Your CPA files taxes. Your bookkeeper records last month. Who is looking forward with you?
Get a fractional CFO who traces the money five drivers down, finds what's hiding in your own business, and builds the financial operating system that lets you see further. All for one flat monthly fee.
Schedule a Right Fit CallDoes this sound like you?
You see what happened but you can not see what is coming. You have the reports and you do not know what to do with them. Your accountant sends financials months late, and by then the money already leaked.
Growth was supposed to fix the money problem. It did not. The business is doing more than ever and you are still not keeping what it should be producing. You need to grow to hire, but you need to hire to grow.
You are making decisions worth tens of thousands of dollars alone. Should you hire? Should you raise prices? Should you expand? There is nothing in front of you to tell you if it is the right move.
You know the business has more in it. You just can not see where the money is hiding or what lever to pull next.
You're an expert at your craft. You're not an expert at running the financial side of a business. Nobody taught you that part.
So six figures hides in your P&L every year, one layer below where anyone is looking. In the COGS detail. In the cash-vs-accrual gap. In the timing of payroll and AR.
That's the margin. And most operators never find it.
What's a fractional CFO?
A CFO's job is to guide a business toward more profit, more cash flow, and better decisions. A fractional CFO does the same thing, but for businesses that do not need or can not afford a full-time hire at $200K+ per year.
You get the strategic financial brain without the full-time salary. Monthly working sessions. A live forecast. A KPI dashboard that actually means something. And a 30-day action plan after every session.
One flat fee per month with no hourly billing and no surprises.
Your bookkeeper records what happened. Your CFO tells you what to do about it.
Your CPA files the return. Your CFO makes sure the numbers on that return are as good as they can be.
A coach gives you frameworks. Your CFO gives you the actual numbers and tells you exactly where the money is.
What your CFO will do for you.
Every month, you get three things that transform how you operate.
A Scoreboard
Track your profit and cash flow every month. See the 3 to 5 KPIs that actually move your business. Know exactly where you stand, updated weekly.
An Action Plan
After every monthly session, you leave with a prioritized 30-day action plan. What to do, in what order, with dollar amounts attached to each move.
A Financial Guide
Between calls, you have a CFO in your corner. When an urgent decision hits, we model it in the forecast within 24 hours and come back with a recommendation.
What makes Margin Theory different.
We go five drivers down.
Most fractional CFOs stop at "COGS is too high" or "labor is creeping up." Margin Theory keeps going. Which line? Which SKU? Which shift? Which person? That's where the real money is.
We understand the whole machine.
Unlike an accountant who sees the financials, or a coach who sees the strategy, we see both. We connect the operational decisions to their financial impact in real time.
Flat fee. No hourly billing.
You should never hesitate to call your CFO because a clock is running. One flat monthly fee. Use us as much as you need.
"Just having a better understanding of the numbers boosts confidence."
Andrew Rincon, CraigO's Lakeway
Met monthly, tracked the numbers, and went from losing money to 13.3% profit in one year.
Real operators. Real results.
Monthly reviews and clear targets. Revenue grew $2M in one year.
Went from losing money to 13.3% profit in one year through monthly sessions and clear targets.
Tracked labor every month and held the line. Costs dropped $528K in three quarters.
Two phases. One clear path.
Phase 1 makes the machine visible. Phase 2 reads the machine together, every month, and finds the money hiding five drivers down.
P1 First 30 Days: Visibility and Targets
Financial Assessment
Books, P&L, balance sheet, cash position, AR, AP, payroll timing. We find where the business is right now and which drivers are moving the numbers.
Annual Profit & Cash Targets
Clear targets set in the first 30 days so you know what winning looks like. Grounded in actual operating economics, not wishful thinking.
Annual Rolling Budget
A budget built around your business so every dollar has a plan.
KPI Dashboard
A simple monthly scoreboard tied to the 3 to 5 numbers that actually move the business.
12-Month Rolling Cash Forecast
Week-by-week cash position for the next 12 months, updated monthly. Tight weeks and cushion weeks, color coded.
3 Opportunities, Dollar-Sized
At least three specific ways to improve financial performance, each with an estimated dollar impact you can act on this quarter.
P2 Every Month After: Decision Discipline
Monthly CFO Working Session
Review actuals vs. targets, identify the month's main constraint, and build a 30-day action plan with owners and deadlines.
Cash Flow Planning
We plan cash month by month so payroll Friday is never a surprise.
Main Constraint Identification
Every month we find the one thing holding your profit or cash back.
Hiring & Pricing Support
Before you hire or change what you charge, we model the financial impact so you move with confidence.
Overhead Reduction Planning
We find what you are spending that is not earning its keep and build a plan to cut it.
Between-Session Access
Direct access to Jake when hiring, pricing, or spending decisions come up between calls.
Strategic CFO Advisory
Get long-range visibility into cash, 5 to 15 points of margin improvement across pricing, costs, and revenue, and a partner that pressure-tests every major move before you make it. All without adding headcount.
20% the cost of a full-time CFO.
The work produces results or we do not get paid.
If we do not find at least 3 specific ways to improve your profit or cash in the first 90 days, we work the next month free.
To qualify, client must attend monthly sessions, be transparent about the business, and follow through on commitments.
Jake Erickson
Fractional CFO for owner-operator businesses doing $1M to $20M. Jake built the Margin Theory method by sitting across the table from operators every month, finding the money hiding in their business, and building the systems that keep it visible.
The results that built the brand: $2.05M in revenue growth at The Guest House Austin. A 16.3% profit turnaround at CraigO's Lakeway. $528K in cost reduction at Guest House Las Vegas. All from monthly reviews, clear targets, and decision discipline.
Margin Theory exists because every business between $1M and $20M produces the data it needs to double its performance. The answers are already inside. Someone has to be willing to trace them five drivers down.
Help 10,000 owner-operators find the margin hiding in their own business. Increase profitability by 20%. Provide financial clarity every single month. Give founders back 100+ hours a year they are currently spending worrying about cash.
Specializing in $1M to $20M owner-operator businesses
Here is what happens next.
Right Fit Call
30 minutes. We look at your financials together and identify the 2 to 3 biggest problems.
Sign and Onboard
We sign the agreement and send the onboarding doc to schedule your kickoff call.
Targets Set
We set your annual targets and build your rolling budget in the first 30 days.
First Session
We run your first monthly session, review your scoreboard, and build your first 30-day action plan.
No pressure. No follow-up sequence. You will leave the call knowing exactly where your money is hiding, whether we work together or not.