Fractional CFO for e-commerce brands doing €1–10M a year

You sold more than ever. So why is the bank account empty?

I build the cash forecast your accountant doesn't: every week for the next 13, what comes in, what goes out, and where it gets tight. Stock orders, ad budgets and hires stop being bets.

Book a free 30-minute cash check Check if you qualify

On the call I look at your last three months and name the one biggest cash leak I see. You keep that, whether we work together or not.

  • 31 e-commerce brands since 2021
  • 9 years at Deloitte
  • Former CFO, €2M → €18M brand
  • ACCA chartered accountant
Inês Carvalho standing by the window of her Lisbon office, the river behind her
Inês Carvalho, in her office in Lisbon

Sound familiar?

Growth eats cash. Nobody warns you about that part.

  • “We sold more than ever and the bank account is empty.”
  • “I don't know if I can afford the next stock order.”
  • “My accountant tells me what happened last year, not what happens next month.”
  • “Every Friday I'm scared of payroll.”

What founders tell me on first calls and under my LinkedIn posts.

A founder at a desk in a stockroom full of boxes, frowning at her phone late in the evening
Staged photo, not a client. Many founders know this room.

It usually isn't a sales problem. Stock is paid for months before it sells. Ads are paid before the orders arrive. Returns and shipping quietly take margin you thought you had. Without a view of the weeks ahead, every big decision is a guess.

The fix

Your cash, 13 weeks ahead, on one line.

A 13-week cash forecast shows each week's balance after everything that comes in and goes out. Below: the same brand, the same quarter. Once with guesses, once with a forecast.

Lowest week €38k Week 6

Example 13-week cash forecast Illustrative example. Without a forecast, a full stock order and payroll land in week 6 and the balance falls to minus €18k. With a forecast, the order is split across weeks 6 and 9 and two loss-making products are cut; the balance dips to €38k and stays above zero, ending week 13 at €79k.

Illustrative example in round numbers. Not a client's data. Tap or hover a week to read it.

01

How much cash you'll have, every week

For the next 13 weeks, in your own spreadsheet, kept up by your team.

02

Which products actually make money

Margin per product after ads, returns and shipping. Some best-sellers lose money on every sale.

03

When you can afford the next stock order

An inventory plan that says how much to buy, and when, without starving the bank account.

04

Whether to hire, or spend more on ads

Decisions made with numbers. And Fridays without the payroll dread.

Before you book

Who I work with, and who I don't.

My work takes time and costs real money, so I'd rather you know now than on the call.

A good fit

  • E-commerce brands doing €1–10M a year that are growing, and always short of cash.
  • Founders getting ready to raise money or take a bank loan who need numbers an investor or a bank will trust.
  • Brands with too much money sitting in stock.

Not a fit

  • Brands under €500k a year. A Sprint isn't worth it yet. You get my free forecast template and a recorded walkthrough instead.
  • Tax filing or bookkeeping only. I'm not your accountant. I work alongside yours.
  • Dropshipping businesses.

Two questions. Ten seconds.

Find out if a cash check call is worth your 30 minutes.

Your brand's yearly revenue
What you need most

Pick one answer in each row.

Prices, in full

Three ways to work together.

Fixed prices, written down before we start. Everything begins with the free call.

Step 1

Cash check call

Free

30 minutes, by video

I look at your last three months and tell you the one biggest cash leak I see. Then you decide if you want more.

Book the call

Step 2 · the core work

Cash Clarity Sprint

€4,500

4 weeks · fixed price · about 2 hours a week from you

  • A 13-week cash forecast, built in your own spreadsheet
  • Unit economics per product: margin after ads, returns and shipping
  • An inventory plan: what to buy, how much, and when
  • A one-page monthly dashboard
  • Your team trained to keep all of it running

The week-1 guarantee

If after the first week you don't see a clear picture of where your cash goes, you stop and pay nothing.

Step 3 · optional

Fractional CFO

from €2,800/month

Ongoing · minimum 3 months

  • 2 days a month, plus a weekly 30-minute call
  • A monthly board-style review of the numbers
  • Fundraising and bank-loan preparation

How it works

From first call to a forecast your team runs, in about five weeks.

  1. Day 1

    Cash check call

    30 minutes, free. Your biggest cash leak, named.

  2. Within 48 hours

    Proposal

    Scope, price and dates in writing.

  3. Week 1

    Access

    NDA first. Then read-only access to your bank, shop and ad accounts.

    Guarantee checkpoint
  4. Weeks 2–3

    Forecast and unit economics

    Built in your spreadsheet, product by product.

  5. Week 4

    Handover and training

    Your team learns to keep the forecast up to date.

  6. After

    Monthly CFO, if you want it

    Board-style reviews, fundraising, bank loans.

Results

31 e-commerce brands since 2021. Two of them, in their words.

Tomás Ribeiro laughing on a video call at his kitchen table, surrounded by parcels and coffee products

“In six weeks we went from guessing to knowing. We cut two products that were losing money on every sale and stopped the panic before payroll.”

Tomás Ribeiro, founder of a coffee equipment brand, on a review call

€140k

of cash found in slow-moving stock

“Inês found €140k of cash sitting in slow stock. We used it to fund our best season.”

Joana Sá, co-founder of a children's clothing brand
Inês talking through stock levels with a client founder between warehouse shelves full of boxes
With a client founder in his warehouse
A client's hand writing figures into a weekly cash forecast notebook next to a laptop spreadsheet and a cup of coffee
What stays after I leave A client updating their cash forecast, weeks after the Sprint ended. The goal is that you don't need me to know where your cash is going.

Why I do this

“I was the CFO who had to call the founder on a Friday to say we couldn't pay the supplier. I never want a founder to get that call again.”

I spent nine years in corporate finance at Deloitte, then became CFO of a Portuguese direct-to-consumer furniture brand while it grew from €2M to €18M a year. Growth that fast is exciting. It is also how a company with record sales ends up unable to pay a supplier on a Friday.

Since 2021 I've worked with 31 e-commerce brands on exactly that problem. I'm a certified chartered accountant (ACCA), and I still don't do bookkeeping: your accountant looks at last year, I look at the next 13 weeks.

Deloitte
9 years, corporate finance
CFO
DTC furniture brand, €2M → €18M
ACCA
Certified chartered accountant
Speaker
Lisbon E-commerce Founders meetup
Languages
English and Portuguese
Inês speaking with a microphone to a room of founders in a brick-walled venue
Speaking at the Lisbon E-commerce Founders meetup, March 2026
Ana Mendes drawing a cash-flow diagram on a whiteboard for two clients seated at a table with laptops
Ana Mendes, my associate and financial analyst, running a cash-flow workshop with two clients
Inês walking along a tiled Lisbon street beside a yellow tram
Based in Lisbon. Working remotely with brands across Europe.

Questions

What founders ask before booking.

Something else on your mind? Write to ola@inescarvalho.pt.

How is this different from my accountant?

Your accountant looks back: last year's numbers and your taxes. I look forward: the next 13 weeks and the decisions inside them. I work alongside your accountant, not instead of them.

Do I need to change software?

No. I work in your own spreadsheet and the tools you already use: Shopify, Stripe and your bank.

Is my data safe?

I sign an NDA before I see anything, and I only ask for read-only access. Nothing can be paid, moved or changed from my side.

How much of my time does it take?

About two hours a week during the four-week Sprint.

What if we're too small?

Under €500k a year, a Sprint isn't worth the money yet. Ask for the free cash forecast template and I'll send it with a recorded walkthrough.

It's too expensive for us right now.

The Sprint usually finds more than its €4,500 price in cash within weeks. Joana's team found €140k in slow stock. And if week 1 doesn't give you a clear picture of where your cash goes, you stop and pay nothing.

Do you work in English?

Yes. I work in English and Portuguese, with clients across Europe.

What happens on the cash check call?

Thirty minutes on video. I look at your last three months and tell you the single biggest cash leak I see. If I don't think I can help, I'll say so.

Free · 30 minutes · by video

Find your biggest cash leak before it finds you.

Book a cash check. I'll look at your last three months and name the one leak I'd fix first. If we're not a fit, I'll tell you.

Book a free cash check

Prefer email? ola@inescarvalho.pt