The Smarter Startup

What to Look for in a Fractional CFO for a Healthcare Startup

Healthcare startups need a CFO who understands the industry, knows the regulatory landscape, and can open doors with healthcare-focused capital sources.

Burkland’s healthcare startup practice has wide-ranging experience in life sciences, biotech, pharma, medical device, medtech, nutraceutical, healthcare services, digital health, and telemedicine sectors. Learn more about our services for healthcare startups and contact us to discuss how we can help your startup.


Is your healthcare startup ready for a fractional CFO? If so, you need to hire an expert who has deep knowledge and experience serving the healthcare industry. As you know, healthcare startups have specialized needs related to regulatory approval, privacy compliance, funding, payments, and positioning. Your CFO should be able to provide strategic guidance in all of these areas and more. This article offers a checklist of key things to look for when hiring a fractional CFO for a healthcare startup.

A Great Fractional CFO for a Healthcare Startup:

  • Has been through successful FDA approvals and knows the regulatory landscape and requirements related to your product if it will need FDA approval
  • Will help you manage your runway to avoid running out of cash during the regulatory approval process
  • Is up-to-date on your ongoing compliance regulations for HIPAA, HITECH, CCPA, and GDPR
  • Can help determine how long to stay in stealth to protect your IP without missing valuable opportunities
  • Has an end-to-end understanding of the value chain related to your product or service
  • Understands where your solution best fits into existing healthcare workflows
  • Can help your startup pinpoint its optimal position in the healthcare marketplace
  • Will work with your team to help articulate the most compelling value proposition
  • Has a clear understanding of your payment and insurance reimbursement dynamics
  • Knows the healthcare ecosystem and can connect you with prospective customers and partners
  • Brings strong relationships with healthcare-focused VCs and can open doors at fundraising time
  • Is tapped into government grants and other non-dilutive funding opportunities for healthcare startups

Your CFO is a critical member of your management team and a key pillar of your healthcare startup. A great fractional CFO for a healthcare startup can help you enter the market, gain traction, maximize value, and open doors to accelerate growth. Learn more about Burkland’s services for healthcare startups.

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“Burkland’s finance and accounting teams have been instrumental in the growth of Inflammatix. From strategy conversations to tactical execution, the Burkland team was thoughtful, accurate and responsive. Their work supported numerous initiatives, including our fundraising efforts, helping Inflammatix to grow as we have. I highly recommend healthcare/biotech/medtech start-ups contact Burkland for their finance, accounting, tax, and people ops needs.”
~ Jonathan Romanowsky, Co-Founder, Inflammatix