Closed beta · 20 design partners · public launch June 2026

The AI CFO your
small business can actually afford

Cash flow, planning, reporting and 30+ integrations — for $149/mo, not $5,000.

The AI alternative to a virtual or fractional CFO.

You're on the list.

You're on the list. Watch for a founder update soon.

53 / 100 spots left at $49/mo

$4.7Bvirtual CFO market
30+integrations at launch
SOC 2in progress
EU + USdata residency

What our 20 design partners
actually say

★★★★★ 4.8 / 5 · 20 founders in closed beta · 6 weeks live
"

Look, I'm not the finance person — that's why I had a fractional CFO at $4K/mo with 3-day response times. [thing.] caught a project that was actually losing us money in the first week, my CFO had been telling me it was fine. I cancelled the contract. Controversial maybe, but my cash is healthier than it's been in years and I sleep better.

SH
Sona H.
Founder · creative agency, 8 people
● Live user
"

Connected my systems in like 8 minutes. The AI immediately flagged that our channel margin was off because returns weren't being categorised right. That one fix added $2,400/mo to our actual margin. For $99 I'd have paid five grand to a consultant just to find that out.

AM
Aram M.
Founder · DTC e-commerce
● Live user
"

Honest review since you asked: it's beta and there's bugs. The integrations setup tripped me up and I had to email Gohar twice. She answered in under 20 minutes both times and the actual product? Smarter than the last fractional CFO I had — and I've had three. That's the truth.

DA
David A.
Ops lead · agency, 22 people
Beta · Wk 4

Ask a finance question.
Get a CFO-grade answer.

Real product, real data, no demo magic. Below is a snapshot from the closed beta.

app.startthing.com / dashboard

Cash flow · last 90 days

Runway: 14 months
Cash
$612K
+ $48K MoM
MRR
$74.3K
+ 6.4%
Burn
$42K
+ 2.1%
Cash trajectory
[thing.] AI
You can hire 3 senior engineers at $9K/mo and stay above 12 months runway, but only if MRR grows by $8.5K by August. Want me to model a delayed third hire?

Hiring a CFO is broken
for small business

Most SMBs can't afford a full-time CFO. Fractional is expensive, inconsistent, and always working from last month's data. We rebuilt the job in software.

Without [thing.]
$3K–$8K/mo
~ $60K/year average
  • Available 4–8 hours a week
  • Works from last month's exports
  • Goes on holiday — no cover
  • Minimum 3-month retainer
  • Onboarding takes weeks
  • Walks away when bigger client appears
With [thing.]
$99/mo
Save $35K–$95K/year
  • Always on — 24/7 live data
  • Connects to real-time accounts
  • No holidays, no downtime
  • Cancel anytime, no retainer
  • Onboards in 12 minutes
  • + /experts for the 20% AI doesn't cover

The category is being created in real time

In March 2026, Mastercard launched its Virtual C-Suite — putting "virtual CFO for SMB" in front of every Fortune-listed publication. The vocabulary went mainstream in a week.

The opportunity for an independent, AI-native, SMB-owned alternative is open for the next 6 months. Bank-distributed C-suite tools default to the bank's customers. We don't.

"The fastest-growing category in business software right now is the one that didn't exist 18 months ago: AI agents that do the job, not just summarize the data." — Industry analyst, April 2026

Five jobs of a CFO,
automated

Not a chatbot wrapper. A system that ingests your real financial data, models your business, and tells you what to do next.

01
Cash Flow Forecasting

Live 90-day runway forecasts based on your actual transaction data. Get alerts before cash gets tight — not after.

02
Budget vs Actuals

Set targets, track variance, and know exactly where you're over or under — automatically updated every day.

03
Financial Reporting

Board-ready balance sheet, and cash flow statements generated in seconds. Share with investors, accountants, or lenders.

04
30+ Integrations

Xero, QuickBooks, Stripe, Plaid, Shopify, Gusto and 24 more. Setup takes minutes — no spreadsheet imports, ever.

05
Financial Chat

Ask anything in plain English. "What's burning the most cash?" or "Can I afford to hire in Q3?" — answered instantly with the math shown.

06
Scenario Planning

Model hires, price changes, fundraises, and what-ifs in seconds. See the cash impact before you commit.

The KPIs your business
actually runs on

Industry-aware dashboards, benchmarks, and templates from day one.

SaaS

MRR, ARR, churn, runway, LTV/CAC, board-ready reports.

Agencies

Billable utilization, project profitability, retainer health.

E-commerce

Shopify + Stripe COGS, channel margin, order economics.

Restaurants

Daily cash position, food cost variance, prime-cost ratio.

Construction

Job costing, AR aging, retention tracking.

Professional services

Utilization vs realization, time-to-cash, billing.

Plugs into what
you already use

Setup takes minutes. We pull data, you stop pulling spreadsheets.

Xero QuickBooks Stripe Plaid HubSpot Mercury Brex Ramp Wise Revolut Shopify Gusto Rippling Notion Slack + 15 more

When AI isn't enough,
a human is one click away

For the 20% of finance work that genuinely needs a human, we vet and connect you to fractional CFOs on demand.

Live at public launch · June 2026

The honest part of "AI alternative"

Software handles 80% of CFO work better than any human — cash flow, KPIs, scenarios, reporting. But there are situations where a human is still the right answer.

  • Fundraising prep and due-diligence binders
  • M&A negotiation and integration accounting
  • Cross-border tax structuring
  • Equity restructuring and 409A coordination
  • Audit support beyond data extraction

For all of those, you'll find a vetted, hourly fractional CFO inside the app — no retainer, no minimum, no awkward referrals. They see your data with one click of read-only access.

Where we are
right now

Building in public. Subscribers get founder updates every two weeks.

NOW · APR 2026
Closed beta
20 design partners on Xero + Stripe. AI chat, cash flow, reporting in production.
JUN 2026
Public launch
Full 30+ integration roster. Three tiers: Starter / Growth / Scale. Early access for the waitlist.
JUN 2026
/experts marketplace launches
Vetted fractional CFOs available on demand from day one. Hand off the 20% AI doesn't cover seamlessly — no retainer, no minimum.
Q3 2026
Scenario planning v2
Multi-scenario modelling, hiring forecasts, fundraising runway analysis, investor reporting.
Q4 2026
International + multi-entity
Spanish + EU expansion, multi-currency consolidations, advanced compliance reporting.

Why we're building this

G
M

For ten years between us, we watched small businesses go under because they couldn't see what was happening to their cash until it was too late. The financial intelligence that lets a Fortune 500 company make decisions in real time is locked behind $5K/month consultants and seven-figure ERPs.

That math doesn't work for a 10-person business. But the technology to fix it finally exists. So we're building it — together.

Gohar & Mane
Co-founders, [thing.] · Yerevan, Armenia

Quick answers

An AI CFO is software that performs the core duties of a Chief Financial Officer — cash flow forecasting, budgeting, scenario planning, monthly reporting, KPI tracking — without you hiring a human. [thing.] is the AI CFO for small and medium business: $149/mo instead of the $3,000–$8,000 a fractional CFO charges.

A fractional CFO is a part-time consultant — typically $3K–$8K/month for 4–8 hours of attention per week. They go on holiday. They have bigger clients. They work from last month's exports. [thing.] is software: always on, always connected to live data, no hourly billing, no availability gaps. For the 20% of situations that genuinely need a human (M&A, board prep, fundraising), the /experts network connects you to vetted fractional CFOs on demand.

Public launch is June 2026. We're currently in closed beta with 20 design partners on Xero + Stripe. Waitlist members receive founder updates every two weeks and the first 100 lock in $49/month for life — half the public price.

30+ integrations at launch including Xero, QuickBooks, Stripe, Plaid, HubSpot, Mercury, Brex, Ramp, Wise, Revolut Business, Shopify, Gusto, Rippling, Notion and Slack. Currently live on Xero and Stripe in beta. Waitlist members can vote on integration priority.

Yes. AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit, read-only API connections wherever possible. EU + US data residency options so your data never leaves your jurisdiction. SOC 2 Type II audit in progress for Q3 2026. We never sell or share your financial data.

Yes. [thing.] replaces the strategic / advisory layer of a CFO, not the bookkeeping or tax-filing layer of an accountant. We integrate with Xero and QuickBooks rather than replace them, and the cleaner your books, the sharper our forecasts. For tax filing, you still need your accountant or a service like Pilot.

Sweet spot is 5–50 employees doing $250K–$15M in annual revenue. Below 5 people, a spreadsheet still works. Above $25M, a full-time controller plus [thing.] is the configuration. Industry-agnostic, but our SaaS, agency, e-commerce and professional-services dashboards are the most polished.

Yes, anytime, in CSV or JSON, no export fees, no lock-in. Cancel from inside the app, your data is downloadable for 90 days after cancellation. We're operating on the assumption that the best retention is no retention pressure.

Yes. The first 100 waitlist subscribers lock in $49/month for life — half the public $149 price. Subscribers 101–500 get 6 months at $49/mo, then standard pricing. Refer 3 friends and you skip the line, regardless of where you joined.

[thing.] is coming.
Be there when it ships.

Founder updates every two weeks. Early access in June. $49/mo for life, for the first 100.

You're on the list. Watch for a founder update soon.

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