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A fractional CFO for CPG brands, without the full-time hire
You’ve outgrown "the books are done." The decisions in front of you, what to price, when to raise, whether you can fund the next retailer PO, need a financial leader who understands consumer goods. We embed a fractional CFO in your business to answer exactly those questions, at a fraction of a full-time cost.
$158M+ in CPG revenue under management, in the CFO seat at your inflection point
The problem
Clean books tell you what happened. They don’t tell you what to do next.
They won't tell you whether you can say yes to the 500-store order, what your real CAC-to-margin math looks like by channel, or how much runway you have once inventory eats your cash for 120 days. That's CFO work, and most founders end up making seven-figure decisions off gut and a spreadsheet, right when the cost of getting it wrong gets steep. A full-time CFO is $200K+ and overkill at your stage, so the seat sits empty and the founder carries it.
What a Thryve fractional CFO does
Financial leadership, built for consumer goods
A senior finance operator embedded in your business, focused on the decisions that actually move cash and margin.
Cash-flow forecasting through the inventory cycle
A rolling 13-week cash forecast that models the 90-to-180-day gap between paying your co-packer and collecting on Net 60 retailer terms. You see the crunch before it hits and you know whether the next production run is fundable.
Unit economics and margin by SKU and channel
True contribution margin by SKU and by channel. DTC, Amazon, wholesale, distributor, and retail each carry different fees, freight, and trade spend. We build the channel P&L so pricing and mix decisions run on real numbers, not a blended average.
Trade spend, deductions, and gross-to-net
Promotions, slotting fees, off-invoice allowances, MCBs, and retailer deductions and chargebacks all sit between list price and the cash that lands. We track the gross-to-net waterfall by retailer so you know real net revenue, which deductions to dispute, and what a promo actually costs.
Co-packer, 3PL, and landed COGS
Ingredients, packaging, co-packer tolling, inbound freight, duties, and 3PL fulfillment roll into a landed cost per unit. We keep COGS clean across every location and vendor so gross margin is a number you can defend to a buyer or a board.
Fundraising and investor readiness
The model, the metrics, and the data room that get you through diligence, plus a founder who can defend every number in the room.
Retailer and expansion decisions
Whether a PO is fundable, what slotting and trade spend do to first-year margin, how distributor margin stacks on top of retailer margin, and how much working capital the ramp consumes before velocity pays it back.
Cash conversion cycle and working capital
Days of inventory, days to collect on retailer and distributor terms, and days you take to pay suppliers. We measure the cash conversion cycle every month and work the levers: payment terms, MOQs, inventory turns, and PO or inventory financing when it makes sense.
Board and investor reporting
Monthly reporting that explains what happened, what is likely next, and what you should decide. The kind of package that makes investors want to keep backing the operator.
Ongoing partner, not a one-off
A fractional CFO builds on clean CPG accounting, then goes further. It isn't a project; it's a seat. We sit alongside you month over month as decisions get bigger: pricing, hiring, raises, new channels. You get senior financial judgment on call, and it scales up or down with what the business needs.
Have a one-time push instead, a raise, an exit, a turnaround? That’s our CPG advisory work.
Thryve is based in McKinney, Texas, and works with consumer brands across the country.
Who it's for
Founder-led CPG brands from $1M to $50M in revenue.
Scaling into retail, raising a round, or feeling the decisions outpace the spreadsheet. Snack, beverage and alcohol, better-for-you food, supplements, personal care, apparel, household. DTC, retail, wholesale, or all three. Based in McKinney, Texas, working with founders nationwide.
Why CPG finance is different
Growth eats cash before it pays you back
Consumer brands can be profitable on paper and broke in the bank. Two mechanics explain almost all of it, and a fractional CFO who has run CPG finance manages both every month.
The cash gap is the business
You pay for ingredients, packaging, and a co-packer run months before a retailer pays you. Add Net 60 terms, a distributor in the middle, and a 3PL holding inventory, and the cash conversion cycle can run 120 to 180 days. Every new door you open widens it.
That is why a brand growing 60 percent a year can run out of money while showing a profit. The forecast has to model inventory buys, production deposits, receivables by customer, and payables to suppliers as one system, then tell you how much capital the next twelve months of growth requires and where it comes from.
Revenue is not what the PO says
Between the list price on a purchase order and the cash that lands sit trade promotions, slotting fees, off-invoice allowances, scan-backs, freight allowances, distributor margin, and a steady stream of deductions and chargebacks. Trade spend is often the second-largest line on a CPG income statement after COGS, and it is the one most brands cannot see.
We build the gross-to-net waterfall by retailer and by promotion so you know what a program actually returned, which deductions are wrong and worth disputing, and what your real margin looks like on the shelf versus online. Pricing, promo calendars, and channel mix get decided on that number.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
A bookkeeper records what happened; a controller keeps it accurate and on time; a fractional CFO helps you decide what to do next, forecasting, pricing, cash flow, and fundraising. We provide all three and scale the mix as you grow.
Usually around the point where inventory and channel complexity outgrow DIY finance, or when a raise, a big retailer launch, or a cash crunch is on the horizon. If seven-figure decisions are riding on a spreadsheet, it's time. A common trigger is growth that starts consuming more cash than the business makes, which we explain in Cash Conversion Cycle for CPG: Why Growth Eats Cash.
A full-time CFO is typically $200K+ all-in. A fractional CFO gives you senior financial leadership for the hours you actually need, at a fraction of that. Exact scope drives the number, a consultation gets you a real one.
Yes. Model, metrics, data room, and diligence prep, plus getting you ready to defend the numbers in investor meetings.
Yes. We set up trade spend tracking by retailer and by promotion, reconcile deductions and chargebacks against remittances, flag what to dispute, and report gross-to-net every month so you see actual net revenue instead of invoice totals.
We walk through every line of it, with a worked $100 example, in What Is Gross-to-Net in CPG? The Waterfall, Line by Line.
We build a landed cost per unit that includes ingredients, packaging, tolling, freight, and duties, reconcile inventory across every location monthly, and tie COGS to what actually shipped. Gross margin stops being a guess and becomes a number a buyer or investor can verify.
Yes. Thryve is based in McKinney, Texas, in the Dallas Fort Worth area, and most of our CPG clients are elsewhere in the country. The work is remote, built around a monthly close and a standing CFO cadence.
A fractional CFO is an ongoing seat: forecasting, reporting, and decision support month after month. CPG advisory is project-based work for a defining moment such as fundraising prep, exit readiness, or a pricing overhaul. Many brands start with a project and move into the seat.
Look for five things: fluency in gross-to-net, someone who actually reconciles your deductions, a weekly cash forecast, advice built on a clean monthly close, and a fit for your revenue stage. We compare the main firms, including where Thryve fits and where it does not, in Best Fractional CFO Firms for CPG Brands (2026).
Let's talk about the decisions in front of you.
Book a free consultation and we'll map where a fractional CFO moves the needle, or start with a $399 QuickBooks Health Check to get the books decision-ready first.