Shuai P.
Saint Johns, United States
100%
Job Success
Expert-Vetted
Startup CEO & Growth/Funding Consultant, CFO/CRO/CMO --- Expert-Vetted
$250.00/hr
Expert Vetted by Upwork.
I'm currently the co-founder and CSO of a startup. I was previously co-founder/CEO of a mobile app startup. "C.E.O." really stands for Chief Everything Officer. I started my mobile app startup with no prior tech/startup background and have been through it all, so I know what works and doesn't work. I know how to build businesses and sell businesses to investors. I consult on the following:
- Growth, capital-efficiency-oriented, and process-driven fractional CFO
- Building Initial Enterprise Sales Funnels
- Finding initial product market fit, early customers
- Product/Sales/Marketing Strategy
- Process design and implementation for customer acquisition funnel (huge champion of automation and AI integrations)
- Startup/Management/Strategy
- Product Development/Go-To-Market/Growth Hacking
- Angel/Venture Funding Strategist
Here are a few secrets:
- Capital raising: You don't need a written business plan to get funded. No one reads them. To get funded, you need a strong team, good storytelling, a pitch deck, financials (historicals are 10x more valuable than forward projections), revenue/customer retention analysis, and an appendix.
- Since Q2 2022, enterprises to SMBs have shifted their focus towards margin preservation, emphasizing cash flow, and being as lean as possible. The future of management is labor force elasticity based on gross margins, running your company with an extremely lean and elastic approach that is grounded on gross margin preservation/expansion -- having a system in place that allows you to quickly ramp up and ramp down your operations to match market demand, regardless of the economic conditions.
Highlights:
- CFO at an AI-driven software development SaaS company. (2023 - Present)
- Currently VP of Strategy & Growth for an early-stage B2B DevOps SaaS startup. (2021-present) Results during my tenure: Reduced our S&M spend by 60%, Reduce our average CAC from 11.4K to 2.6K. Accelerate our LTM ARR growth from 49% to 94%. Our forward NTM ARR growth rate is +160%.
- Fractional CFO at 3 startups, including a smart light bulb e-commerce startup with $30M+ LTM revenue; responsibilities include capital raising/planning and M&A advisory. (2021-present)
- Startup consultant primarily focused on capital raising, strategic planning, market sequencing, critical path, GTM strategy, sales funnel, process improvement/automation -- Industry/vertical agnostic - B2B, B2C, B2B2C, Marketplace, On-Demand models. (2016-present)
- Consultant for G2VP, San-Fran-based ESG VC (2020-2022)
- Ex-CEO/Cofounder of a B2B (pivoted from B2C) AdTech mobile keyboard app startup (raised outside capital and exited). (2013-2016)
- Ex-CPA for Ernst & Young in NYC, working in the Financial Services Transaction Services group. I provided valuations for private businesses in M&A deals ($1 billion+ market cap) and illiquid financial instruments. (2008-2013)
I love the startup community and want to give back. My time is limited and valuable so I only want to work with companies I know I can add a lot of value. Sorry, need to exclude pre-revenue companies and companies below 250K ARR. I will pass on work for another startup if I do not think I can help it become successful or are below
Work history
Work history
CFO Services | Clean Up Books + Forecasting
Jun 10, 2023
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Jan 9, 2025
"Shuai was very helpful. Great guy. I would definitely hire again!"
Private earnings
Finance Advice
Nov 9, 2024
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Nov 10, 2024
"Very helpful person who thinks clearly and understands what he's talking about. Highly recommended if you need funding advice."
Private earnings
60 minute consultation
Oct 28, 2024
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Oct 29, 2024
"Shuai was an excellent source of information !"
Private earnings
Management Consulting
Apr 25, 2024
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Aug 16, 2024
"Shuai is extremely knowledgeable as it relates to all matters in a business. Whether it’s financial, anything structural, hiring, prioritization, finding solutions or even providing advice on high level matters…
Private earnings
60 minute consultation
May 29, 2024
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May 29, 2024
Private earnings
60 minute consultation
May 23, 2024
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May 29, 2024
Private earnings
startup consulting
Jan 8, 2024
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Mar 18, 2024
"Shuai was very helpful and provided some insights I had not previously considered. Hope to work with again. Thanks!"
Private earnings
Pre-ipo company eval for career decision
Oct 13, 2023
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Feb 29, 2024
Private earnings
Financial model for seed stage startup for fundraising
Mar 28, 2023
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Jan 9, 2024
No feedback given
Private earnings
Investment Bankers, Traders, Financial Planners - model training
May 30, 2023
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Sep 5, 2023
Private earnings
Editing Financial Model SaaS Product
Jan 15, 2025
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Present
Job in progress
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Consulting for Start Up
May 10, 2024
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Present
Job in progress
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Executive startup consultant: ICP + GTM + financial model
Nov 7, 2023
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Present
Job in progress
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Fractional CFO Pre-sales Consultant
Oct 30, 2023
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Present
Job in progress
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Startup CFO consultant
Oct 24, 2023
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Present
Job in progress
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PE-Backed Manufacturing Company Data Pull
Aug 24, 2023
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Present
Job in progress
Private earnings
CFO New Social Network
Jul 25, 2023
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Present
Job in progress
Private earnings
Are you a CFO with financing experience over $5M? We want to speak with you!
Jul 18, 2023
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Present
Job in progress
Private earnings
M&A Comps for Medical Device Contract Manufacturer
Jun 22, 2023
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Present
Job in progress
Private earnings
IOT SAAS Marketing & Business Strategy
Jun 22, 2023
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Present
Job in progress
Private earnings
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Skills
Skills
- Product Design
- Microsoft Excel
- Management Consulting
- Personal Budgeting
- Startup Consulting
- Proofreading
- Corporate Finance
- Microsoft Excel PowerPivot
- Venture Capital Consulting
- Venture Capital
- Lean Consulting
- Financial Modeling
- Marketing Strategy
- Visual Basic for Applications
- Copy Editing