In the early stages of building a company, many founders rely on instinct. But as the business scales, instinct alone can't guide financial decisions. Companies need a system that brings both speed and confidence to every decision, starting with how money flows in and out of the business.
The Visibility Gap in Scaling Companies
Mark Fershteyn, CEO of Recapped.io, sees this firsthand.
"Most sales teams are flying blind," he said on the Founder Files podcast. "Leadership is forced to rely on emotions and gut feel rather than actual buyer engagement data."
That same lack of visibility haunts finance teams. When data is scattered across systems or buried in monthly reports, leaders struggle to understand what’s happening today, let alone forecast tomorrow.
"Only half of small business owners say they had a good understanding of financial management before starting a business. One in four say they lacked confidence in their financial knowledge. Another 14% said they had limited or no financial literacy prior to starting a business." (Intuit)
What Poor Visibility Costs You
|
Risk |
Impact |
|
Missed Opportunities |
Slow reactions to changes in customer behavior or spending. |
|
Cash Flow Surprises |
Payments delayed, expenses misaligned. |
|
Inefficiency |
Duplicate data entry, delayed reconciliations. |
|
Stress on Leadership |
Founders stuck in low-leverage tasks to “check the numbers.” |
How AI Fills the Gaps
AI is already transforming how finance leaders operate:
- Predictive Analytics:
- Machine learning flags anomalies in cash flow before they become problems.
- Automated Reconciliation & Processing:
- AI is cutting down repetitive tasks. According to IBM Research, organizations using AI have achieved a 33% faster budget cycle, a 43% reduction in uncollectible balances, and a 25% lower cost per invoice paid.
- Natural Language Reporting:
- Ask your system, "How did Q2 revenue compare to Q1?" and get an answer in plain English.
CFOs are responding: In Deloitte’s Q4 2024 CFO Signals survey, 46% of finance chiefs said they plan to increase GenAI investment, and deploying generative AI ranked as their second-highest transformation priority for 2025.
As Dean Hobbs of Deloitte Consulting put it
“The urgency for CFOs is to look beyond the basics and reimagine entire business processes with AI.”
Mark Fershteyn echoes this shift:
“I use AI to review proposals, summarize calls, and even tweak my emails. It's my copilot, not just in our product, but in how I lead.”
How to Build for Real-Time Visibility
- Start with Cloud-Based Infrastructure
- Modern tools like Ramp, Brex, and NetSuite give you visibility without waiting on manual reporting. Sync your billing, payroll, and bank data.
- Build Workflows (not just reports)
- Forecasting, approvals, and spend alerts can be automated with the right rules.
- Connect the Dots Across Teams
- Your finance dashboard shouldn’t be siloed. Share key metrics like CAC payback, cash runway, and collections health across sales, ops, and leadership.
- Check Yourself Against the Market
- Benchmark your numbers regularly. Are you collecting as fast as you should? Are your costs growing in line with revenue? Find out, then fix it.
Let Cypher Handle It
At Cypher, we help founders break through the fog:
- Integrate finance tools so nothing gets missed
- Automate close, cash flow, and collections
- Turn your reporting into real-time, actionable insight
- Act as your strategic finance partner without the full-time overhead
If you’re scaling without clarity, we’ll help you fix the foundation.
🎧 Hear more from Mark Fershteyn on this week’s Founder Files. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
At Cypher, we integrate the right tools, workflows, and reporting systems so you can act quickly and scale confidently.
Build your empire, we’ll crunch the numbers. Get started with Cypher
