A CFO for D2C and e-commerce brands that want growth to earn its keep.
Contribution margin by channel after ads, returns, shipping and marketplace fees. Settlements reconciled to the rupee. Inventory bought against a cash plan, not a sales dream. Fractional CFO services for Indian D2C brands and marketplace sellers between ₹5 and 200 crore of revenue.
Revenue that grows 60% a year and a bank balance that does not.
D2C brands produce more numbers than any other business type and understand fewer of them. Revenue is spread across Shopify, Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Nykaa and quick-commerce. Each channel has its own fees, return rates, settlement cycles and ad spend. Returns and RTO quietly take 15–30% of what was booked as sales. Inventory is bought three months ahead on a forecast built by the marketing team.
The result is a familiar pattern: topline growth, a healthy blended gross margin on the deck, and a cash runway that keeps shortening. Investors see it before the founder does. The fix is not a better dashboard. It is contribution margin computed correctly, by channel and by SKU, and a cash plan that the growth budget has to fit inside.
We work with brands that have found product-market fit and need finance to catch up: bootstrapped brands preparing for a first raise, funded brands between rounds, and marketplace sellers moving to their own site.
Signs this is your brand
- Gross margin looks fine but the bank balance keeps falling
- Marketplace settlements are not reconciled to orders, returns and fees
- Nobody can say CM2 by channel for last month
- Inventory was bought for a festive season that under-delivered
- Investors have asked for cohort and unit economics you cannot produce
What a D2C CFO actually does.
- 01
Contribution margin that survives scrutiny
CM1 after product cost and packaging, CM2 after shipping, returns, RTO, payment gateway and marketplace fees, CM3 after performance marketing. By channel, by SKU, monthly. The ad budget is then set where CM3 is positive, not where ROAS looks best in the ad platform.
- 02
Marketplace and gateway reconciliation
Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and gateway settlements reconciled to orders, returns, fees and TCS. Short-payments and wrongly charged fees are claimed. GST across states, TCS credits and the e-commerce operator rules are handled so the compliance does not become the cash leak.
- 03
Inventory as a cash decision
Open-to-buy limits by category, sell-through tracking, markdown rules for slow SKUs and a purchase plan that fits the 13-week cash forecast. Stock bought on data, with the supplier terms negotiated to match the sell-through.
- 04
Investor-grade reporting
A monthly board pack with cohorts, repeat rates, CAC and payback, contribution waterfall and runway. A driver-based model the investor can recompute. Fundraising support is India-only and works alongside your legal counsel.
Numbers the founder, the board and the bank can all use.
Concrete deliverables, owned by named people, on a fixed monthly fee.
Every month
- Contribution waterfall by channel and SKU
- Settlement reconciliation with claims raised
- 13-week cash forecast and runway
- Inventory, sell-through and open-to-buy report
- Board or investor pack and review
Set up once
- Chart of accounts by channel and cost line
- Returns and RTO accounting policy
- Marketing budget rule tied to CM3
- Data room and diligence readiness
- Working-capital line against receivables and stock
What brands typically see.
Shown as ranges across comparable, anonymised engagements. Your numbers depend on your starting point.
Ranges from comparable anonymised engagements, including a funded D2C brand among our representative engagements.
CFO for D2C brands: common questions
We use Shopify, Unicommerce and Zoho or Tally. Do you need a new system?
Usually not. The margin and reconciliation work runs on exports from the channels and the order-management system, with the ledger as the anchor. If the brand is past ₹50 crore and still reconciling in spreadsheets, we recommend a proper finance stack, and our ERP advisory handles that selection.
Can you work with our performance marketing agency?
Yes. The agency optimises for ROAS; we give them the CM3 floor by channel and SKU below which a sale is not worth having. Most agencies welcome it, because it ends the monthly argument about whether the spend worked.
Do you help raise the round?
For India-based brands, yes: the model, the metrics, the data room and the diligence process, alongside your lawyers and bankers. For brands outside India we prepare investor reporting and support diligence but do not act as fundraising advisers.
What size of brand is this for?
From roughly ₹5 crore of annual revenue, where channel economics start to matter, up to ₹200 crore, where a full-time CFO becomes justified. Engagements are monthly retainers of two to four days.
See your real contribution margin by channel.
Book a 30-minute strategy call. Share last month's channel sales, returns and ad spend and we will show you the contribution waterfall the way an investor would compute it.