–24 month sale readiness. Seller-side QofE, accounting cleanup, working capital target negotiation, EBITDA bridge defense. Defends 10–25% of headline deal value. More

5 — Unit economics + pricing

SKU-level contribution margin. Channel-level economics. Max CAC ceiling. Pricing tests. The function that determines whether the business model works at scale. More

6 — Vendor & banking

Bank relationship, audit firm, tax preparation, key vendor contracts. The "boring" function that compounds — strong banking relationship at year 1 becomes available capital at year 4.

7 — Compliance & governance

GAAP compliance, sales tax filings, audit prep, board governance, equity administration. Less glamorous; every brand needs it. Sales tax strategy guide

By Industry

The right CFO depends on what you sell and where.

Working capital intensity, channel mix, retailer dynamics, and inventory cycles vary enormously across these four operating models. We staff each engagement with the partner whose operating background matches the brand.

Fractional CFO for Shopify Plus brands

Shopify Plus operators face a specific stack of decisions: app sprawl across 25–50 apps with material monthly spend, BNPL economics (Klarna, Afterpay, Affirm) decisions, Klaviyo plan-tier optimization, Triple Whale or attribution tooling ROI, and the constantly-evolving Shop Pay + checkout stack. Storeleads data shows the average $10M+ Plus brand carries $3,000–$10,000 of monthly platform spend layered into 30+ subscriptions where 60–70% are duplicate or unused.

The Shopify CFO playbook: quarterly app-sprawl audit, channel-level contribution margin between DTC and Shopify B2B/wholesale, paid-channel CAC reallocation across Meta + Google + TikTok + Klaviyo retention, and cash planning that accounts for the 1–3 day Shop Pay settlement (negligible) plus 60–90 day wholesale receivables (material).

Related reading: The Real Tech Stack of $10M+ Shopify Brands · The CFO's Audit of Shopify App Sprawl · What Klaviyo Plan Tier $10M+ Brands Pay For

Fractional CFO for DTC brands

Pure-play DTC brands live and die on three numbers: CAC payback period, LTV:CAC ratio, and contribution margin after marketing (CM2). Every other operating decision — pricing, paid-channel allocation, retention investment, inventory commitment — derives from these. The DTC CFO's job is to get these three numbers honest, then run the business off them.

The pitfalls are familiar. Brands report a blended CAC of $48 (including organic) while their paid CAC is $72 — and they scale ad spend off the flattering number. Brands measure ROAS at 3.5x and don't realize their break-even ROAS is 3.8x. Brands chase top-of-funnel growth at 60-month customer payback while operating on 12 months of cash. The right CFO surfaces these gaps in week one, not at the board meeting where the runway projection turns negative.

Related reading: CAC calculator + 2026 benchmarks · What is LTV:CAC? · What is CM2?

Fractional CFO for Amazon FBA sellers

Amazon FBA economics are different from DTC. The Amazon CFO works on: SKU-level contribution margin after the full FBA fee stack (referral, pick-pack-ship, storage, long-term penalties, inbound placement, returns), 90–180 day cash conversion cycle, IPI score management, Buy Box risk, and the asymmetric stockout penalty where 10 days out of stock can cost 60–80% of an SKU's annual revenue. None of these dynamics translate from a SaaS or services CFO background.

FBA sellers preparing for exit face an additional reckoning: marketplace facilitator laws created multi-state sales tax exposure that most never registered for. Storeleads data shows 11.4% of Plus brands run Triple Whale; the rest rely on Amazon's reporting plus spreadsheet reconciliation. Both approaches miss the 4–5% margin recovery available from proper SKU-level fee allocation.

Related reading: Amazon FBA Profit Analysis · FBA Forecasting and FP&A · Fractional CFO for FBA

Fractional CFO for CPG brands

CPG is not DTC. The CPG CFO works on: trade spend ROI across retailer programs (15–25% of revenue is typical), slotting fees and retailer scorecards, multi-channel margin stacking (DTC at 70% margin, retail at 20–35%), wholesale receivables on 60–90 day terms, and the working capital cycle that frequently runs 90–150 days. Trade spend without ROI discipline is the single biggest margin leak we see across CPG brands at the $5–50M range.

The right CPG CFO maintains trade-spend ROI by retailer and program — which Whole Foods endcap is profitable, which Target promotion isn't, what UNFI's slotting fee actually returns. Brands without this discipline routinely fund unprofitable programs for years because cancelling them feels like damaging the relationship. The math is usually clearer than the politics.

Related reading: Fractional CFO for CPG · Food & Bev CPG Shopify Stack · What is net working capital?

Outcomes

What changes in the first 12 months.

Most fractional CFO engagements at $10M+ DTC produce $200K–$600K of recoverable annualized contribution within the first 12 months. At $30M+ that range climbs to $600K–$1.4M. The composition of where the recovery comes from is predictable across engagements.

Months 1–3: visibility and operating discipline

Weekly 13-week cash flow forecast is live. Monthly close discipline lands inside 7–10 business days. Variance analysis against forecast becomes the operating signal. Channel-level contribution margin (not blended) is being tracked for the first time at most brands. Cash gaps 4–8 weeks out are surfaced and addressed before they become emergencies. This stage is mostly about installing the operating rhythm.

Months 4–6: working capital + unit economics recovery

Inventory days typically reduce 15–30% via better forecasting + long-tail SKU rationalization + supplier-terms negotiation. At $20M COGS that's $800K–$1.6M of cash freed. Paid-channel CAC reallocation often surfaces 1–2 channels operating below break-even — reallocation typically recovers $50–200K of in-period contribution. SaaS / app sprawl audits recover another $10–30K per year.

Months 7–12: strategic capital + M&A readiness

Capital structure gets cleaned up — high-cost financing (MCAs, expensive RBF) refinanced into cheaper alternatives where available. Bank LOC relationship established for brands not yet there. For brands within 24 months of a planned sale: accounting cleanup, EBITDA add-back documentation, working capital target preparation. Sale-readiness work pays back at exit, not during the engagement — typically 10–25% of headline deal value defended vs the alternative of unprepared diligence.

The pattern is consistent across engagements. The specific numbers vary by vertical, channel mix, and starting state. We won't promise a specific outcome before scoping the engagement, but the ranges above are what we see.

Pricing

What it costs.

No proposal theatre. Engagement size depends on revenue, complexity, and scope. Here are the ranges across our active engagements in 2026.

$3M–$10M ARR
Strategic finance + cash management focus. Monthly close cadence.
$3,000–$6,000/mo
$10M–$30M ARR
Weekly senior partner cadence. Full 7-function scope. Working capital optimization.
$6,000–$10,000/mo
$30M–$80M ARR
Senior partner + analyst layer. Board materials, capital strategy, multi-channel optimization.
$8,000–$15,000/mo
$80M+ ARR or M&A active
Custom scope. Often includes seller-side QofE, capital structure work, or interim CFO bridge.
Custom

The economic case: one inventory or capital decision typically pays back the annual fee. Working capital optimization on a $20M COGS brand recovers $1.4M of trapped cash for every 25 days of inventory reduction. A single FBA fee reallocation on a $30M GMV seller recovers $1.2M of annualized contribution. The fee is a fraction of the upside.

How we work

Weekly senior-partner cadence. No junior handoff.

Every engagement runs on the same operating rhythm. Weekly senior-partner call (1 hour) for tactical and strategic alignment. Analyst support (20–30 hours/month at typical mid-stage engagements) for modeling and reporting. Monthly close review with variance commentary. Quarterly board materials. On-call availability for urgent decisions — financing offers, retailer requests, supplier disputes, hiring decisions.

The senior partner is the same person throughout the engagement. We don't hand off to associates for the recurring deliverables. The trade-off: we run fewer engagements concurrently than larger firms. The benefit: pattern recognition compounds across the engagement, and the same brain that built your forecast in month one is reviewing the variance in month twelve.

Who we are

Eightx is led by Matt Putra, former PE investor with $500M+ deployed before founding the firm. The Eightx CFO bench has advised 50+ DTC, CPG, and SaaS brands across the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. We're cash, capital, and ad-spend operators first; reporting comes after the operating decisions are made well.

When NOT to hire us

Three scenarios. (1) Pre-revenue or under $1M ARR — founder + bookkeeper + CPA combination is sufficient. (2) The brand is on cash basis with no inventory and no plans to grow or sell — a CFO can't change a business model that doesn't yet need finance leadership. (3) The CEO wants a yes-person — we tell brands what we see, and that occasionally includes "this campaign isn't worth running" or "this round shouldn't be raised." If that's a problem, we're not the right fit.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a fractional CFO for ecommerce?

A fractional CFO for ecommerce is a senior finance partner who serves as the CFO for an ecommerce brand on a part-time basis — typically 20 to 60 hours per month. They handle cash management, strategic finance, capital strategy, M&A and exit preparation, unit economics, vendor relationships, and compliance, but they are specifically experienced in the working-capital, inventory, and customer-acquisition mechanics that define ecommerce — not generalist SaaS or services finance.

When should an ecommerce brand hire a fractional CFO?

Most ecommerce brands benefit from a fractional CFO from $5M annual revenue. Triggers that justify hiring earlier include: imminent capital raise, planned M&A or exit within 12 to 24 months, complex multi-channel mix (Shopify plus Amazon plus wholesale), and crossing into nexus-creating sales tax thresholds in 10 or more states. Below $5M revenue, founder plus bookkeeper plus CPA often suffices.

How much does a fractional CFO cost for an ecommerce brand?

Fractional CFO engagements for ecommerce brands typically range from $3,000 to $15,000 per month depending on brand size, complexity, and engagement scope. A typical $20M ARR DTC brand pays $6,000 to $10,000 per month for senior partner attention plus analyst support. CPG and multi-channel brands often run $5,000 to $12,000 monthly given the additional complexity. The economic case is straightforward: a single inventory or capital decision typically pays back the annual fee.

How is an ecommerce CFO different from a SaaS or services CFO?

Same role title, materially different daily priorities. Ecommerce CFOs spend disproportionate time on: working capital and inventory turn, CAC payback by channel, contribution margin by SKU and channel, peak-season cash planning, FBA fee economics, and multi-channel margin stacking. SaaS CFOs focus on ARR growth, retention, sales efficiency, burn multiple, and gross margin durability. The principles transfer; the daily decisions do not. Always hire someone with operational experience in your specific model.

What's the difference between a fractional CFO and a full-time CFO?

Fractional CFO is 20 to 60 hours per month with senior partner attention plus analyst support, at $3,000 to $15,000 monthly. Full-time CFO is 160 hours per month at $250,000 to $500,000 plus equity for US-based brands at $50M+ revenue. The right fit depends on stage: brands under $50M ARR typically pay 2 to 3 times more for full-time CFO capacity than they actually use. Most ecommerce brands use fractional through Series B and beyond.

Can a fractional CFO help with raising capital or selling the business?

Yes — and this is one of the highest-leverage use cases. For capital raises, a fractional CFO produces the financial model, prepares investor decks, runs sensitivity analysis, and coordinates due diligence. For M&A or exit, they prepare 12 to 24 months ahead with accounting cleanup, EBITDA add-back documentation, working capital optimization, and sometimes a seller-side Quality of Earnings audit. Brands that walk into buyer diligence without CFO-grade prep routinely lose 10 to 25 percent of headline deal value.

Does a fractional CFO replace a bookkeeper or CPA?

No — three different roles. The bookkeeper handles daily transaction recording and monthly close. The CPA handles tax preparation, filings, and compliance. The CFO handles forward-looking strategy: cash management, capital decisions, unit economics, and M&A prep. A healthy ecommerce finance function at $10M+ revenue has all three, with the CFO directing the strategy that the bookkeeper and CPA execute.

How quickly does a fractional CFO produce results?

Cash flow forecasting and operational visibility typically improve within the first 30 days. Working capital optimization (inventory days reduction, AP extension, supplier negotiation) shows in 60 to 90 days. Strategic results like capital strategy execution, unit economics restructuring, and M&A readiness take 6 to 18 months. Most $10M+ DTC brands see $200,000 to $600,000 of recoverable annualized contribution within the first year of fractional CFO engagement.

Next Step

Ready to talk to a CFO who actually operates in ecommerce?

30 minutes. We'll diagnose your unit economics, show where the leaks are, and tell you upfront if we're not the right fit. No proposal theatre.

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