Skills Product & Business CFO Review: Financial Plan Stress Testing

CFO Review: Financial Plan Stress Testing

v20260612
cfo-review
This skill simulates a rigorous review by a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to stress-test any major plan that involves spending or fundraising. It forces consideration of critical financial metrics such as burn rate, unit economics, dilution path, and capital allocation alternatives. Use this when evaluating new expenditures, hiring waves, or funding decisions to ensure financial viability and sustainable growth.
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Overview

/cs:cfo-review โ€” CFO Forcing Questions

Command: /cs:cfo-review <plan>

The numerate skeptic stress-tests anything that touches money. Six questions before any spend or fundraise.

When to Run

  • Before approving any spend > 1% of revenue
  • Before opening a new hiring requisition
  • Before any fundraise conversation
  • Before changing pricing or unit economics
  • Before signing a multi-year contract

The Six CFO Questions

1. Burn & Runway

What's the burn multiple and how many months of cash remain at base / bull / bear?

  • Burn multiple = Net burn รท Net new ARR. Above 2x is a problem.
  • If bear case < 12 months, you're already in fundraising mode.

2. Unit Economics

What is LTV / CAC per channel, and what's the payback period on the top-2 channels?

  • LTV / CAC > 3x is healthy. Payback < 12 months is healthy.
  • If either is broken, do not scale that channel.

3. Dilution Path

If this plan requires a raise, what's the dilution at base and bear valuations?

  • Founder dilution per round.
  • Cumulative dilution to next 2 rounds.

4. Capital Allocation Alternative

If this dollar wasn't spent here, where else could it go and what's the expected return?

  • Three alternatives: hiring, product, marketing.
  • Make the opportunity cost explicit.

5. Revenue Quality

What's the gross margin, and how does it trend at scale?

  • If margin compresses with scale, the model is broken.
  • Cost-of-revenue should grow slower than revenue.

6. Bear Case Survival

If revenue is 50% of plan, does the company survive 18 months?

  • Default-alive is non-negotiable.
  • If not, identify the cut triggers in advance.

Workflow

  1. Run the numbers:
    python ../../../skills/cfo-advisor/scripts/burn_rate_calculator.py
    python ../../../skills/cfo-advisor/scripts/unit_economics_analyzer.py
    python ../../../skills/cfo-advisor/scripts/fundraising_model.py
    
  2. Answer all six questions with numbers, not adjectives.
  3. Apply the verdict:
    • ๐ŸŸข GREEN โ€” fund it
    • ๐ŸŸก YELLOW โ€” fund with cut triggers
    • ๐Ÿ”ด RED โ€” kill or revise

Output Format

# CFO Review: <plan>
**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
**Reviewer:** cs-cfo-advisor

## Numbers
- Burn multiple: X.Xx
- Runway (base/bull/bear): X / X / X months
- LTV/CAC top channel: X.Xx, payback Y months
- Gross margin: X% (trend: Y)
- Dilution this round: X%
- Bear-case survival: PASS / FAIL

## Verdict
๐ŸŸข GREEN | ๐ŸŸก YELLOW | ๐Ÿ”ด RED

## Conditions (if YELLOW)
- Cut trigger: <metric> < <threshold> โ†’ <action>
- Review checkpoint: <date>

## Recommendation
[3 concrete next steps]

Routing

  • /cs:decide โ€” log the verdict
  • /cs:execute โ€” build 90-day plan if GREEN
  • /cs:boardroom โ€” escalate if multi-role implications

Related


Version: 1.0.0

Info
Name cfo-review
Version v20260612
Size 3.18KB
Updated At 2026-06-13
Language