OnlyCFO

OnlyCFO is the pseudonymous SaaS-finance writer behind the Substack long-read How to Trick Investors and VCs. In that piece they walk through the accounting “shenanigans” that let startups flatter their numbers — capitalizing the bulk of SaaS sales commissions over 3–5 years, minimizing internal-use software capitalization to protect gross-margin optics, and gaming the Burn Multiple (Cash Burn / Net New ARR) by varying how each component is defined. The throughline of their argument is that venture capital investors are easier to deceive than public-market investors, because management controls what gets reported, many VCs lack a finance background, and many don’t dig past topline metrics.

Where this appears

• How to Trick Investors and VCs — author of the article dissecting SaaS accounting tricks and why VCs are particularly easy to fool.