For Founders

The FFI Readiness
Scorecard

Understand where your financial infrastructure stands in under two minutes. No account. No sales process.

How it works

The scorecard consists of 21 yes-or-no questions drawn directly from the FFI Standard, three questions per domain. Your answers determine which compliance level your company currently meets and, more importantly, which specific gaps exist between your current state and the level you need to reach.

The scorecard does not ask for your company name, your email, or any financial data. Answer honestly. The result is for your use only.

The Scorecard

Book 0: Foundations and Definitions

1. Do you have a documented cap table showing all equity holders and their ownership percentages?

2. Have you defined your company's stage (Pre-Revenue, Early Revenue, Growth, Scale) using the FFI definitions?

3. Do you maintain a centralized glossary of financial terms as they apply to your business?

Book 1: Financial Architecture

4. Do you have a documented income statement updated within the last 30 days?

5. Can you state your current net burn rate and months of runway without checking a file?

6. Are your books reconciled to bank statements monthly?

Book 2: Performance Modeling

7. Do you maintain a bottom-up financial forecast (not top-down market share) updated quarterly?

8. Can you provide cohort-based LTV and fully-loaded CAC within 24 hours?

9. Do you maintain a three-scenario model (base, upside, downside) with documented assumption differences?

Book 3: Capital Structure and Equity

10. Have you modeled the conversion mechanics of all outstanding SAFEs or convertible notes?

11. Is your option pool modeled as part of the fully diluted cap table?

12. Have you completed a waterfall analysis showing liquidation preferences across at least three exit scenarios?

Book 4: Valuation

13. Have you completed a valuation analysis using at least two methodologies appropriate to your stage?

14. Do you have a documented peer set for comparable company analysis with rationale for selection?

15. Is your market sizing (TAM/SAM/SOM) calculated bottom-up, not top-down?

Book 5: Investor Readiness

16. Is your financial data room organized and current within the last 30 days?

17. Can every financial claim in your pitch deck be traced directly to a cell in your financial model?

18. Have you completed an internal diligence readiness review before engaging investors?

Book 6: Strategic Financial Planning

19. Do you maintain an annual operating plan with board-approved targets?

20. Do you produce departmental budgets that reconcile to the company-level model?

21. Is there a defined KPI framework with at least five core metrics tracked monthly?

Understanding Your Result

Score 0 – 7

Pre-Foundation

Your company's financial infrastructure is not yet structured. This is not unusual at pre-seed or early-revenue stage. The gap between where you are and where investors require you to be is significant but closeable. The most important step is understanding which domains need to be built first. Use the FFI Standard, Book 0, to begin mapping your priorities.

Score 8 – 14

Level 1: Operational Foundation

Your company has basic financial visibility. You can track your cash position, produce a simple income statement, and articulate your core unit economics. The gap to Level 2, investor readiness, is defined and specific. It is typically three to five structured improvements rather than a complete rebuild. The scorecard results will show you exactly where those gaps are.

Score 15 – 21

Level 2 and Above: Investor Ready

Your financial infrastructure meets or approaches the standard required for institutional investor engagement. You can document your assumptions, defend your projections, and update your financial position on demand. The question at this level is not whether the infrastructure exists, it is whether it is current, coherent, and investor-navigable. If you scored highly but are still facing friction in investor conversations, the issue is usually in Book 5: investor readiness and financial narrative.

Work with The Oakworth Group

The Oakworth Group is the advisory firm that developed and maintains the FFI Standard. If your scorecard reveals gaps that require expert assistance to close, or if you want an independent assessment of your financial infrastructure before a fundraising process, Oakworth offers a confidential Readiness Assessment.

The Readiness Assessment is a structured 60-minute engagement. It maps your current financial infrastructure against the FFI Standard across all seven domains and produces a prioritised action plan. It is the fastest way to understand precisely what needs to be built and in what sequence.

Schedule a Readiness Assessment All assessments are confidential. No commitment to further engagement is required.