How we shipped our first AI Interim CFO engagement — Logistics.AI, London.
A pre-Series A logistics and e-commerce fulfilment venture. A CFO track that started as a 3-month interim and rolled into an 18-month mandate closing 1 August 2026. This is the field note.
The brief#
Logistics.AI is a dynamic startup disrupting the logistics and e-commerce fulfilment space. In early 2025 they needed an interim finance lead who was ready to jump into the chaos, build a world-class financial infrastructure, and act as a key strategic partner to the CEO and Board — a critical member of the senior leadership team.
Our CFO track started at three months. It was redefined inside the first 60 days and extended into an 18-month mandate. The CFO Stack now sits at the centre of every important decision in the business — from pricing and partnerships to fundraising and scale.
This was not a role for maintaining the status quo. The CFO Stack is an operator who wants to define and drive the client's path to profitable scale.
We're in month 16. Two months remain before we hand over to the permanent finance department we have been quietly building underneath the mandate.
The mission — 18 months, one outcome#
Transform the finance function from an operational necessity into a strategic advantage. Hit profitability. Build the automation that frees the leadership team to focus on growth — not on chasing reconciliations.
A finance function that operates in real time. Data, reporting and decision-making are continuously updated, not assembled in a panic the week before a board meeting.
The four pillars#
- 01
Drive profitability
Ruthless P&L management. A clear path to profitability through unit-economics improvement, cost discipline and pricing discipline across clients, warehouses and carriers.
- 02
Financial control & liquidity
Own cash flow forecasting and management. Invoices sent promptly. Bad debt minimised. Every payment cycle — partners, carriers, employees — under control.
- 03
Build, automate & augment
Design and deploy AI-driven finance workflows: AR, AP, reconciliation, reporting. Reduce manual work. Improve accuracy. Enable real-time decisions.
- 04
Compliance & governance
External relations: accountants, Companies House filings, tax compliance, board materials. Done quietly. Done on time.
- 05
Strategic partnering
Own the financial side of commercial strategy: pricing, rate cards, payment terms with clients, warehouses and carriers.
The first 90 days — what we shipped#
- →A clean, reliable P&L with clear contribution margins by client, warehouse and carrier lane.
- →Stabilised cash flow forecasting and payment cycles, refreshed weekly.
- →Identified the top three levers to improve profitability — and started executing on all three.
- →Initial automation in receivables and payables: invoices issued, chased and reconciled with minimal human touch.
By day 90, the founder stopped doing the maths on weekends. By month 6, the company had a defensible model. By month 12, profitability was inside the planning horizon, not just the pitch deck.
How the AI layer actually works#
The AI in Fractional AI CFO is technical, not cosmetic. It runs structured tests across the financial model, surfaces inconsistencies before they reach the board, and drafts the first version of every memo, variance commentary and reporting narrative. The CFO stays accountable. The AI removes the time tax of doing the work to a defensible standard.
In practice that means a monthly close that takes five days, not fifteen. A board pack signed off in 48 hours, not eleven days. A founder who can say "what if we raise carrier rates by 4%" and get a modelled answer before the kettle has boiled.
What we learned shipping it#
- 01
Start with the P&L the founder doesn't want to look at.
Every unprofitable lane is a question the business has been avoiding. Surface it on day one. It earns trust faster than any deck.
- 02
Automate the boring 80% before optimising the strategic 20%.
AR, AP and reconciliation are not glamorous. Automating them buys back the hours that compound into real strategic work.
- 03
Design for the handover from day one.
An interim CFO who builds a kingdom only they can run is failing on a longer timeline. We built every system so a permanent Head of Finance could inherit it cleanly.
- 04
AI works when the CFO stays accountable.
The model drafts. The CFO signs. The board reads. Skip the middle step and the whole thing collapses on the first hard question.
How we onboard a new CFO Stack mandate#
- Call 01
30-minute intro
We listen. We tell you whether this is the right shape for your moment. We don't pitch.
- Call 02
Take-home brief
A short exercise to validate fit on both sides. We share recommendations. You share data-room access.
- Call 03
Team fit
We meet two or three members of your leadership team — the people we'll partner with day-to-day.
- Offer
Mandate signed
Fixed scope. Fixed price. Start date inside two weeks.
Who we hire onto the Stack#
The mandate above is operated by senior finance professionals who meet a non-negotiable bar:
- →AI-native builder — proven ability to use AI tools (Claude, GPT) to design and deploy finance workflows that reduce manual work and enable real-time decisions.
- →Strong financial foundation: Big Four, top-tier accounting, or equivalent operating experience.
- →Proven ability to thrive in startup environments — comfortable with ambiguity and rapid change.
- →Expert-level attention to detail. Capable of managing complex pricing models without breaking a sweat.
- →Strong working knowledge of modern accounting stacks (Xero, NetSuite).
Bonus: prior experience in logistics or e-commerce, investment banking (family office, venture capital), or M&A.
Where this goes next#
Logistics.AI is the first published mandate of many. Every one we ship becomes a field note here — the brief, the mission, the systems, the lessons. This is how we build the trust base for The CFO Stack: not with adjectives, but with mandates.