The Virtual CFO opens January 1, 2027
Fractional CFO. We don't stop at the numbers.
Most owners run their business looking in the rearview mirror. Mare + Co. gives you a CFO's forward view every month, so you know which week is tight before it arrives and what to do next. Then we help your team do it.
On January 1 we open the Virtual CFO. Our platform reads your numbers every month, and the Mare + Co. CFO team reviews every report before it reaches you. Plans start at $199 a month.
The Virtual CFO at a glance
What it is, what you get, what it costs.
What it is
A CFO's monthly read of your numbers.
Every month our platform reads your P&L, balance sheet and operating data and compares them with businesses like yours. The Mare + Co. CFO team reviews every report, and a Mare + Co. CFO makes the calls with you.
What you get
A plain-language report every month.
Profit and loss analysis, variance analysis, a financial dashboard and a yearly industry benchmark, with the three items to review with your CFO, plus unlimited chat with the Mare CFO Agent. Higher plans add budget-to-actuals, cash forecasting, budgets, growth models and lender reporting.
What it costs
From $199 a month.
Three plans open January 1, at $199, $699 and $1,500 a month, with up to three hours a month with your Mare + Co. CFO team. No contract. Move up or down any time. A full-time CFO runs about $314,000 a year with the benefits in.
How you start
A free diagnostic.
About ten minutes of questions. Then your Financial Clarity Report: where you stand and a 90-day plan. Then the plan that fits. See how it works.
When owners call us
It usually starts with one tight week.
- 01Payroll is Friday, and the deposits haven't landed.
- 02The bank wants real financials before it says yes.
- 03Your finance person just gave notice.
- 04You want to hire or expand, and you can't tell if the numbers support it.
"The bank balance is the only number there is time for."
The week that stalls a business
68%
In a May 2026 survey of 781 U.S. owners, 68 percent said they had delayed or avoided a major decision, like hiring or expanding, in the past 12 months because of financial pressure.1 That week is when you want a CFO on your numbers.
Built for where you are
No clean books, no finance degree, no full-time salary.
If your numbers feel like a lot right now, you're in good company. We keep it simple, and it gets more useful every month.
Affordable.
Plans start at $199 a month. Month to month, no contract, and you can move up or down any time.
Start with what you have.
QuickBooks, spreadsheets, a folder of PDFs. Your books don't have to be clean first. Everything comes back in plain words, with the numbers shown.
Ask any time.
Unlimited chat with the Mare CFO Agent, our AI CFO chat. Ask about your own numbers whenever a question comes up. Why was last month tight? What does this line on my P&L mean?
Reviewed by our CFO team.
The platform does the analysis. A Mare + Co. CFO makes the decisions, and our CFO team reviews every report before it reaches you. Your bookkeeper and CPA keep their work. We turn it into decisions.
How it works
Three steps. Start with whatever you have.
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Step one · Free
A free diagnostic.
About ten minutes of questions. Our team reviews your score and top focus areas and emails them to you within one business day. No card, no call.
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Step two · Your 90-day plan
Your Financial Clarity Report.
Where your business stands and a 90-day plan, built from your own numbers. If it doesn't give you a clear picture and a plan you can act on, we'll refund it. If you stop there, the report and the plan are yours to keep.
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Step three · Month to month
A CFO every month.
Pick the plan that fits, from $199 a month, and move up or down any time. Stay because it's useful, not because of a contract.
Plans and prices
Three plans open January 1. Each step up adds more of a CFO's work and time.
No contract, and you can move up or down any time. Every report is reviewed by the Mare + Co. CFO team, and every plan includes unlimited chat with the Mare CFO Agent.
| Service | Insight$199 a month | Advisory$699 a month | CFO Partner$1,500 a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited chat with the Mare CFO Agent | |||
| Profit and loss analysis | |||
| Budget-to-actuals reporting | |||
| Monthly variance analysis | |||
| Financial dashboard | |||
| Industry benchmarking | |||
| Cash forecasting | 4 to 8 weeks | 13 weeks and 6 to 12 months | |
| Budget development | |||
| Growth modeling | |||
| Lender reporting | |||
| Time with your Mare + Co. CFO team each monthReal people, not the Mare CFO Agent | None | 1-hour team call | Up to 3 hours |
Coming later
Enterprise and Elite
For businesses with several locations or entities. Plans, prices and CFO time to be set.
Some reports depend on how your books are set up: profit by product line or department needs your numbers tracked that way, and budget-to-actuals needs a budget. The free diagnostic shows us what you have, and we start from there.
January 1, 2027
Get the free diagnostic the day it opens.
Leave your email. You'll get our monthly newsletter now, and the diagnostic link on January 1.
Questions before then? Book a 15-minute call.
Who's behind it
Led by a CFO who has also sat in the CEO chair.
Tina Sawtelle founded Mare + Co. after 25 years as a CFO and CEO. She leads the Virtual CFO.
$220 million
As a CFO, she led a 20-person finance team over $220 million in operating and capital budgets.
Deficit to surplus
At a college with about $70 million in annual expenditures, the team turned a $1 million annual deficit into a $150,000 to $300,000 surplus.
$4M to $13M
As President and CEO of a live venue, she and the team grew annual gross revenues from $4 million to $13 million.
The same steps at a $70 million college and a $4 million venue. The vocabulary changed. The discipline did not.
Your industry
Read the way your industry runs.
For owner-run businesses doing $500,000 to $10 million a year, with one to five locations. The Mare CFO Agent comes loaded with what matters in your industry, and once a year we put your numbers next to industry benchmarks. Your own numbers always come first.
- Restaurants and hospitality
- Prime cost, revenue per cover, labor and seasonal cash
- Live music and entertainment venues
- Ticket yield, guarantees and backend splits, settlement timing
- Architecture, engineering and project management firms
- Utilization and project margin
- Wellness studios
- Member retention, revenue per visit, class fill rate
- Powersports dealerships
- Floor plan turns, gross per unit, days to sale
- Construction companies
- Backlog and job margin
- HVAC, electrical and plumbing
- Backlog and job margin
- Boutique concierge services
- Utilization and client mix
- Small manufacturers
- Job costing and capacity
- Nonprofits
- Restricted funds, program cost and cash runway
Don't see your business here? We work from your own history and tell you plainly when a fair comparison isn't available yet.
How we compare
Two ways to work with Mare + Co., next to the cost of a full-time hire.
We offer the Virtual CFO and a Fractional CFO with Tina. We don't place full-time CFOs. That column is here so you can compare.
| Compare | Mare + Co.The Virtual CFO | Mare + Co.A Fractional CFO, with Tina | For comparison onlyA full-time CFO hire |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Your numbers read every month by our platform, with every report reviewed by the Mare + Co. CFO team | A senior CFO in the room, part time, as a partner to your leadership team | A CFO on your payroll, in the business every day |
| Best fit | $500,000 to $10 million a year, one to five locations | $1 million to $20 million a year | Companies that need a finance leader on staff every day |
| Building the fix | A separate project when the numbers call for it | Part of the work: plans, processes, dashboards, and AI employees where your team has gaps | Built by the CFO with the team and budget you give them |
| How you buy it | One of three monthly plans at launch, no contract | Scoped engagements, priced per engagement | Salary and benefits, plus recruiting |
| What it costs | $199 to $1,500 a month at launch, by plan | Sized to your business and quoted on a call | About $314,000 a year with the benefits in, starting from a $215,000 salary2 |
What a full-time CFO costs, per year
The Virtual CFO doesn't do everything a full-time CFO does. It covers the monthly read and the decisions most owners your size need. For board and investor reporting, a turnaround, a sale, or figuring out where AI solutions fit within your company, a Fractional CFO with Tina is the better fit.
What "we don't stop" means
Reports don't move numbers. Decisions do.
A good report tells you what to do. Then the gloves go on: the stretch between knowing it and getting it done with the team you already have. That's where I've spent most of my 25 years, in the room with the people doing the work, until the change stuck. It's why we don't stop at the numbers.
Tina Sawtelle, Founder and President
- OrganizeWe get the right data in one place. The books don't have to be clean first.
- ReadWe find what the numbers are saying: the tight week, the line that makes money, the one that doesn't.
- DecideWith you, we pick a few priorities. Not twenty.
- Build the game plan, and see where AI fitsA dashboard, a better process, or an AI employee doing a job nobody had time for.
- ImplementWe put it to work with the team you already have.
- WatchWe report back on what's working and what isn't, until the number moves.
Every Virtual CFO plan organizes your numbers, reads them and brings you the few decisions that matter. When the numbers point to a bigger fix, we build it with you as a separate project, from a dashboard to an AI Workshop for your leadership team. You can start on the Virtual CFO and add more as the business grows.
Questions
What owners ask about the Virtual CFO.
What is a virtual CFO?
A virtual CFO gives you a CFO's monthly read of your numbers without hiring one. At Mare + Co., our platform analyzes your financials every month, and the Mare + Co. CFO team reviews every report before it reaches you, so you know where the business stands and what to do next.
When does the Mare + Co. Virtual CFO open?
January 1, 2027. Join the list, and the link to the free diagnostic comes to your inbox the day it opens.
What does it cost?
Three plans open January 1, at $199, $699 and $1,500 a month, with no contract. Two larger plans, Enterprise and Elite, open after launch; their prices are still to be set. For comparison, a full-time CFO runs about $314,000 a year with the benefits in, starting from a $215,000 salary.
What do I get each month?
Every plan includes unlimited chat with the Mare CFO Agent, profit and loss analysis, monthly variance analysis, a financial dashboard and a yearly industry benchmark, each reviewed by the Mare + Co. CFO team. Advisory adds budget-to-actuals reporting and a four-to-eight-week cash forecast. CFO Partner and above add longer cash forecasts, budget development, growth modeling and lender reporting.
How much time with a CFO is included?
This is time with real people on the Mare + Co. CFO team, not the Mare CFO Agent. Advisory includes a one-hour monthly call with the team. CFO Partner includes up to three hours a month. Enterprise and Elite open after launch, and their CFO time will be set then.
What's the difference between a virtual CFO and a fractional CFO?
A virtual CFO is a monthly plan: the platform reads your numbers, and the Mare + Co. CFO team reviews the work and answers your decision questions. A fractional CFO is a senior CFO working part time with your leadership team on bigger work, like board and investor reporting, a turnaround or getting ready to sell. Tina Sawtelle leads both at Mare + Co.
Do my books need to be clean first?
No. Send what you have: QuickBooks, spreadsheets or a folder of PDFs. Getting your numbers organized is the first thing we do.
Does this replace my accountant or bookkeeper?
No. They keep the books and the filings. We are the translator who turns your accountant's work into decisions.
Does AI make decisions about my business?
No. The platform does the analysis; a CFO makes the decisions. The Mare + Co. CFO team reviews every report before it reaches you.
Who is it for?
Owner-run businesses doing $500,000 to $10 million a year, with one to five locations, in industries like restaurants, live music venues, construction, HVAC and the trades, wellness studios, small manufacturers and nonprofits.
Is there a contract?
No. Month to month. Stay because it's useful, not because of a contract.
January 1, 2027
Be first when it opens.
Leave your email. You'll get our monthly newsletter now, and the link to the free diagnostic the day the Virtual CFO opens.
Questions before then? Book a 15-minute call.