About Decipher
The strategic side of finance for growing companies
Decipher provides fractional CFO and FP&A services to growing companies: senior, forward-looking finance without the cost of a full-time CFO. It was founded by Joe Ferretti, who spent nearly a decade running FP&A inside private equity backed enterprise software companies.
What Decipher does
Most growing businesses have a bookkeeper closing the books and a CPA handling taxes, but nobody looking ahead. No one owns where cash is headed, how long the runway really is, or whether the next hire, raise or acquisition makes sense. Decipher fills that gap.
Fractional CFO
For companies without a finance leader: 13 week cash flow and runway planning, budgets and budget vs actual, monthly reporting, board decks and investor updates, fundraising and capital strategy. Fractional CFO services
FP&A Lead
For companies with a CFO or controller already in place: a driver based operating model, rolling forecasts, scenario and headcount planning, and KPI and SaaS metrics reporting. FP&A services
Strategic Projects
For one time, high stakes moments: raise or venture debt preparation, sale readiness and quality of earnings prep, acquisition models and diligence support, and finance systems and reporting overhauls.
What Decipher does not do
Decipher is not a bookkeeping shop and does not prepare taxes. Bookkeeping, tax, audit and controllership stay with the firm or team that handles them today.
Decipher works alongside a client's bookkeeper, controller and CPA, and builds on the numbers they already produce. In healthcare, Decipher does not work on revenue cycle, payer mix or reimbursement.
Works inside the tools you already use
QuickBooks, Xero and NetSuite on the accounting side, and Excel or Google Sheets for models and reporting.
Who Decipher works with
Companies Decipher serves
Background runs deepest in software and other recurring revenue businesses.
- Software and SaaS companies, seed through Series B, that have outgrown founder-led finance but are not ready for a full-time CFO
- Owner-led businesses with recurring revenue, such as MSPs and multi-location practices like dental groups
- People buying or selling a business
When clients usually come in
Growing quickly
And needing to see what is working.
Raising money
Investors and a board expect projections and reporting that hold up to scrutiny.
Buying or selling a business
Numbers that hold up in diligence, then a combined forecast after close.
How engagements work
- 01
Intro call
30 minutesWhere things stand, what decisions are coming, and a straight answer on whether Decipher is the right fit.
- 02
Scoped proposal
Within 48 hoursA written proposal covering scope, deliverables, timeline, cadence and price.
- 03
Onboarding
First 30 daysA review of the books and existing models, agreement on the metrics that matter, and a baseline model with a 90 day plan.
- 04
Up and running
OngoingRegular reporting, forecasting and leadership reviews, with support that adjusts as new needs come up.
- Retainers
- Sized to the business. A three-month minimum, then month to month with 30 days’ notice.
- Strategic Projects
- Scoped and priced as fixed-fee work.
- Who you work with
- Joe directly, from the first call through every deliverable.
Founder
Joe Ferretti founded Decipher, a fractional CFO and FP&A firm. He spent nearly a decade running FP&A inside private equity backed enterprise software companies, building the models investors and buyers use to judge companies.
He has been on both sides of an acquisition, from diligence through integration, so he sets up a client's finance the way an investor or acquirer will read it.
Talk to Decipher
Start with a 30-minute call: where things stand, what decisions are coming, and what to fix first.
Or email contact@decipherhq.com