Forecasting
Budgeting & Analysis
Cash burn & Scenario Analysis
Fund Raising & Debt
Pitch Deck Support
Development of Fundable Plans
VC, Angel & Lender Intros
& Analysis
Fund management & admin
Capital calls & Distributions
Quarterly investor reports
Quarterly Investor Reports & ROIs
Portfolio Accounting & Valuations
Development of Annual Budget
Board Participation & Support
Exec Guidance
& Recommendations
Month-end close, variance
& trend analysis
Management &
investor reporting KPIs
Rev Rec & Technical
accounting
Payroll Processing,
Onboarding & Terms
Benefits Administration
Employee handbook
& Policies
A/R, Invoicing & Collections
A/P & Expense Report Processing
Fixed Asset Tracking
Inventory tracking
Valuation & BoM
Gross margin
& variance analysis
Founding CEO Kranz & Associates 25 years
35 year strategic executive in startups & VCs
Led 3.25B M&A, expert in fundraising & debt
Startup, venture firm, Fortune 100, Big 4 CPA
25+ years in strategic executive roles,
both public & private Co’s
Led IPOs, M&As, Debt deals & VC funding
Big 4 CPA & Wharton MBA
25 years in financial executive roles
Led successful M&A carve out of public Co
Managed ops, strategy & marketing teams
Big 4 CPA, startup expert
For over 20 years as a General Partner at Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, and most recently at Eclipse Partners, I have recommended Deborah Kranz as a CFO and a trusted financial advisor to my portfolio companies. Deborah helps companies navigate their strategic finance issues, assists in fundraising and delivers high value interim turnkey accounting and finance solutions to founders and CEO’s. She has helped many successful startups from inception through exit and her experience spans all industries. Deborah provides experienced CFO leadership and teams for a comprehensive solution allowing Founders and CEO’s to focus on technology and sales. Her Finance team provides Management with financial information and strategic options they need to make better business decisions. Additionally, Deborah is a debt expert who negotiates difficult and competitive debt deals for capital needs which minimize dilution. For any company looking for an interim CFO or interim accounting solution to produce immediate and cost effective results, Deborah has my highest recommendation.
I worked with Laina during the formative stages of BrightMachines. Laina is easy to work with and has a client first attitude. She was instrumental in helping us get off the ground, to find our feet and deal with the complexity that comes from being a global company with revenue from day one. I was impressed with her attention to detail in handling the myriad of issues that comes required resolution across multiple fronts. Laina did excellent work for us and I would highly recommend her.
Our investor, Eclipse Ventures, recommended Deborah Kranz at Launch Finance to engage an interim finance team. Our Launch CFO, Shauna Barker, has impressed me with her knowledge of our semiconductor space, her pragmatic approach to service and her ability to support the executive team. I was able to immediately delegate finance responsibilities to her that made my job easier. Her teammate, Devonne LaCome, has been instrumental in streamlining our systems as well. I would not hesitate to recommend Launch Finance to any startup.
Deborah came highly recommended to me for an interim CFO and accounting staff service for startups. Deborah’s experience from building a premier Silicon Valley Consulting firm was reflected in her ability to get us set up with best accounting practices and controls which can be challenging in a company that has the explosive growth we experienced. Her knowledge, network and work ethics are impressive and she continued to provide support to our VP Finance when needed. Deborah and her team were a pleasure to work with. I highly recommend Deborah & Launch Finance to any startup looking for immediate cost-effective results.
I have recommended Deborah to several of my portfolio companies to provide full-service CFO/Finance support, as well as consulting on seeking and structuring venture debt. In each case she has delivered excellent results with qualified, professional, ethical and cost effective team members.
Efficiency and Accuracy Unlocked with Launch Finance Before partnering with Launch Finance, Shuman Snyder used Quickbooks Desktop and our month-end close was costly, very manual and slow. Launch Finance seamlessly upgraded our systems and successfully transitioned all of our data and processes immediately after we hired them. The Launch team, led by CFO, Shauna Barker, not only quickly understood how to use our client billing system but also ensured it integrated directly with QBO for a fluid operation. Launch provides us with high quality financial reports on a timely basis that allows ample time for partner reviews. They transformed our year-end processes and closely collaborate with our tax CPA. Launch Finance is fabulous: they respond immediately, our monthly financial package is always prompt and accurate and the Launch team can always explain proficiently what they are doing and why. In a nutshell, our accounting is exemplary with Launch Finance. Shauna is wonderful and so is the rest of the team. We really appreciate that they make our life easy!
Deborah Kranz and her team have gone above and beyond time and time again for oDesk. While many people talk about great service with their customers, they rarely do it. So, it's even more meaningful when someone actually goes out of their way for the sake of the relationship.
We hired Deborah Kranz to provide a finance team for Accounting, Finance and Employee Benefits. Prior to funding, we engaged Deborah and she continued to provide an excellent cost-effective finance team well into the growth phase of the company while she acted as our CFO. Rarely do you get a consultant who has the dedication and commitment Deborah provided me which went beyond the typical workday as she consistently made herself available after hours. It’s hard to imagine someone putting in as much hard work and effort as Deborah did when it was not her full time job. She was instrumental in setting up our financial processes, developed the budget, structured several debt deals that resulted in less dilution and assisted in fund raising and due diligence. During our growth, she provided incredible support and advice for a fraction of the cost of a full time CFO. I feel lucky to have had her as my finance partner on our journey and highly recommend Deborah for any company needing finance support.
I've worked with Deborah and her team for many years across several different companies as a board member and, also, as CEO. Deborah delivers the best of all worlds: 1) seasoned executive talent that brings instant credibility and insight, 2) a deep bench of people who can accomplish any finance and accounting goal and 3) the relationships necessary to get the best terms on the big things like insurance, venture debt and so on. What's more, we've always found her pricing to be fair and less expensive than we could accomplish on our own."
After closing our Series A, Deborah was recommended to us by our lead investor Pierre Lamond, then of Khosla Ventures. As a group of first time founders attempting to design, build, launch, and operate high performance imaging satellites, we had a number of financial and accounting challenges that didn't fit a typical enterprise software or web company template. Deborah was an amazing partner for us in everything from setting up payroll, accounting systems, and budgets to bringing together a complicated, multi-party debt deal to finance satellite components (which most of our board didn't think would be possible!). We worked with Deborah and her team for approximately three years, before transitioning to an in-house controller and finance team. I would highly recommend Deborah to any startup - but especially to ones who need a full-service team to get them up and going financially so they can focus on building their business...or launching it into space in our case.
Deborah Kranz was referred to us by two of our investors. I have been extremely impressed with the high quality of her team and their ability to provide cost effective full outsource accounting and finance teams over the last 5 years. They have set up the best practices in our finance operations for a fraction of the cost had we hired those positions internally. Deborah has personally been very instrumental, in providing me personal guidance in finance areas as well as saving us time and money with her large vendor network as well as her also her deep and impressive knowledge of venture debt and bank lines. I highly recommend Deborah to any startup looking for an outsource finance team they can trust to do the job right.
I have worked with Shauna and her team for several years and have always been happy with her pragmatic approach and her prompt results. I have been very happy with her new team and highly recommend Shauna and Launch Finance.
I engaged Laina to lead the outsourced accounting team supporting our growing business. I was impressed by her ability to lean in and truly understand the business, agility in balancing value with cost, and her willingness to push back as appropriate. When running a high-growth, ever changing startup, I depend on people such as Laina to serve with the best interests of the business in mind.
At our investor's recommendation, we engaged Deborah Kranz to act as our CFO. She immediately added value by implementing our accounting system, negotiating debt, establishing best practices and finally taking the lead as financial advisor during our $3.25B Merger transaction. Her experience and business acumen made her an invaluable partner!
From founding to our sale six years later at Agitar, Deborah and her team, including Devonne, did an excellent job serving as our CFO & finance team handling US & International accounting & finance, including revenue recognition expertise & ensuring clean audits. It was a reliable and extremely cost-effective solution; less than an in-house CFO. Based on Deborah’s broad exposure to start ups, she provided excellent advice on venture debt & equity terms to help raise capital. Since Agitar, I have hired Deborah to provide Interim financial support for my other startups, Schooner & Flybits. She always provides the right team. I recommend Deborah with the greatest enthusiasm.
We utilized Deborah as our interim CFO during our first years of high growth. She provided a cost effective "jump start" solution that allowed us to focus on product development and offered excellent financial guidance on issues startups face. Her quality and dedication were excellent and I have no hesitation in recommending her services to emerging startups.
Deborah is perhaps the most experienced and nuanced financial advisor to young start-ups in Silicon Valley. Her knowledge of the debt markets and her strong relationships with the leading lenders enable her to add significant value to any company seeking debt. While a tough and firm negotiator, she has a sense of balance and fairness with an eye towards maintaining enduring long-term relationships.
Deborah and team worked with us from inception right up until we were ready to bring on board our first CFO. During that time, they helped us with everything from HR to accounting to financing strategy. Deborah's technical expertise on revenue recognition was invaluable, not only establishing our policies but also negotiating on our behalf with auditors to achieve the best results for Clearwell. There's no one I would recommend more strongly to entrepreneurs looking for financial advice and assistance.
Over the years I have referred a number of my portfolio companies to Shauna for finance and accounting support. She and her team have always done an excellent job. In a recent situation, the team at Launch Finance re-engineered the financial close process to produce more meaningful management reports at less than half the cost of the previous team. I highly recommend Shauna and Launch Finance.
I first worked with Deborah when I was incubating an idea at Mayfield Fund, which eventually became Pharsight. Deborah helped with our interim financial needs and continued to provide Interim CFO and Accounting support for Pharsight, Camitro and Savitude. She has always been helpful recommending staff, vendors and handling our finances very cost effectively. I have been very happy with Deborah’s services as well as her team’s, especially Devonne LaCome who has been instrumental in setting up and improving our systems at Savitude. I am a repeat customer which is the highest form of recommendation I can give.
Thank you for sending out Molly to help us. Molly was fantastic and we were super lucky to have her. She helped me tremendously and I really appreciate it
We engaged Deborah to provide an interim CFO and Accounting Staff for MobileIron as we got off the ground. She provided a strong team, worked with us to build operating plans and set up our initial systems until we brought in our permanent CFO. I would recommend Deborah to any startup looking for an interim finance solution.
I have known Shauna Barker for over 15 years and she is a rare breed - the polish and expertise of Chief Financial Officer coupled with the passion and spirit of an entrepreneur. She never shies away from rolling her sleeves up and digging in to hard work. We encourage our portfolio companies to bring her expertise to the team as soon as possible
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