One system. Four engagement layers. A clear path from diagnosis to governance.

InHand designs and then operates the economic system of your business, moving through structured layers, each one building on the last.

Every engagement begins with the economic architecture sprint. Where required, finance enablement runs first or alongside. Architecture engagements transition into CFO core governance once the blueprint is in place.

The sequence is deliberate. Architecture first, because you can’t govern a system that hasn’t been designed.

The system in sequence

01

Economic
architecture sprint

defines the system

02

Finance enablement

builds the infrastructure (where required)

03

CFO core

governs the system as the
business grows

04

CFO strategic

responds to structural events (episodic)

Each layer has a defined scope, a clear boundary, and a distinct team. Work doesn’t drift between layers. Pricing doesn’t blur across them. This is intentional. The clarity of the model is what protects the quality of the work.

Entry engagement

Economic architecture sprint

£20,000 fixed fee · 6–8 weeks

What it is

A structured diagnostic and design engagement that produces decision-grade clarity on how your business actually works financially. Not how it looks on the P&L. How revenue becomes profit, how profit becomes cash, how cash interacts with capital, and how growth affects all three.

By the end of the Sprint, the leadership team has decision-grade clarity on the economic system of the business. And the tools to operate it.

What happens

Phase 0a

Engagement framing

Scope alignment, strategic decisions in focus, data requirements defined.

Phase 0b

Data readiness assessment

Data quality reviewed against analytical requirements. Scope confirmed in writing before Phase 1.

Phase 1

Profit

SKU and channel contribution economics. Variable vs fixed cost behaviour. Pricing sensitivity.

Phase 2

Cash

Cash conversion cycle, inventory velocity, working capital dynamics.

Phase 3

Capital

Integrated three-statement model. Liquidity runway. Funding scenarios.

Phase 4

Growth

Safe growth rate. Working capital demand. The real economic cost of scaling.

Phase 5

Blueprint

Findings synthesised into a unified economic and operational blueprint.

Phase 6

Operating translation

Dashboards, guardrails, and planning models configured for internal team execution.

What you walk away with-decision-grade clarity

Where profit is created and where it’s destroyed (by SKU, channel, customer).

Where cash is getting trapped and the structural reasons it stalls.

Your true liquidity position, runway, and when capital will be required.

Your safe growth rate and the real economic cost of scaling beyond it.

Where pricing discipline is leaking margin.

The structural disciplines the business needs to install to operate from the Blueprint.

The artifact the economic
architecture blueprint

A single document synthesising the diagnosis into a clear map of how the business works financially and the operating discipline required to govern it. Designed for board-level use and to form the foundation of ongoing financial governance.

Who it’s for

Consumer product businesses at £10M-£40M revenue where growth is creating financial complexity that the existing finance function can’t adequately explain or manage. Leadership teams making high-stakes decisions about growth, capital, and channel strategy who need to make those decisions with clarity rather than uncertainty.

Who it’s not for

Businesses below £10M revenue. Founders looking for bookkeeping or basic reporting. Teams unwilling to act on financial insight.

Where required

Finance enablement

From £15,000 · time-bounded implementation sprints

What it is

The implementation layer. Finance enablement installs the financial systems, reporting infrastructure, and operational processes that the architecture requires to function.

Not every business needs enablement. Some have finance infrastructure that’s good enough to build on. Others arrive with data quality issues, reporting gaps, or system problems that would prevent the Architecture deliverables from being built to decision grade.

Where enablement is required, it’s identified during the data readiness review in Phase 0b of the Sprint not discovered halfway through delivery.

What it covers

  • Reporting architecture and management accounts design

  • Margin classification and cost allocation frameworks

  • Forecasting infrastructure and planning process design

  • Working capital tracking tools and cash reporting

  • Financial process design and operational controls

  • ERP configuration and systems integration

    with specialist partners where required

Primary ongoing engagement

CFO core

£8,000/month · ongoing

What it is

Financial leadership and governance for a business that now has an economic architecture to govern.

CFO core is not a reporting function. It’s a decision partnership, the ongoing work of ensuring the economic system performs as the business grows, conditions change, and new decisions arise.

Core governance means the leadership team always knows where it stands against the Blueprint, and has a CFO level partner to think through what it means as the business grows.

Who delivers it

CFO core is led by an fCFO, supported by the FP&A team for analytical build, the FinOps team for operational execution, and the systems layer for data integrity.

What it covers, five governance domains, maintained continuously

Liquidity and cash control

Rolling cash visibility, runway tracking, downside scenarios, and forward funding requirements. The business always knows its cash position.

Margin discipline

Contribution margin tracking against the architecture baseline, channel and customer profitability review, pricing performance feedback. Erosion gets caught before it compounds.

Working capital control

Cash conversion cycle monitoring, AR, AP, and inventory performance against plan. Growth doesn’t destabilise cash.

Growth alignment

Rolling forecast updates, performance vs plan, growth-to-cash impact tracking, hiring and cost base alignment. Growth is planned within financial capacity, not against it.

Board and strategic governance

Monthly board pack built as financial narrative, KPI dashboard aligned to the architecture, strategic decision framing, capital readiness, investor and lender communication support.

Before core

Reactive decision-making, unclear financial signals, inconsistent reporting, cash surprises, fragmented board conversations.

After core

Structured decision cadence, clear financial visibility, disciplined growth, predictable cash behaviour, aligned leadership conversations.

Selective mandates

CFO strategic

From £20,000 · defined mandate

What it is

Outcome based mandates for discrete structural events capital raises, refinancing, restructurings, turnaround situations, and other high-stakes financial transitions.

Strategic mandates are not ongoing advisory. They are scoped to a specific outcome, priced accordingly, and run independently of or alongside CFO core.

Common mandate types

  • Capital raise debt or equity

  • Refinancing or restructuring of existing facilities

  • Business turnaround or financial stabilisation

  • Group or holding company restructuring

  • Management incentive or equity scheme design

  • Major commercial redesign with capital implications

The right starting point for most businesses is the sprint.

It’s fixed price, time bounded, and designed to give you decision grade clarity on how your business actually works financially whether or not you continue into an ongoing engagement.

Apply for the economic architecture sprint

£20,000 fixed · 6-8 weeks · limited sprint capacity to keep the work decision-grade