Financial modelling services deliver a built forecast: assumptions, revenue, costs, P&L and cash, scoped to a fixed fee. They suit a one-off need such as a raise or a transaction. They do not replace the person who has to answer questions about the model every month.
What financial modelling services actually deliver
The scope is fairly consistent across providers: a set of stated assumptions, revenue modelled by stream, a costed hiring plan, a profit and loss, and a cash flow that resolves into a runway line. Larger engagements add a balance sheet, capex, tax and super, and a discounted cash flow where the buyer needs a valuation. It usually arrives as a spreadsheet with a fixed-fee scope and a handover call. The costed hiring plan is the part buyers most often check least carefully, because the true cost of a head is the package plus the on-costs, starting with the superannuation guarantee the ATO requires employers to pay.
That is a real deliverable and there is nothing wrong with buying it. The minimum a founder needs at this stage is narrow: a clear set of assumptions, a two-year P&L forecast and a two-year cash flow forecast, because those three answer whether the business creates enough value before it runs out of cash.[1] A competent provider will build that in weeks rather than months.
When outsourcing the model makes sense
The case is strongest when the need is finite and specialist. A raise with a hard date, a transaction, a bank-grade project model, or a board that has suddenly asked for something the team has never produced.
It is also the right answer when a business is simply too early. When a company needs financial support but is not yet at the point of an internal finance hire, I refer them to fractional CFO and CFO advisory businesses I have relationships with, and those referrals are free.[2] There is no version of this where a search fee is the right product for a ten-person company that needs a model in a fortnight. I point people at fractional rather than a pure modelling shop because that way you get the model and someone who can talk to it.
If the need is ongoing rather than one-off, the comparison you want is what a fractional CFO covers and what they cost.
What to look for in a provider
Ask for the same things you would ask of a hire. Industry specificity first, because a SaaS model, a lending book and a hardware business with inventory behave nothing alike. Then a fixed scope with named deliverables, a timeline, and a clear answer on who maintains the model after handover. Case studies are useful, but the more revealing question is what they will need from you, because a provider who does not ask hard questions about your assumptions is not building a model, they are filling in a template.
| What the buyer usually asks | What actually decides the outcome | |
|---|---|---|
| Price and turnaround | Fixed fee and a delivery date | Necessary, but it tells you nothing about quality. A fast cheap model built from a template is the most expensive one you can buy. |
| Industry experience | Case studies and logos | Ask specifically about your revenue mechanics. SaaS, a lending book and a hardware business with inventory do not model the same way. |
| The assumptions layer | Inputs are separated from outputs | Every assumption should trace to something real in your business, and you should be able to say out loud where it came from. |
| After handover | A walkthrough call and a file | Who updates it next month, and who answers the board's follow-up question. If the answer is nobody, you have bought a document. |
The risk nobody prices in: a model you cannot defend
This is the failure mode that shows up in investor conversations. One of the biggest mistakes founders make is outsourcing the model and then being unable to explain it, because a financial model is ultimately a reflection of your thinking, and if you cannot defend the assumptions investors will not trust you or the numbers.[3] The blunt version from the other side of the table is that the worst answer you can give when someone asks about your model is that you do not know, your accountant built it.[4]
So the deliverable is not the spreadsheet. It is your ability to sit in a room and walk someone through why each number is what it is. A good provider transfers that. A cheap one hands over a file.
Five startup finance specialists on what investors actually test in a founder built model, and the five mistakes that cost credibility.
When the answer is a hire, not a service
Outsourced modelling has a natural expiry. Fractional finance professionals deliver their most value over a finite period, typically 18 to 24 months, because most founders are not financially savvy and need processes, cash flow visibility, budgeting and forecasting set up in the first place.[5] After that the business has usually outgrown the arrangement, and those firms often refer clients back for a full-time hire.[6]
The tell is frequency. If the model needs to change monthly, if the board is asking follow-up questions between meetings, or if the hiring plan and the forecast have stopped agreeing with each other, you do not have a modelling problem. You have an ownership gap, and a service engagement will keep filling it at increasing cost without ever closing it.
What Story does, and what it does not
To be direct about it: Story Recruitment does not provide financial modelling services. I do not build models and I do not sell modelling engagements. What I do is place the person who will own the model inside your business, from the first finance hire at a 10 to 20 headcount company through to the first CFO at a Series B funded scale-up.[7] That is the whole lane.
If you need a model built this month, ask for a fractional introduction and I will make one at no cost. If what you actually need is someone in the business who can build it, defend it and keep it alive, that is a retained search at 18% of total remuneration, with a six month replacement guarantee. Two different problems, two different answers, and it is worth being honest with yourself about which one you have.
Common questions
What are financial modelling services?
They are engagements where a third party builds your forecast for you. The typical scope is an assumptions layer, revenue modelled by stream, a costed hiring plan, a profit and loss and a cash flow resolving into runway, delivered as a spreadsheet on a fixed fee. Larger engagements add a balance sheet, capex, tax and super, or a discounted cash flow where a valuation is needed.
Should a startup outsource its financial model?
For a finite, specialist need, yes. A raise with a hard date, a transaction, or a board request the team has never produced before are all good reasons. It is the right answer when the business is genuinely too early for an internal finance hire. Once the model needs to change monthly, and someone in the business has to answer questions about it between board meetings, that stops being true.
What is the risk of buying a financial model?
That you cannot defend it. A model is a reflection of the founder's thinking, so being unable to explain the assumptions damages credibility more than an imperfect model would. Investors ask follow-up questions specifically to test whether the thinking is yours. The worst available answer is that your accountant built it and you do not know.
Does Story Recruitment build financial models?
No. Story Recruitment is a finance recruitment business and does not provide modelling services of any kind. We place the person who owns the model inside your business, from the first finance hire at a 10 to 20 headcount company to the first CFO at a Series B funded scale-up. If you need a model built now rather than a hire, ask and we will introduce you to a fractional CFO provider at no cost.
References
- Marc Orchard, CEO and co-founder of Planet Startup, on the minimum viable model, in Story Recruitment's panel on what investors look for in founder built financial models.
- What I push clients towards: when a client is too early for an internal finance hire but needs financial support, he refers them to fractional CFO or CFO advisory businesses he has established relationships with, and the referrals are free.
- Marc Orchard on outsourced models: a financial model is a reflection of your thinking, and if you cannot defend the assumptions, investors will not trust you or the numbers. From the same Story Recruitment panel on founder built financial models.
- Luke Rix, co-founder and CEO of KC Ventures, on the worst answer a founder can give about their own model. From the same Story Recruitment panel on founder built financial models.
- What keeps coming up: fractional finance professionals often deliver their most value for a business over a finite period, typically 18 to 24 months, because most founders are not financially savvy and need processes, cash flow visibility, budgeting and forecasting set up.
- Tom Hunter on what happens next: fractional finance relationships typically last 18 to 24 months, and once a business outgrows the fractional provider those firms often refer clients back to him for full-time hires. From his appearance on a podcast interview on building Story Recruitment.
- What came up in a search I was running: i often recruit for high-growth, startup or scale-up businesses, ranging from the first finance hire for a 10 to 20 headcount business to the first CFO for a Series B funded scale-up.