A capital raise, an M&A transaction, a debt refinancing, an exit process: these are moments where the margin for error is small, the demands on the finance function are intense, and the cost of a weak financial presentation is measured in valuation, not time. A Project CFO steps in to own the initiative end-to-end, so nothing falls through the cracks. Traverse is a fractional CFO company and fractional CFO firm that delivers project-scope engagements with the same ownership as a full-time hire — without the overhead of a temporary CFO service or outsourced CFO firms focused on recurring retainers.
Schedule a Discovery CallTransactions and capital events don't wait for the finance team to catch up. When a process is underway, you need dedicated, senior-level bandwidth and someone who can absorb the workload fully and own the output with accountability.
The controller is closing the books. The FP&A team is managing the budget cycle. The CEO is running the business. A major initiative requires focus that the existing organization simply can't spare without something else breaking.
Building a model is not the same as building a financial story that holds up under institutional scrutiny. The technical work and the strategic judgment need to come from the same place.
Before you can make better decisions, you need to trust the numbers. Traverse builds the financial visibility infrastructure — clean data, reliable reporting, and honest performance analysis — that gives leadership the clarity to act with confidence. This is often the first project that unlocks everything else.
Capital decisions made without rigorous financial modeling leave value on the table — either by overinvesting in the wrong place or underinvesting in the right one. Traverse builds the analytical framework that turns capital allocation from a gut call into a defensible strategy with a clear financial story behind it.
Buyers and investors see through weak financial preparation quickly. The companies that command the best multiples aren't just performing well — they're presenting their performance in a way that survives serious diligence. Traverse builds the story, the model, and the data room, and identifies the gaps that need to close before any formal process begins.
Finance infrastructure that was adequate at $10M becomes a constraint at $50M. The close takes longer, the reports mean less, and the team is running hard to maintain a function that's already behind where the business needs it. Traverse identifies the process and system bottlenecks that are creating drag and implements the changes that let the business scale.
Most companies don't discover governance gaps until they're in diligence, facing an audit, or dealing with a near-miss. By then, the cost of the gap — in time, in valuation, in credibility — is already real. Traverse builds the controls, policies, and risk frameworks that protect the business before the moment of exposure arrives.
Different projects demand different expertise. Here's how Traverse leads each of the most common high-stakes initiatives.
A capital raise is not a financial modeling exercise — it's a sales process where the financial model is the primary selling document. The quality of the model, the credibility of the assumptions, and the coherence of the financial narrative determine how investors and lenders respond before you get to a first meeting. Traverse owns the financial side of the process from model build through close — building the forecast, stress-testing the assumptions, structuring the investor materials, and managing the financial diligence process with the same ownership a full-time CFO would bring.
Traverse delivers: Integrated 3-statement financial model with driver-based forecasting, investor-ready board deck (financial sections), scenario analysis and sensitivity modeling, lender or investor diligence support, data room financial content, and ongoing model maintenance through close.
M&A transactions are won and lost in the financial details. On the buy side, that means diligence that goes beyond the target's financials into the real economics of what's being acquired — and a clear view of integration cost and synergy realization that holds up under scrutiny. On the sell side, it means a financial presentation that frames performance in the most favorable defensible light, a data room that doesn't leave buyers with unanswered questions, and a diligence process that moves without creating doubt. Traverse has led 22 transactions across both sides. The pattern recognition is deep.
Traverse delivers: Buy-side: financial diligence workplan, quality of earnings analysis, integration cost modeling, synergy framework. Sell-side: management presentation (financial sections), data room construction, quality of earnings preparation, diligence management, rep and warranty support.
The companies that command the best exit multiples aren't just performing well — they've spent the 12 to 24 months before the process cleaning up what would otherwise become diligence friction. That means closing accounting gaps, normalizing EBITDA, building a financial narrative that survives scrutiny, and making sure the data room answers questions before buyers have to ask them. A Project CFO engagement focused on exit readiness is the most returnable investment most business owners will ever make — the ROI on a clean process versus a messy one is measured in valuation points, not percentages.
Traverse delivers: Exit readiness diagnostic, EBITDA normalization and quality of earnings pre-work, financial data room build, accounting gap remediation plan, management presentation development, and financial narrative construction for the sell-side process.
ERP implementations are one of the most disruptive events a finance function goes through, and they fail most often because IT is running a project that the finance team doesn't fully own. The result is a system configured for the way finance worked before — not the way it needs to work going forward. Traverse provides the senior finance leadership that the implementation actually requires: defining the requirements, owning the chart of accounts and reporting structure, managing the parallel close, and ensuring the system that goes live is the system the business actually needs.
Traverse delivers: Finance requirements documentation, chart of accounts design, reporting architecture, implementation vendor management, parallel close oversight, user acceptance testing coordination, go-live readiness assessment, and post-implementation stabilization.
A debt refinancing requires presenting the business to new lenders in the most compelling financial terms — which means clean financials, a defensible forecast, and a clear narrative around covenant structure, leverage, and debt service coverage. Companies that let their bank lead this process often accept terms they could have improved with better preparation. Traverse manages the financial side of debt transactions: building the model, preparing the lender package, managing the bank process, and negotiating covenants with a clear view of the financial obligations that will follow.
Traverse delivers: Lender-ready financial model and projections, credit memo support, covenant negotiation analysis, bank selection and process management, term sheet financial review, and closing documentation coordination.
We begin with a focused conversation to understand the initiative, the timeline, the internal team, and the desired outcome. Scope, deliverables, and milestones are defined before the engagement begins so there is no ambiguity about what success looks like.
Financial data reviewed, key stakeholders met, existing work assessed. Within the first two weeks, we have a clear picture of the current state and a prioritized action plan.
Models built, materials prepared, counterparties managed, process driven. Regular updates to the CEO and board ensure alignment throughout, with no surprises at critical moments.
Every engagement closes with structured documentation including models, process guides, decision logs, and open items, so your team or a future CFO can immediately understand what was built and carry the work forward.
Project CFO engagements live and die on the quality of judgment in moments that matter: how the model is structured, how the story is framed, how counterparty dynamics are managed.
Major initiatives are almost always time-pressured. Traverse's AI-powered finance stack dramatically compresses the time to build, model, and prepare.
You're running the business and trying to run a process at the same time. You need someone who can step in, own it, and get it across the finish line.
Your portfolio company CFO is running the business and doesn't have the bandwidth to simultaneously lead an add-on acquisition, a debt refinancing, or an exit process at full quality.
Traverse Project CFOs take end-to-end accountability for the workstream. We build the models, drive the process, manage the counterparties, and deliver the outcome with our name on the work, not just our recommendations on someone else's. That's what separates a best fractional CFO engagement from a temporary CFO service or a temp CFO firm that fills bandwidth: accountability for the result, not just the hours.
22 exits, carve-outs, and M&A transactions. $900M+ in equity raised. $550M+ in debt structured. Traverse has been on the finance side of nearly every type of transaction a growth-stage or middle-market company will face.
Every Traverse engagement is designed with the handoff in mind from day one. The models are documented. The processes are written down. The logic is transparent. When we're done, your team inherits an asset rather than a black box.
Consultants advise. Traverse Project CFOs lead. We take full ownership of the workstream, building the models, managing the process, coordinating the counterparties, and driving to a defined outcome. We're accountable for results, not recommendations.
Most engagements run 2–6 months depending on the initiative. A capital raise or M&A transaction may run longer; a financial visibility diagnostic may run shorter. We scope each engagement tightly before we begin.
Yes, and this is a common structure. Many companies have a CFO who is stretched across day-to-day operations and can't devote the bandwidth a major initiative demands. Traverse adds senior capacity for the specific workstream without disrupting existing finance leadership.
Every engagement ends with documented models, process guides, key decision logs, and a summary of open items. The goal is that your team or a future CFO can immediately understand what was built, why decisions were made, and how to maintain and extend the work.
Project CFO engagements are typically priced one of two ways: a fixed project fee with defined scope and deliverables, or a monthly retainer for the duration of the initiative. Fixed fees work well when the scope is clear at the outset — a capital raise, an ERP implementation, or an exit readiness project. Monthly retainers work better for initiatives where the scope may evolve, such as an M&A process that extends or a debt refinancing with multiple rounds of lender engagement. Traverse scopes and prices every engagement transparently before work begins, so there are no mid-project surprises.
Traverse is designed to reduce the burden on your internal team — not add to it. We need access to your systems, data, and key stakeholders, and we'll work alongside your controller or FP&A lead to pull what's needed. But the actual analytical and strategic work is ours to drive. Your CEO or existing CFO should expect regular updates and decision checkpoints, not status meetings or project management overhead. The goal is that the initiative moves without the leadership team having to manage it.
Project CFO engagements tend to be the right fit for growth-stage companies ($10M–$150M in revenue) or PE-backed portfolio companies that are facing a specific high-stakes initiative — a capital raise, a transaction, an exit process, or a major operational change. Companies with a functioning CFO who simply lacks the bandwidth to own a major initiative parallel to running day-to-day finance are also a strong fit. Traverse supplements existing finance leadership without undermining it.
Scope changes are normal in complex financial projects — a transaction timeline shifts, a new diligence request comes in, or a capital raise pivots from equity to debt. Traverse doesn't treat scope changes as problems; we treat them as part of the work. When scope shifts materially, we discuss the implications openly, agree on any necessary fee adjustment, and keep the project moving without bureaucratic friction. The only thing we don't do is absorb scope expansion silently and let it erode the quality of the work.
Stop making decisions with stale data and manual reports. Traverse brings you a senior CFO and an AI-powered finance infrastructure deployed in days and built to scale with you.
Schedule a Discovery CallNo long-term contract required to start. Engagements are scoped to your needs, not ours.