Accounting Early Is a Power Move, Not a Buzzkill
Accounting!!! We don't need this right now. We will get to it, when we get to it. Right now, I have so many customers waiting to onboard... we will get to it when it is necessary."
This is what a successful founder told me a couple of months ago. He had just completed a Series A fundraising round and was pumped by all the hype he was receiving on social media.
I've been seeing numerous startup funding celebrations over the past couple of months. And with AI at the center, it has been frantic and exciting.
I’ve reviewed multiple early-stage startup financials—and if I had a dollar for every “miscoded Stripe payout,” I’d have enough to fund my daughters’ entire soccer season (tournaments and all).
Let’s be honest:
-The first year of accounting at a startup is usually... creatively interpreted.
Bank balance = revenue. Yes, a founder told me that their fundraising should be categorized as revenue 😜 .
-Cap table = spreadsheet somewhere in someone’s inbox. Another team of founders did not establish their equity base for their founder shares.
-Equity comp = “We’ll figure that out later, right?” Employees are onboarded with ghost stock grants, and somehow, these grants will magically get approved and tracked.
Founders are brilliant at building products, rallying investors, and pitching visions. But no one teaches them accounting.
And here’s the thing—they shouldn’t have to. That’s where accounting leaders come in. Not just to clean up the mess, but to build systems that scale, ask the right questions, and teach financial discipline without shame. You can raise on an operating model and Notion whitepaper but you cannot manage your accounting operations on that same spreadsheet.
If you’re an early-stage founder or the first finance hire, here’s what I’d tell you to do first:
1. Get yourself an accountant early.
2. Map your chart of accounts to your product journey.
3. Don’t just copy a template—design for how your revenue flows, how your customers pay, and how your business grows. Accounting should tell your story.
4. Separate cash from revenue.
5. That $10K in Stripe is not ARR. Deferred revenue is real, and ASC 606 will humble even the boldest seed-stage team.
6. Again, hire early and hire well.
7. Whether it’s a fractional CFO/Controller, a Startup CPA, or a full-time Finance Manager, bring someone who can set a strong foundation. You need operational know-how and not reporting fakeness.
I’ve seen what happens when accounting is an afterthought—and I’ve also seen the magic when it’s embedded early.
Let’s stop thinking of your first accountant as a “clean-up crew” and start seeing it as a strategic function from day one.
I am back with more Accounting Startup wisdom. Follow me so I can stay motivated to do this LinkedIn thing. 😉
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