Forecaster

Logan Burchett and his co-founder Stephen both worked as fractional CFOs before founding Forecaster in 2018. They recognized a critical gap: 98% of financial models are still built in Excel, and founders lack proper guidance to use sophisticated financial software. The inspiration came from their own experience watching founders struggle with financial modeling—dropping them into software without support was a recipe for failure.

Forecaster started with a simple premise: pair financial analysis software with human expertise. Initially, they charged a flat $2,000 per year and included white-glove onboarding because they could afford analyst hours upfront. The team grew to 33 people split almost evenly between engineers, growth professionals, and financial analysts—a deliberate structure reflecting their blended SaaS-plus-services model.

By November, they rolled out variable pricing inspired by competitor Pry. Instead of flat fees, they'd price based on customer monthly expenses, typically charging 2-3% of a customer's monthly burn rate. This aligned incentives: larger customers got more analyst time and support, while staying affordable as a small piece of the budget.

They launched during the pre-seed phase in 2020-2021, raising $600k-$750k on a convertible note with two different caps (one from Tech Stars, one from local Louisville investors at $2.5-3M cap). Early customers came from the founder community and their network of CFO relationships. By seed in February 2021, they'd proven enough traction to raise $2.5M from Resolute Ventures at a $10M post-money valuation.

The white-glove onboarding became their key differentiator. Rather than treating customers as self-serve, they assigned financial analysts—many of whom were previous founders—to each account. These analysts helped founders connect QuickBooks data, map accounting categories correctly, and build compelling narratives for investors. As Logan explained: "We'll map it back to your QuickBooks, but this can be your source of truth now."

The expense-based pricing model worked because they validated it with existing customers first. Instead of guessing, they asked early adopters: "If we repriced this way annually based on your expenses, would that turn you off?" The unanimous answer was no, making the rollout smooth.

Forecaster now serves 550 customers paying an average of $2,500 annually (blended), generating $1.4M ARR up from $30k per month a year ago—a 4x growth rate. Their highest-paying customer pays $15k annually (500k+ monthly expenses). In early 2023, they're in Series A fundraising targeting $8M at a hoped-for $40M post-money valuation (27x their current revenue multiple). Logan noted that despite market tightening, capital is still deploying for proven SaaS companies with real revenue—valuations are tightening but still healthy.