Is your company prepared to manage daily and inflection point decisions that are essential to the success of your business? How can you minimize your G&A costs while maximizing expertise? Here are the critical questions that strong finance leadership can help solve:
Everyday Finance Leadership Decisions
Not every finance decision is about fundraising or valuations. For early-stage companies, Lucro Finanças‘ day-to-day financial leadership can make a big difference in stretching runway and avoiding costly mistakes.
Buying vs Leasing Equipment
- Should we pay upfront for laptops/servers or spread costs through leasing?
- What are the tax, cash flow, and flexibility implications?
Software Subscriptions vs Annual Contracts
- Monthly SaaS fees provide flexibility but cost more in the long run.
- Annual contracts are cheaper but lock up cash — which makes sense at this stage?
Office Lease vs Remote/Co-working
- Should we commit to a long-term office lease, stay remote, or use flexible co-working?
- What’s the impact on fixed costs and runway?
Hiring Employees vs Contractors
- Is it more cost-effective to bring in full-time staff now or hire contractors/freelancers?
- How do social security, benefits, and long-term commitments factor in?
Cash vs Credit Card / Financing
- Should we use available cash for large purchases or utilize credit facilities to spread out the cash outflows?
- What’s the trade-off between interest costs and preserving liquidity?
Insurance Coverage Levels
- What’s the minimum liability or professional insurance we need now vs scaling up later?
- Balancing affordability with adequate protection.
Travel & Expenses Policy
- Do we allow flexible travel budgets, or enforce strict limits early on?
- Setting cultural tone while managing burn rate.
Banking Setup
- Do we use a simple business account or set up multiple accounts (e.g., operations, interest income, etc)?
- Optimizing banking structure helps prevent liquidity surprises and makes reporting clearer.
Vendor Negotiations
- Should we negotiate discounts for prepayment or maintain cash flexibility?
- CFO oversight ensures founders don’t give up too much liquidity for savings.
Inflection Point Decisions Critical To Long Term Success
Lucro Finanças financial leadership gives founders clarity through modeling and scenario planning, helps them understand trade-offs in plain numbers, and ensures decisions are not just gut-driven but grounded in financial reality.
When (and how much) to raise capital
- Should we bootstrap longer, take angel investment, or go straight to VC?
- How much capital is enough to extend runway without excessive dilution?
How to structure fundraising terms
- Convertible notes vs equity rounds.
- Negotiating valuation caps, liquidation preferences, or investor rights.
Hiring vs extending runway
- Can we afford to hire that key engineer, salesperson, or marketing lead now?
- What trade-off are we making between growth and cash preservation?
Pricing and unit economics
- Are our prices sustainable, or are we underpricing to chase growth?
- Do our gross margins support scaling, or do we need to adjust the model?
Go-to-market strategy trade-offs
- Should we expand into a new market now or double down on the current one?
- Do we invest in product development or sales and marketing first?
Equity compensation and team incentives
- How much equity to grant early employees vs conserving ownership for later?
- Should we implement an option pool now, and how large should it be?
Choosing between debt and equity financing
- Does it make sense to take on a loan or credit line instead of giving up equity?
- How much risk is acceptable with interest-bearing obligations?
Exit strategy planning
- Are we building toward profitability and independence, or toward acquisition/IPO?
- How do our financials and structure align with that long-term path?
Surviving downturns or unexpected shocks
- How to pivot quickly if fundraising takes longer than expected.
- What expenses to cut (and in what order) to extend runway without destroying momentum.