Your First 90 Days as a B2B SaaS CFO - Part 1: Strategic Preparation and Early Wins

Why Your First 90 Days Define Everything

The moment you step into a CFO role at a growth-stage B2B SaaS company, the clock starts ticking. As the new finance leader, your role extends beyond oversight—you’re a strategic partner shaping revenue strategy, unit economics, and scalable financial operations.

The first 90 days will be intense. From untangling revenue recognition issues to aligning with investors, you’ll be pulled in multiple directions. But this period isn’t just about putting out fires. It’s your chance to establish credibility and lay the groundwork for long-term success. 

This three-part series will walk you through each phase, starting with strategic preparation and your earliest weeks on the job.

💡 As a new CFO, your first 90 days aren't just an onboarding period—they're an opportunity to establish trust as a leader and define the finance function moving forward. The financial strategy you build now will determine whether the company scales efficiently or struggles with operational bottlenecks.

‍

Your 90-Day Roadmap to Success

The most effective SaaS CFOs approach their first three months with a structured plan. You'll need to quickly validate key revenue assumptions, understand cash flow, and uncover hidden risks—all while proving your strategic value to leadership.

‍

‍

‍

To hit the ground running, preparation starts before your first official day.

‍

Before Day One: Gather Early Insights

The period between accepting your offer and your official start date is a valuable opportunity for preparation. Use it to review key documents and get into the right mindset for your new role.

Request Essential Documents

Ask your new company to provide these materials before your start date. 

Items to review: 

• Recent P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow statements
• Pitch decks, investor updates, and board meeting minutes
• Current forecasts and planning documents 
• SaaS metric reports and core business dashboards
• An overview of finance tools, spreadsheets, or systems

Reviewing these materials will help you identify potential areas of focus and prepare thoughtful questions for your first few weeks on the job. In an ideal world, this data and documentation is already in your onboarding materials or it can be shared on your first day, but you may also find that you’ll need to dig up or piece together some information yourself. 

‍

Getting Started: Your First Month

Your priority in the first few weeks is to assess the financial reality, build trust with leadership, and establish quick wins.

1. Validate Financial Truth

Before making strategic decisions, confirm that financial data is accurate and reliable:

• Revenue Accuracy: Is ARR consistent and revenue recognized properly? Any unexpected gaps between recognized and collected revenue?
• Cash Flow and Runway: Does burn rate align with projections?
• Expense Recognition: Are expenses categorized and timed correctly?
• Unit Economics: Are CAC, LTV, and payback periods clearly defined and segmented?
• Balance Sheet Integrity: Are assets and liabilities valued and recorded accurately? Any red flags in accruals or covenants?

💡 A company may report strong ARR, but further investigation can reveal 
hidden discrepancies. Your job is to establish the financial truth.

‍

2. Build Key Relationships

Early on, prioritize stakeholder meetings to align expectations, clarify priorities, and identify where finance can add the most value:

• CEO and COO: Understand their expectations and how they view finance's role (and ensure they’re aligned with each other by holding a joint meeting.)
• Board Members: Learn their priorities and reporting preferences.
• Sales, Marketing, and CS Leaders: Discuss go-to-market strategy and metrics.
• Product and Engineering: Understand the product roadmap and its financial implications.
• Finance Team: Meet your direct reports and understand current processes.

💡 These relationships are crucial for your success as a strategic finance leader. At this stage, your focus should be gathering insights rather than proposing major changes.

‍

3. Align with Investors

Review past board meeting notes, investor updates, and financial models to understand the expectations you'll need to manage:

• What commitments have been made to investors?
• What growth targets have been promised?
• When is the next fundraising round, and what metrics will be scrutinized?

💡 If investor expectations don't match the financial reality, you'll need to develop a plan to reset them constructively.

‍

4. Assess Financial Operations

Determine whether finance operations can scale with company growth:

• Billing and Revenue Recognition: Are manual processes creating compliance risks?
• Financial Close Process: How long does it take? Are reports board-ready?
• Finance Tech Stack: Is the team reliant on a complex network of spreadsheets, or are scalable systems in place?

💡 If finance depends too much on manual processes and messy spreadsheets, automation should be a top priority.

‍

Identify Quick Wins in Your First Month

Your early impact builds credibility. Look for opportunities like these:

‍

‍

The best CFOs don't just analyze problems—they take early action to create immediate value. By preparing thoroughly before day one and executing methodically once you start, you’ll position yourself as a strategic partner with unique financial insights.

‍

What's Next in This Series

Part 1: Strategic Preparation and Early Wins covered how to establish credibility, validate financials, and secure quick wins in your first 30 days. 

Part 2: Building Your Financial Foundation will explore how to refine key SaaS metrics, address revenue leakage, and scale financial operations during days 31-60.

Coming soon - Part 3: From Numbers to Strategy will focus on shifting from financial stabilizer to strategic partner in days 61-90—helping you influence business decisions and drive long-term value.

By following this roadmap, you'll transform finance from a support function into a strategic advantage for your company—setting yourself up for success in the B2B SaaS CFO role.

Download the playbook in full.

‍

Billing and Revenue Recognition—Built for SaaS CFOs

Scaling a B2B SaaS company is complex enough—billing and revenue recognition shouldn’t be. Subscript automates invoicing and dunning, ensures ASC 606 and IFRS 15 compliance, and provides real-time revenue insights so you can focus on growth, not spreadsheets.

🔎 Ready to see Subscript in action? Schedule a demo today.

‍

‍