Forward Deployed Operating Partner Firm · Sydney, Australia
15 minutes · Google Meet · No pitch deck
Two Seats. One Engagement.
Every engagement pairs an Operating Partner (a senior finance leader) with a Forward Deployed Engineer who lives in your data. The Operating Partner identifies the highest-leverage changes across finance, operations, and commercial. The Forward Deployed Engineer installs them. Same team, same engagement, no handoff to a separate implementation vendor. The outputs below are examples of what that looks like in practice.
These are illustrative mockups. Every build is tailored to your business: your branding, colour palette, and existing templates.
| Stage | Deals | Value | WoW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualified Lead | 34 | $8.2M | +$1.1M |
| Discovery | 28 | $12.4M | +$0.6M |
| Proposal Sent | 19 | $9.8M | −$0.4M |
| Negotiation | 12 | $6.1M | +$0.8M |
| Verbal Commit | 8 | $4.3M | +$0.1M |
| Closed Won (MTD) | 5 | $2.1M | +$0.5M |
| Deal | Stage Change | Value | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meridian Digital | Discovery → Proposal | $1.2M | S. Patel |
| Arcadia Group | Proposal → Negotiation | $860K | L. Chen |
| Vantage Health | Negotiation → Verbal | $2.1M | J. Torres |
| Bloom Financial | Qualified → Discovery | $640K | R. Kim |
| Month | Forecast | Actual | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| November | $2.0M | $2.2M | +10.0% |
| December | $1.8M | $1.7M | −5.6% |
| January | $2.3M | $2.4M | +4.3% |
| February MTD | $2.0M | $2.1M | +5.0% |
| Item | Direction | Amount | Day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll run | Outflow | −$280K | Thu |
| Contractor invoices | Outflow | −$95K | Fri |
| Software & SaaS | Outflow | −$42K | Mon |
| Vantage Health payment | Inflow | +$210K | Tue |
| Bloom Financial milestone | Inflow | +$180K | Wed |
| Retainer payments (3) | Inflow | +$95K | Fri |
| KPI | Current | Target | Variance | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (MTD) | $2.1M | $2.0M | +5.0% | |
| Gross Margin | 62.4% | 60.0% | +2.4pp | |
| EBITDA | $418K | $450K | −7.1% | |
| Cash Position | $3.2M | $3.0M | +6.7% | |
| AR Ageing (>60d) | $340K | <$250K | +36.0% | |
| Utilisation | 84.7% | 85.0% | −0.3pp |
| Metric | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | This Wk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.4M | $1.7M | $1.9M | $2.1M ▲ |
| Gross Margin | 59.8% | 61.2% | 61.9% | 62.4% ▲ |
| EBITDA | $310K | $365K | $402K | $418K ▲ |
| Cash Position | $3.0M | $2.9M | $3.1M | $3.2M ▲ |
The Problem
There's no CFO in seat yet, or the one you have is buried. The bookkeeper closes the books. The founder still touches the numbers. Month-end is a fire drill. The business is too small to justify a senior finance hire, and too big to keep operating this way.
Or you're further along. The CRM has pipeline data. The timesheets have delivery data. The GL has actuals. Someone on the team manually exports from all three, reconciles the differences, pastes everything into a model, reformats the charts, writes the commentary, and emails it to leadership. Next month, they do it again.
This isn't an analyst problem. It's a plumbing problem. Hiring another analyst to maintain broken plumbing just makes the cycle more expensive. The model was built once, patched since then, and nobody wants to touch it in case something breaks. The board pack takes two days. Leadership is making decisions on data that's three days old by the time they read it.
Most advisory firms end with a slide deck. The advice is sound, but nobody installs it into the operation. The function doesn't actually change. It just gets a better-written set of recommendations that sit in a shared drive.
| Category | Wk 1 17 Feb |
Wk 2 24 Feb |
Wk 3 3 Mar |
Wk 4 10 Mar |
Wk 5 17 Mar |
Wk 6 24 Mar |
Wk 7 31 Mar |
Wk 8 7 Apr |
Wk 9 14 Apr |
Wk 10 21 Apr |
Wk 11 28 Apr |
Wk 12 5 May |
Wk 13 12 May |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening Balance | 3,200 | 3,185 | 2,960 | 2,810 | 3,120 | 2,890 | 3,340 | 3,110 | 3,410 | 3,190 | 3,520 | 3,310 | 3,620 |
| Cash In | |||||||||||||
| Client Receipts | 420 | 380 | 510 | 640 | 390 | 720 | 480 | 630 | 410 | 680 | 450 | 650 | 520 |
| Other Income | 15 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 10 | 15 | 10 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 15 | 10 | 20 |
| Total Cash In | 435 | 390 | 525 | 660 | 400 | 735 | 490 | 650 | 425 | 690 | 465 | 660 | 540 |
| Cash Out | |||||||||||||
| Payroll | −280 | −280 | −280 | −280 | −280 | −280 | −280 | −280 | −280 | −280 | −280 | −280 | −280 |
| Contractors | −95 | −120 | −95 | −70 | −110 | −80 | −105 | −70 | −95 | −80 | −110 | −70 | −95 |
| Rent & Facilities | - | −85 | - | - | −85 | - | - | −85 | - | - | −85 | - | - |
| Software & SaaS | −42 | - | - | - | −42 | - | - | - | −42 | - | - | - | −42 |
| Tax / BAS | - | −130 | - | - | - | - | −135 | - | - | - | - | - | −140 |
| Other | −33 | - | −300 | - | −13 | −25 | - | −15 | −8 | - | −10 | −20 | - |
| Total Cash Out | −450 | −615 | −675 | −350 | −530 | −385 | −520 | −450 | −425 | −360 | −485 | −370 | −557 |
| Net Cash Flow | −15 | −225 | −150 | +310 | −130 | +350 | −30 | +200 | 0 | +330 | −20 | +290 | −17 |
| Closing Balance | 3,185 | 2,960 | 2,810 | 3,120 | 2,990 | 3,340 | 3,310 | 3,310 | 3,410 | 3,520 | 3,500 | 3,600 | 3,583 |
| Assumption | Value | Frequency | Source | Last Updated | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue & Collections | |||||
| Average collection period | 32 days | Rolling | AR ageing report | 14 Feb 2025 | Trending up from 28d in Q3 |
| Monthly recurring revenue | $1.4M | Monthly | Contract schedule | 14 Feb 2025 | 3 new contracts from Jan |
| Project milestone payments | Per SOW schedule | Per milestone | PM tracker | 12 Feb 2025 | 5 milestones due in Q1 |
| Bad debt provision | 1.5% of revenue | Monthly | Historical average | 31 Jan 2025 | Stable at 1.3-1.7% range |
| Payment terms (standard) | Net 30 | - | Client contracts | 14 Feb 2025 | 65% of clients on Net 30 |
| Expenses | |||||
| Payroll (weekly) | $280K | Weekly | HRIS payroll file | 14 Feb 2025 | 68 FTE, next review Apr |
| Contractor cost (avg weekly) | $90K | Weekly | Contractor invoices | 14 Feb 2025 | 42 active contractors |
| Office lease | $85K | Monthly | Lease agreement | 1 Jan 2025 | Renewal due Jun 2025 |
| Software & SaaS | $42K | Monthly | Subscription tracker | 1 Feb 2025 | 12 licences, 3 annual |
| Insurance (D&O + PI) | $28K | Quarterly | Broker schedule | 1 Jan 2025 | Next payment 7 Mar |
| Capital Expenditure | |||||
| Cloud infrastructure (AWS) | $38K | Monthly | AWS billing | 14 Feb 2025 | Reserved instances locked to Sep |
| Hardware refresh cycle | $15K | Quarterly | IT asset register | 31 Jan 2025 | 12 laptops due Q2 replacement |
| Security tooling (SOC2) | $8.5K | Monthly | Vendor contracts | 1 Feb 2025 | Annual audit due May 2025 |
| Office fit-out (Level 4) | $120K | One-off | Project budget | 10 Feb 2025 | Phased: $60K Mar, $60K Apr |
| Working Capital | |||||
| Debtor days target | ≤30 days | Rolling | Finance policy | 14 Feb 2025 | Currently 32d, above target |
| Creditor days (avg) | 21 days | Rolling | AP ageing report | 14 Feb 2025 | Early-pay discount on 3 vendors |
| Retainer prepayments | $95K | Monthly | Client billing | 12 Feb 2025 | 4 clients on monthly retainer |
| Work-in-progress (WIP) | $310K | Weekly | PM time tracking | 14 Feb 2025 | Target: bill within 14 days |
| External Factors | |||||
| RBA cash rate | 4.10% | - | RBA | 4 Feb 2025 | Market expects hold at next meeting |
| AUD/USD | 0.6542 | Daily | Bloomberg | 14 Feb 2025 | Hedged at 0.65 for Q1 |
| CPI (annualised) | 3.4% | Quarterly | ABS | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 release Mar |
| Wage price index | 4.2% | Quarterly | ABS | Q4 2024 | Impacts next payroll review |
| Credit facility (undrawn) | $500K | - | NAB facility | 1 Jan 2025 | Covenants: DSCR >1.5x, leverage <2x |
| Growth & Pipeline | |||||
| Weighted pipeline (90d) | $2.8M | Weekly | CRM (HubSpot) | 14 Feb 2025 | 3 deals in final negotiation |
| Expected new hires (Q1) | 4 FTE | - | Hiring plan | 10 Feb 2025 | 2 senior devs, 1 PM, 1 QA |
| Onboarding cost per FTE | $12K | Per hire | HR budget | 31 Jan 2025 | Equipment + training + ramp |
| Marketing spend (monthly) | $22K | Monthly | Marketing budget | 1 Feb 2025 | Events $8K, digital $14K |
| Metric | Best Case | Base Case | Worst Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash Position Summary | |||
| Closing Balance | $4.2M | $3.6M | $2.4M |
| Minimum Balance | $3.1M | $2.8M | $2.0M |
| Net Cash Flow (13 Wk) | +$1.0M | +$383K | −$800K |
| Average Cash on Hand | $3.6M | $3.2M | $2.5M |
| Days Cash Cover | 62 days | 47 days | 31 days |
| Cash Runway | >12 months | >12 months | 8 months |
| Key Assumptions | |||
| Collection Period | 25 days | 32 days | 45+ days |
| Pipeline Conversion | +2 large closings | Historical rates | −1 deal loss |
| Revenue Growth (QoQ) | +8% | +3% | −5% |
| Contractor Costs | Held flat | Per budget | +$150K uplift |
| Client Delays | None | None | 2 major delays |
| AR Ageing (>60d) | <$200K | $340K | $500K+ |
| Operational Metrics | |||
| Utilisation Rate | 82% | 75% | 65% |
| Monthly Burn Rate | $620K | $680K | $780K |
| Revenue per FTE | $28.5K | $24.2K | $19.8K |
| Gross Margin | 48% | 42% | 34% |
| Headcount (End of Period) | 74 FTE | 72 FTE | 68 FTE |
| Risk Indicators | |||
| Probability Weight | 20% | 60% | 20% |
| Covenant Breach Risk | None | None | DSCR at 1.6x |
| Facility Draw Required | No | No | $200K in Wk 9 |
| Payroll Cover (weeks) | 11.2 | 8.4 | 5.1 |
| Break-even Point | Week 4 | Week 7 | Not reached |
| Sensitivity Analysis | |||
| Revenue ±10% | Cash impact: $320K - $480K | Balance range: $3.1M - $4.1M | |
| Collection Days ±7d | Cash impact: $180K - $250K | Balance range: $3.3M - $3.8M | |
| Contractor Costs ±15% | Cash impact: $95K - $140K | Balance range: $3.4M - $3.7M | |
| Major Client Loss (1) | Cash impact: −$420K | Balance drops to: $3.2M | |
| Enterprise Deal Win (1) | Cash impact: +$350K | Balance rises to: $3.9M | |
THE PROBLEM
"Our team spends 2 days every month pulling data from 4 systems into a board pack. Half the time there are errors nobody catches until the meeting."
- Head of Finance, initial call 12 Feb
WHAT WE'LL BUILD
DATA SOURCES
| System | Access | Data |
|---|---|---|
| Xero (Accounting) | API | P&L, BS, Cash |
| HubSpot (CRM) | API | Pipeline, Deals |
| Harvest (Time) | API | Utilisation, Hrs |
| Google Sheets | Manual | Budget, Targets |
PROPOSED TIMELINE
NOTES
Client prefers Monday AM delivery. CFO + 3 direct reports on distribution list.
Existing board template in PowerPoint - we'll match their branding exactly.
Phase 2 discussion: cash forecast + scenario modelling infrastructure (Q2).
How It Works
Every engagement starts the same way. The Operating Partner runs an Operating Function Diagnostic: a structured review of the business across finance, operations, and commercial. The Forward Deployed Engineer maps every source system, every manual workaround, and every place data is being moved by hand.
The output isn't a list of problems. It's a prioritised action plan with commercial value attached to each item. For the opportunities that need building, the same team installs them.
The three-phase shape of every engagement
Phase one is the Operating Function Diagnostic, four to six weeks, Operating Partner-led. Phase two is the build, eight to twelve weeks, both seats fully engaged. Phase three is retained advisory: both seats remain in the business at reduced intensity, with cadence set by the work that needs to be done. Monthly board prep, quarterly tax review, ad-hoc projects.
What the diagnostic delivers
Executive summary of the operating function's readiness for its next growth phase. Technical findings across accounting policy, compliance risk, and balance sheet exposure. Process findings across finance, operations, and commercial, mapped end to end. A prioritised action plan ranked by urgency and commercial impact. A phased team structure showing who does what as the business scales.
Two seats, one engagement.
The Operating Partner has run finance functions at $20M to $100M+ revenue. Has sat across the table from auditors, boards, investors, and acquirers. Brings the commercial judgment and stakeholder fluency that only comes from having held the seat.
The Forward Deployed Engineer is a full-stack engineer with finance and operations domain depth. Reads a P&L, debugs a tax calculation, builds a forecasting model, and ships production code in the same week. Works directly in client environments: client Slack, client GitHub, client data warehouses, client ERPs.
Clients don't just get advice. They get advice that gets installed into their operations.
AI Trust Architecture
Python owns the numbers. Large language models only narrate validated figures, never raw data. Every dashboard, every weekly brief, every board pack ships on the same principle: the math is deterministic, and the narrative is a layer on top of figures that have already been checked.
The Category
Private-equity portfolio companies get operating partner teams: senior strategic operators with a delivery resource behind them, embedded in the business, focused on installing high-leverage operational change. CapitalCurve Advisory delivers that model to growth-stage businesses that aren't owned by PE.
Who We Work With
The firm serves two profiles, defined by the maturity of the finance function rather than industry or revenue band.
Founder-led businesses
Earlier-stage businesses without a senior finance leader in seat. A financial controller or bookkeeper at best, with the founder still touching the numbers. The buyer is the founder, CEO, or COO. The trigger is usually a first finance hire being scoped, a board starting to ask harder questions, or a system that was bought and never properly turned on. Default engagement: Operating Function Build.
Finance-leader-led businesses
Scaleups with a Head of Finance, Financial Controller, or fractional CFO already in seat. The buyer is the CFO or Head of Finance. The trigger is usually an upcoming audit, a board pack that eats nights and weekends, a post-CFO transition, or ESOP and cap table work that needs cleaning up. Default engagement: Finance Function Transformation, often layered with Commercial Intelligence.
Results
Finance Transformation + Commercial Intelligence
Australian non-bank lender · Growth-stage
A lender with an existing R&D tax claim, board reporting under pressure, and an enterprise tool the team had bought and never properly turned on. The Operating Partner ran the diagnostic and identified opportunities across tax, reporting cadence, and system activation. The Forward Deployed Engineer installed each one.
$800,000 of R&D refund eligibility identified beyond the client's existing claim
$50,000-per-year dormant ERP licence activated in one week, recovering the spend and bringing the function online
Daily reporting, board pack assembly, and investor update infrastructure embedded into the operating cadence
Head of Finance hiring support delivered end to end, from role design through to candidate selection
Operating Function Build
Founder-led scaleup · Professional services
Manual exports, reconciliation by hand, decisions made on stale spreadsheets, and project margins tracked across disconnected timesheets, CRM, and invoicing systems with no single source of truth. The Operating Partner scoped the build. The Forward Deployed Engineer rebuilt the data layer end to end, then layered live forecasting and a validated narrative layer on top.
Aggregated data infrastructure built across all source systems, replacing manual exports and reconciliation
LLM narrative layer deployed on validated figures only, never on raw numbers
Bespoke billing and project margin tracking system built and connected to multiple third-party APIs
Live forecasting and financial models flowing directly from connected data, eliminating stale-spreadsheet decisions
Finance Function Transformation
Global technology company · NYSE-listed
A major reporting restructure during an organisational remap. SKUs and business mappings moved across new business units, and the entire reporting chain had to follow. Every formula, every cross-reference, every roll-up rebuilt. One broken link would cascade errors across the full P&L. The team mapped the new structure end to end, rebuilt the reporting hierarchy, connected data extraction across systems, and delivered dynamic models feeding downstream reporting.
$100,000+ in labour cost savings over five years
One full day of recurring manual work eliminated every week
Full reporting chain rebuilt with zero downtime through the restructure
Finance team shifted from maintaining fragile spreadsheets to reviewing clean, structured outputs
Finance Function Transformation
National staffing group · 300+ contractors · Multi-entity structure
Five entities, three ERPs, and a finance team producing the consolidated board pack in Excel every month. Four days of work, manual inter-company eliminations, and a model that broke every time someone changed a tab name. Leadership had no rolling forecast: just last month's actuals and gut feel. The team built a centralised data model pulling from all three systems, streamlined the consolidation and elimination logic, and layered a 13-week rolling cashflow forecast on top.
Board pack turnaround reduced from 4 days to under 1 hour
13-week rolling cashflow forecast delivered for the first time in the business's history
Five entities and three ERPs consolidated into a single reporting view
Month-end close shortened by 2 full days
Finance team now spends month-end on analysis, not assembly
Process
Every engagement follows the same three-phase shape, regardless of archetype. The Operating Partner and the Forward Deployed Engineer are matched to the business once we understand what needs to change.
Phase 1. Operating Function Diagnostic
A structured review across finance, operations, and commercial. The Operating Partner identifies the highest-leverage opportunities. The Forward Deployed Engineer audits the system landscape and data flows. The output is a prioritised action plan with commercial value attached to each item.
Phase 2. Build
Both seats fully engaged. The Operating Partner leads strategic finance, stakeholder management, and team design. The Forward Deployed Engineer installs the data infrastructure, reporting systems, and bespoke operational systems that make the action plan real.
Phase 3. Retained Advisory
Both seats remain in the business at reduced intensity. Monthly board prep. Quarterly tax review. Ad-hoc projects. The cadence is set by the work that needs to be done.
Book a call and we'll scope it together.
The team works across HubSpot, Salesforce, Dynamics 365, Zoho, Xero, NetSuite, SAP, Excel, SharePoint, and Power BI. System-agnostic. If it has an API, the Forward Deployed Engineer can connect to it.
A 15-minute call is enough to understand the current situation and whether the firm is a fit. No pitch deck, no proposal until we know it makes sense.
Book a 15-min call →Mon-Fri · 7am-7pm AEST · Google Meet