How It Began

A Spreadsheet, Left Open After Midnight

Marlstone started the way most practices do — with a founder across a table, pointing at a number they could not sleep next to. Payroll in nine days. A model that said two things at once.

We opened the file. We did not promise the number would change. We promised they would stop guessing at it.

Finance, when it is done well,
is not a verdict delivered late.
It is a lamp lit early —
so the room is visible while there is still time to move in it.

That hour became a method. The method became the practice you are reading about now.

Screenprint of a desk lamp lit over an open ledger late at night

What We Hold To

We will never dress a number to be easier to hear. The kindness is in the clarity — early, honest, and yours to keep.

The Marlstone practice

The Four We Keep

Principles, Not Slogans

01

Early Beats Perfect

A forecast delivered Tuesday is worth more than a flawless one delivered after the decision. We ship the readable draft, then refine it in the open.

Light, before the stumble.

02

Your Numbers, Not A Template

Every model is built on your actuals — your billing cadence, your churn, your real cost lines. We do not pour a startup into someone else's spreadsheet.

Tailored to the water you sail.

03

One Clear Page

A board report that needs explaining has failed. We draft the single page that moves the room — the metrics that matter, said plainly, before the meeting.

Say it so it needs no footnote.

04

No Rope Tied To The Dock

Engagements run month to month. Thirty days' notice and the models, files, and working papers leave with you. Good work keeps clients, not contracts.

Stay because it serves you.

At The Table

Screenprint portrait of Marlstone's founding CFO reviewing a model

Mixed By The Same Hands, Every Month

Marlstone is a small practice on purpose. The person who reads your forecast is the person who sits in your board meeting — the numbers never change hands between a pitch and the work.

Fifteen years inside growth-stage finance, from seed decks to Series B rooms, across SaaS, hardware, and clinics. Enough closes to know a model investors can lean on from one they'll walk away from.

We keep hours in Silver Springs, work the numbers wherever your company sits, and answer to the same thing you do — a runway that holds.

Based: Silver Springs, FL
Focus: Seed – Series B
Billing: Per engagement

The Engagements

Priced By The Work, Not The Payroll

Three ways to bring a CFO alongside. Each runs month to month, actuals in, board-ready out.

Entry

The Forecast

$2,850 / month

For founders who need the water line.

13-week cash-flow forecast
Monthly reconciliation review
One working session a month

Start with the Forecast

Most picked

Core

The Climb

$5,400 / month

A seat at the table, every month.

Everything in the Forecast
Monthly board-ready report pack
Fundraising model, kept current
Two sessions a month

Book the Climb

Per raise

The Raise

$9,200 / engagement

From first deck to the day it closes.

Full fundraising model + scenarios
Data room assembly & review
Investor-ready metrics narrative
Through close, however long it runs

Open a Raise

Begin

A First Conversation Costs Nothing But An Hour

Tell us where the money sits and where it's heading. We'll read it back to you — plainly — within the week.

Email the practice Call (352) 207-4796