Founders usually have a fundraise plan. What they can’t always control is when investors decide to move. A warm intro heats up, a partner meeting gets pulled forward, or interest spikes unexpectedly. Suddenly you need a clean financial story in less than two days.
Tristan Kemitzis, a fractional CFO who has worked with more than 30 early stage companies including Babylon Biosciences, Pave, Cato, and Inversa, specializes in exactly these moments. He works with Haven because clean books and fast responses make a 48 hour sprint realistic instead of hopeless.
This is how founders get investor ready without losing a week of sleep.
Why Last Minute Fundraise Prep Happens
Early stage fundraising is rarely a slow, linear process. It’s a mix of momentum, timing, and luck. The window opens fast and closes just as quickly. Investors want clarity immediately. If you can’t provide it, they move on.
A rushed prep doesn’t have to be sloppy. With the right workflow, it can actually be sharper because it forces you to strip away noise and focus on the financial signals that matter.
Start With the Truth in Your Books
A 48 hour sprint always begins with the same step. Confirm your actuals. You cannot build a story on numbers you aren’t sure about.
This means:
last month’s books fully closed
revenue is recognized correctly
burn and runway are calculated on accrual
expenses are categorized cleanly
payroll and headcount is up to date
Haven handles this in real time so Tristan never wastes the first day cleaning up surprises.
Pull the Metrics Investors Check First
In a short timeline, you can’t build everything. You just need the essentials. Tristan focuses on the metrics that shape the first five minutes of any investor conversation.
These include:
monthly revenue
burn and runway
customer growth
gross margin
unit economics
use of funds logic
headcount plan
Investors form their opinion quickly. These numbers make or break the impression.
Build the Financial Story That Matches Reality
A rushed fundraise is not about making your numbers look better. It’s about making your numbers make sense. Tristan maps the story to the actual past, the believable present, and the defensible future.
He focuses on:
how growth has behaved over time
where customers come from
how margins trend as you scale
what the next 12 to 18 months look like
which assumptions need to be stress tested
No founder wants a partner meeting where the first question is “why does this number not match your accounting file.” Clean books from Haven eliminate that risk.
Run Scenarios While You Still Have Time
Even in a 48 hour window, investors expect to see alternative paths. Not 20 scenarios. Just two or three that prove you’ve pressure tested reality.
Common ones include:
slower sales
higher costs
delayed enterprise deals
losing a whale client
These scenarios show how much runway you truly control and what levers you would pull if the plan shifts.
Translate Complexity Into Something Founders Can Explain
The point of a model is not to impress investors. It’s to help the founder communicate with confidence. Tristan builds visual models that show the story in charts and summaries instead of deep spreadsheets.
Founders who don’t love spreadsheets can still walk investors through:
revenue behavior
burn trends
hiring logic
cash flow
Milestones
A strong model is one the founder can explain without notes.
Package Everything for Investor Speed
In a 48 hour sprint, presentation matters. Investors skim first and dig later. Your package needs to be frictionless.
That means:
one clean financial summary
one model that isn’t overbuilt
a clear use of funds section
metrics that match the deck
no contradictions across materials
If a number appears in your pitch, it must appear the same way in your accounting file. Haven prevents inconsistencies. Tristan prevents narrative gaps.
Quick Wins
A few moves that can save a rushed fundraise:
switch revenue to accrual before building the model
export a clean burn and runway view
segment customers into SMB and enterprise
map hires to milestones instead of titles
break out prepaid cash vs earned revenue
Common Mistakes to Avoid
treating cash collected as revenue
showing burn based on bank balance
building a model the founder can’t explain
leaving AR and AP timing out of runway
presenting numbers that conflict across files
Bottom Line
A 48 hour fundraise sprint doesn’t have to be complete chaos. It just needs clean books and a story that reflects how your business actually works. Haven keeps the foundation accurate. Tristan turns it into a narrative investors trust. Together, they give founders the clarity they need to move fast when the window opens.
Learn more about Tristan and his work as a fractional CFO helping early founders here https://www.kemitzisconsulting.com/.