For Investors,
Accelerators, and
Advisory Firms

For Venture Capital Firms

The FFI Standard gives venture capital investors a precise, documented vocabulary for the financial infrastructure they expect from portfolio companies and prospective investments. Rather than communicating expectations through informal diligence feedback, investors can reference specific compliance levels and sections of the Standard.

• Incorporate FFI compliance levels into investment criteria, specifying the minimum level required for a company to be considered at each investment stage.
• Reference the Standard's investor expectations matrix in Book 5, Section 5.3 to communicate what financial materials are expected before a term sheet is issued.
• Require Level 2 compliance in specific domains as a closing condition or post-investment milestone, using the testable compliance criteria in Books 1 through 6.
• Commission independent FFI assessments of prospective portfolio companies before closing, using the compliance criteria as the assessment framework.
• Establish consistent financial reporting standards across a portfolio by requiring all portfolio companies to meet FFI Level 2 reporting requirements as defined in Book 1, Section 1.3.

The Standard's compliance criteria are testable by any competent financial professional without guidance from the Standard's authors. This makes FFI compliance verifiable in diligence without requiring a specialist process.

For Private Equity Firms

Private equity investors working with growth-stage and scale-stage companies will find the Level 3 compliance requirements across Books 1 through 6 most relevant. Level 3 describes the financial infrastructure of a company that operates with the discipline of an institutionally mature organisation, regardless of its current stage.

• Use the annual operating plan standard in Book 6, Section 6.1 as a reference framework for portfolio company planning requirements.
• Reference the departmental financial planning standard in Book 6, Section 6.3 when establishing reporting expectations for portfolio companies post-acquisition.
• Apply the strategic decision modeling standard in Book 6, Section 6.2 as the framework for assessing how portfolio companies evaluate and document major capital allocation decisions.
• Benchmark portfolio company financial infrastructure against the maturity model in Book 0, Section 0.8 to identify the gap between current and expected compliance.

For Angel Investors

The FFI Standard provides angel investors with a structured reference for assessing the financial management quality of early-stage companies, without requiring formal financial due diligence expertise.

• Use the Level 1 compliance criteria in Books 1 and 3 as a baseline checklist for pre-investment financial review: does the company know its cash position, its burn rate, its runway, and its fully diluted cap table?
• Reference the investor expectations matrix in Book 5, Section 5.3 under the Angel Investor category to understand what financial materials are appropriate to request before writing a cheque.
• Use the glossary to establish a shared vocabulary with founders when discussing financial position, conversion mechanics, or cap table structure.
• Reference the SAFE and convertible instrument standard in Book 3, Section 3.2 when reviewing the conversion terms of instruments being offered.

For Accelerators and Venture Programs

Accelerator programs preparing cohort companies for institutional fundraising can use the FFI Standard as a consistent framework for financial infrastructure assessment and development across all cohort companies, regardless of sector or business model.

• Administer the FFI compliance assessment to all incoming cohort companies to establish a baseline across the seven financial infrastructure domains.
• Structure the financial curriculum of the program around the progression from Level 1 to Level 2 compliance, using the specific criteria in Books 1 through 6 as the curriculum objectives.
• Set a minimum FFI compliance level as a graduation criterion or as a condition of demo day participation.
• Use the company type taxonomy in Book 0, Section 0.6 to apply type-specific benchmarks to each cohort company rather than a single standard across all business models.
• Reference the investor expectations matrix in Book 5 to prepare cohort companies for the specific financial materials each investor category will expect during fundraising.

The Standard is published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. Accelerators may reproduce, adapt, and distribute any section of the Standard in program materials, provided attribution is given. The citation format is available on the Cite the Standard page.

For Financial Advisory Firms

Financial advisory firms and independent advisors serving early-stage companies may use the FFI Standard as the framework against which client work is scoped, delivered, and assessed. The Standard's compliance criteria provide a documented, testable definition of what each domain of financial infrastructure must contain, eliminating ambiguity about the scope and quality of advisory deliverables.

• Scope client engagements against specific FFI compliance levels, defining the starting compliance level, the target level, and the specific criteria to be met.
• Use the common deficiencies documented in each section of Books 1 through 6 as a structured diagnostic checklist for new client onboarding.
• Reference the Standard in client-facing documents to provide an objective, published basis for the financial infrastructure requirements being addressed.
• Cite the Standard in proposals, engagement letters, and delivery frameworks to establish shared definitions of quality and completeness with clients.

The Standard does not prescribe how financial infrastructure is built or who delivers it. Any qualified advisor may deliver services aligned with the Standard without endorsement, registration, or permission from the Standard's maintainers.