myStartUpCFO: The Financial Department You Can't Afford Not to Have Date:   Sunday , March 01, 2015 Today\'s uncertain economy and unsteady job-market has inspired many to walk toward their dream of having their own business. But failed start-ups remain a fact of life. Unfortunately, countless entrepreneurs learn the hard way that it takes more than just a great idea and a strong spirit to succeed. Poor financial management tops the chart as reasons most new businesses are at risk for failing in their first year. Entrepreneurs are a special breed and an admirable one; it takes a lot of moxie to believe so strongly in an idea that you risk everything to see it through. Most business-builders are innovators and big-picture strategists - not financial gurus. Often focusing primarily on a product, service or other offering, business owners frequently forget about a financial strategy and the ever-important bottom line. People have many different ideas about what makes a start-up a success story, but everyone can agree that without profit and financial stability, an organization is at risk for failure. Sudhir Pai and Sandeep Shroff, Co-Founders of myStartUpCFO, say, \"Keeping the clean financial books from the get go is half the battle won. Money is the oxygen on which companies survive\". Most startup entrepreneurs fervently focus on technology, product, services and employee engagement, leaving a huge gap on the financial side of the business. This often plays a major role in the demise of many a dream-project. Entrepreneurs often say, they wish they were more proactive and had the luxury of strategic financial guidance but simply don\'t have the budget to hire a CFO (Chief Financial Officer). They try their best to respond to financial matters but most reactions are not backed by seasoned expertise. Sandeep and Sudhir saw this significant gap in expertise while working with hundreds of small businesses in their tax preparation and filing business called MyTaxFiler, a registered trademark owned by a 2008 incorporated Texas corporation named Global Value Add, Inc. The duo conceived the idea of myStartUpCFO in 2012, to fill this expertise gap. myStartUpCFO is a technology-driven, services organization offering a full complement of CFO office capabilities to small and mid size business on demand (0-50 employees or $0-10M revenue). Working with smaller companies that can\'t afford a high-priced, full-time CFO, myStartUpCFO offers services that range from tactical, every-day bookkeeping to strategic financial advice, including help with fundraising efforts and M&A guidance. In today\'s tech-savvy, mobile and cloud driven world, even a two-person startup can become global from day one from both an employee and customer base perspective. This introduces a whole new level of multi-currency, multi-national complexity for young companies to navigate. This often drives the need for a full service CFO office to take care of all aspects of finance and compliance. By offering the full stack CFO office as a service on demand, myStartUpCFO helps free up entrepreneurs\' time and energy to focus on their passion. \"Yes, this is our mission. We are in the happiness and cleanliness business. We enable our clients\' success with clean books. We tell all our clients \'you run the businesses, we\'ll run the company\',\" shares Sandeep. \"We understand that the job of a CFO or accountant within a startup can extend from a few hours to a few days per month; it\'s not practical for these companies to hire a full time CFO or accountants. Our clients pay only for the time they use our services for\". Tech-Savvy CFOs Ruling the Kingdom Today\'s CFO is more than a strong bookkeeper or a financial expert. With oodles of non-financial data coming out of a typical SaaS company, it\'s more crucial than ever for the CFO to understand the operational aspects of the company and be able to make proactive financial and business decisions based on this data. \"We train our team members to marry the operational and financial data in a meaningful way to convey the bigger picture to management. In fact, we are building a new platform that allows automatic capture and analysis of this mix of financial and non-financial data. The release of this platform is slated for this summer,\" says Sandeep. \"We bring the founders and business owners a clear understanding of the financials of their business where often-times they only had the beacon of the bank balance to guide them before\". To stay ahead of the game and meet this demand, myStartUpCFO hires people at various levels of experience ranging from fresh graduate accountants to experienced CAs and CPAs to industry veterans with decades of CFO experience. The fresh faces at myStartUpCFO move through a rigorous internal training program teaching them to look beyond the financials. In addition to the regular financial and accounting services that fall under the CFO\'s office, myStartUpCFO also offers HR outsourcing, FP&A, tax preparation and funding assistance for smaller clients. For large MNCs, the company has managed compliance projects, financial assessment projects, profit improvement, turnaround and restructuring assistance and strategic financial and M&A advice. Making Work-Life Balance a Reality While myStartUpCFO has offices in Silicon Valley, Dallas-Fort Worth and Bangalore among others, the company lets its employees work from home and keep the hours that work best with their personal lives. \"Thanks to cloud based tools, we have employees literally all across the globe. One of our missions is to generate employment for work-at-home moms, helping establish a fresh approach to work/life balance,\" asserts Sandeep. This nimble and dynamic work culture attracts a strong variety of talent. The company looks forward to being a part of Inc 500 listing and being recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. myStartUpCFO intends to offer its CFO services to over 1,000 clients by 2017 and is well on its way to that goal. Quick Facts: Founded: 2012 Offices: Texas (HQ), Irving, Dallas, Fremont, San Francisco and Palo Alto in the U.S., and Bangalore in India Services Offered: . Advisory . Audit & Assurance . Board Room CFO Services . Outsourced Finance & Accounting . Tax Compliance Website: www.myStartUpCFO.com Key Management: Sandeep Shroff, Co-Founder & CEO Sandeep brings over two decades of strong industry experience spanning finance, investment analysis, strategic planning and technology. A consummate geek-entrepreneur himself, Sandeep loves to play with the latest technologies the clients of myStartUpCFO bring to life and get his clients funded to pursue their dreams. Sudhir Pai, Co-Founder & Partner - Tax Sudhir brings two decades of extensive experience in the finance, tax and accounting fields. He works closely with clients to analyze their operations to create highly customized solutions for their needs.