Fractional & Interim CFO Services for Startups in Switzerland

A fractional CFO is a senior finance leader who works with a startup part-time, typically from a few days per month up to one or two days a week on a monthly retainer. They handle financial models, treasury, reporting, and support fundraising — the work a full-time CFO would do — without the full-time cost or commitment. I work as a fractional CFO for early-stage startups in Switzerland. My deepest experience is in fintech, AI, and crypto, but I'm equally happy working with ecommerce, wellness, consumer social, and ETH deeptech spinouts.

Most startups benefit from a fractional CFO between pre-seed and Series A. Earlier than that, a founder can usually run finance themselves with a good bookkeeper. Later than that, you usually want someone full-time. The clearest triggers are: preparing for a fundraise, scaling beyond one currency or jurisdiction, or losing too much time to spreadsheets that should be running themselves.

Swiss fractional CFO engagements typically range from CHF 3,000 to CHF 15,000 per month, depending on scope and seniority. Lighter advisory work with bootstrapped tech, ecommerce, or wellness companies sits at the lower end. Embedded engagements with VC-backed startups in crypto, fintech, or AI tend to run higher. My engagements scale to each startup's stage and intensity. We discuss exact pricing on an intro call or via email.

A fractional CFO is part-time and ongoing — a permanent member of your extended team, scaled to your stage. An interim CFO is full-time but temporary, usually parachuted in to cover a transition or fix a specific problem before a full-time CFO is hired. In practice the two terms overlap in how Swiss founders describe what they're looking for, and I take on engagements that fit either model. For most early-stage startups, fractional is the better fit.

A full-time CFO in Switzerland typically costs CHF 180,000-280,000 per year all-in (base, social charges, equity, overhead) and makes sense once a company has predictable revenue and a finance team to lead. A fractional CFO delivers the same strategic finance leadership for one to two days a week at a fraction of that cost, which is the right fit for most pre-seed to Series A startups. Switzerland-specific bonus: fractional engagements run under a service agreement (Dienstleistungsvertrag), which means no AHV/IV/BVG obligations, no Quellensteuer complications, and no fixed notice period for the company.

Yes. Before going independent I was COO at Dialectic (crypto-native investment firm) and CFO at DeSci Labs (VC-backed Web3 startup). I'm comfortable with multi-currency treasuries across fiat and stablecoins, token cap tables, on-chain compliance basics, and the operational quirks of Web3 fundraising.

I'm based in Zurich and work with founders globally. Most engagements run async with occasional in-person sessions for the Swiss-based teams. I've worked with fully remote VC-backed startups before and built the operational stack accordingly.

A few paths work well in Switzerland: ask in startup communities (F10, Swisspreneur, Crypto Valley), ask your existing investors who they trust, or search directly — most active fractional CFOs have a personal site and visible LinkedIn presence. I'm one option for early-stage startups (pre-seed to Series A), with operating experience as CFO and COO at VC-backed Swiss companies and a focus on fintech, AI, and crypto. Reach out via the contact form for a 30-minute intro.

Ich arbeite als Interim CFO und Fractional CFO mit Schweizer Startups in der Frühphase, mit Schwerpunkt auf Fintech, AI und Krypto, sowie mit bootstrapped Tech-, Ecommerce- und Wellness-Unternehmen. Engagements laufen meist 1-2 Tage pro Woche auf Mandatsbasis (Dienstleistungsvertrag, keine AHV-/BVG-Verpflichtung). Sitz in Zürich, Mandate weltweit. Für ein 30-minütiges Erstgespräch bitte das Kontaktformular nutzen.