Full curriculum
Work top to bottom or jump to the topic you need. Each lesson is self-contained.
What bookkeeping is, why it matters for funded companies, and the vocabulary you need before touching a ledger.
Bookkeeping is the operating system of your business. This lesson shows why investors treat clean books as a proxy for operator quality.
Assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, expenses — the five buckets that every transaction in your business falls into.
Your chart of accounts is the spine of your financials. Get it right once and reporting becomes effortless.
The mechanics of double-entry bookkeeping. By the end you'll be able to journal any transaction from scratch.
Every transaction touches at least two accounts. Learn the rule and the rest is just practice.
Five practiced journal entries that cover 80% of what a small company books in a month.
The GL is the source of truth. Learn to read it, scan for anomalies, and trace any number back to its origin.
Sales, expenses, payroll, and the gotchas that trip up first-time bookkeepers.
When to recognize revenue, how to handle invoices vs. cash sales, and the basics of deferred revenue.
Categorize correctly, capture receipts, and decide between cash, card, and accounts payable workflows.
Gross-to-net, employer taxes, contractors vs. employees, and why payroll software is non-negotiable.
A repeatable monthly close process: reconcile, review, accrue, and lock the period.
Match every transaction in your books to the bank statement. No exceptions.
A 12-step checklist that produces investor-ready financials within 15 days of month-end.
Reclasses, journal corrections, and when to leave the past alone.
The three statements every investor will ask for and what they actually reveal.
Revenue, cost of goods sold, gross margin, operating expenses, and net income — and what each tells an investor.
A snapshot of what you own, what you owe, and what's left for the owners — at a single moment in time.
Why a profitable company can run out of cash, and how the statement of cash flows explains the difference.
Turn clean books into a fundable narrative. Metrics, data rooms, and the questions investors actually ask.
ARR, MRR, gross margin, CAC, LTV, burn multiple — derive them straight from clean books.
What investors expect to find in the finance folder, and how to assemble it in a day instead of a month.
A field guide to the issues that cause investors to walk — and how to prevent each one.