How I Leveraged My Finance Experience at a High-Growth Scaleup to Help Early-Stage Founders

Imran Chagpar is a chartered accountant who provides fractional CFO services to support the growth of scaleups in partnership with Onside Accounting and Scale Now, his own boutique practice.

Graduating in Banking at the Peak of the Financial Crisis

Nick Levine: A lot of people enter the world of finance by becoming a reluctant auditor. Was this you?

Imran Chagpar: Yes. I studied banking and finance at Birmingham University and graduated in 2008, which was probably the worst time to graduate with a banking degree, as the financial crisis had started. I decided to go down the accounting route and trained with PWC. After qualifying, I realised I didn’t want to climb the audit ladder. That being said, I learnt a huge amount at PWC, and am grateful to have had the opportunity to work there.

Building FP&A and Business Partnering Skills at the Football Association

Nick Levine: What was your escape route out of audit?

Imran Chagpar: I moved into industry, and my first role was at the Football Association (the FA).

Nick Levine: That is very cool, especially if you are a football fan. Who do you support?

Imran Chagpar: Watford. I went to school in Watford, and when they got promoted to the Premier League, they came into my school with the trophy.

Nick Levine: What skills did you learn at the FA?

Imran Chagpar: I spent my first year working on reporting, and in my second and third years I focused on FP&A and budgeting. This included the communications team’s budget, and it was an incredible experience watching an England game from the communications team’s area and really understanding all the work that goes into interviewing people post-match.

Joining a Scaleup Rocket Ship

Nick Levine: Where did you first gain exposure to high-growth scaleups?

Imran Chagpar: In 2019, I joined an insurtech company called By Miles, a pay–per–mile motor insurer. I was the first finance hire, and, at the time, would have been around employee number twelve.

Nick Levine: That sounds like the sort of startup opportunity where you get to roll up your sleeves to get your hands dirty as well as focus on the strategic piece?

Imran Chagpar: Yes. When I joined the company, it was small but growing fast, having raised a $5 million Series A round. I looked after finance as my primary remit, but by default, I also ended up looking after operations, people, and compliance.

Nick Levine: How did your role change as the business grew?

Imran Chagpar: I started building out teams across these departments and supported the business in managing these. When we got to around 50 employees, I let go of the people team but continued to look after the others until we reached over 100 employees. When I started, the business had around $1 million in revenue, and by the time I left, it was around $30 million.

Nick Levine: Can you tell me about some of your key experiences at By Miles?

Imran Chagpar: I supported the founders in raising $20 million in funding, a combination of equity and venture debt. I also co-led the business through its sale process to Direct Line Group with the CEO.

Transitioning to a Fractional CFO

Nick Levine: Since departing By Miles, you’ve leveraged your experience to specialise as a fractional CFO. How did this transition come about?

Imran Chagpar: The last few years at By Miles had taken their toll on my mental health, and I knew I didn’t want to go back into a full-time role as I had a young kid. I started in January 2024, supporting a couple of clients for three days a week.

Nick Levine: What services do you specialise in?

Imran Chagpar: I work with early-stage businesses preparing for a funding round, such as seed or Series A. I have a playbook where I produce a financial model and align it with the business pitch deck. I support founders in getting the right story across to investors and support the due diligence and legals.

Nick Levine: How do you support clients once they have accessed the funding?

Imran Chagpar: A lot of this is about reporting to new investors. This includes defining KPIs, putting together dashboards, and, on the commercial side, testing and understanding their best marketing channels so they know where to deploy investment.

Enhanced Visibility on Cash Flow from Automation

Nick Levine: And to finish off our chat, how do you use automation to support your clients?

Imran Chagpar: Over the last year, I’ve used automation to build and manage 13-week cash flow forecasts, as this is essential for clients, given most quarters are 13 weeks long.

Nick Levine: Which technology tools do you use to manage this?

Imran Chagpar: I use a no-code platform that integrates with Google Sheets to bring in actuals from the accounting system and bank statements, which are automatically categorised. The really exciting part is then using an LLM and creating prompts to understand issues better, such as whether they are one-off or recurring invoices, and forecasting 13 weeks into the future.

Nick Levine: Did it take much time to set up this workflow, and what has been the productivity win?

Imran Chagpar: It took me 20 to 30 hours to build the workflow. Whereas previously it would take me an hour or two to maintain this weekly for clients, it now takes around 15 minutes per client.

Imran’s route to becoming a fractional CFO is one of the many inspiring stories we are sharing as part of the Next Get Finance Leaders series. If you’ve enjoyed his story, read some of the others in the series.