Co-Founder & CEO, StackOne. London, UK. Ex-Google (scaled product to $1B revenue). Building the universal integration layer for SaaS and AI agents.
Why he's VIP: GV led a $20M Series A in May 2025. Both founders are product and engineering, zero finance background. Usage-based API pricing creates complex revenue recognition that will get stress-tested at Series B. Board reporting pressure from GV and Workday Ventures is happening right now.
The play: Position the Round Readiness Audit as Series B preparation. Romain needs institutional-grade financial packages for GV's board meetings. He has never built this.
The hook: You've taken money from GV and Workday Ventures. They're not passive investors. You don't have a finance function yet. I build it.
Strong fit - GV-backed, no CFO, usage-based complexity. At $24M raised with 48 employees, StackOne is squarely in Leo's target zone. This is a post-Series A company with sophisticated investors (GV and Workday Ventures) asking hard financial questions, a pricing model (usage-based) that creates real revenue recognition and forecasting complexity, and a founding team with no dedicated finance function. That combination is the exact brief for a Fractional CFO Retainer.
Why it works: Romain is the decision-maker and is almost certainly doing finance himself or delegating to a generalist ops hire. The £3-6K/month retainer is a rounding error on their burn. The real value is not the cost - it is getting the financial infrastructure right before Series B diligence. GV and Workday Ventures have a pattern: they ask for clean unit economics, cohort data, and multi-year models. Leo can build those and make the Series B process significantly smoother.
Risk: Romain may feel the finance function is covered by a good accountant or CFO-as-a-service tool. The entry point is not "you need a CFO" - it is "here is what your GV board will ask you in 12 months and here is whether you can answer it today." The Round Readiness Audit is the perfect free entry point. Low friction, high relevance.
Romain is running a GV-backed, $24M-raised, 51-200 person company with a usage-based pricing model, multi-region operations, and a Series B on the horizon. He has no CFO. That is not unusual for a company at this stage, but it is a ticking clock. GV boards do not accept "we're tracking it in a spreadsheet" once a company is at this scale. The board will start asking for clean unit economics, NRR by cohort, and a Series B financial narrative. The time to build those is before the board asks, not after. Leo's entry point is simple: show Romain what those questions look like and whether he can answer them today.
GV-backed Series A, $24M raised, 51-200 employees, no CFO, usage-based pricing complexity, Series B in 12-18 months. Romain is the direct decision-maker. This is the textbook Phellos ICP. The finance gap is not theoretical - it is live and urgent.
The core gap is clear: GV demands rigorous financial reporting, usage-based pricing creates model complexity, and there is no CFO. Leo fills all three. Start with the Round Readiness Audit (free) to show Romain what GV will ask at the Series B stage. If the audit reveals gaps, the path to a £3-6K/month retainer is straightforward.
Each angle is a standalone way in. Leo should pick the one that feels most natural and lead with massive free value.
What Leo does: Open with a specific question: "GV boards typically ask for NRR by cohort, CAC payback period, and a 24-month financial model at their first formal review post-Series A. Do you have those ready?" This is not a pitch. It is a diagnostic question that reveals whether Romain has a problem. If he hesitates, the conversation is open.
Why it works: GV is a known quantity. Romain knows what his board expects. If Leo can show he understands GV's reporting standards better than the current setup does, the value proposition is immediate and concrete. This is not generic CFO talk. It is specific to Romain's actual investor.
What Leo does: Send a LinkedIn message framed around the pricing model: "Romain, I work with GV-backed companies navigating usage-based pricing. The revenue recognition complexity is often invisible until the Series B data room. I've seen it delay rounds by months. Happy to do a quick diagnostic to see if it's a risk for StackOne. No pitch, just a look."
Why it works: It names a specific, credible risk that Romain may not have fully thought through. The usage-based model is StackOne's growth engine, but it is also its accounting complexity. Leo is not criticizing the model. He is pointing to a downstream risk that is easy to prevent now and painful to fix during diligence.
What Leo does: Offer the Round Readiness Audit as a free entry point. Frame it as: "I do a free 60-minute audit for GV-backed founders at your stage. We look at your financial infrastructure against what Series B investors will ask for. Most founders are surprised by 2-3 gaps they hadn't thought about. No obligation, just clarity." Low friction, high relevance.
Why it works: The audit is the perfect free entry point. It delivers value before any commercial conversation. And for a founder 12-18 months from a Series B, the question "are you ready?" is impossible to ignore. The audit answers it. The retainer helps fix what it finds.
What Leo does: Frame the conversation around Series B timing: "At $24M raised with GV on your cap table, you're probably 12-18 months from a Series B process. The financial infrastructure decisions you make in the next 6 months will determine how that process goes - not the next 6 weeks. I help founders build the financial foundation before the diligence clock starts."
Why it works: It reframes the conversation from "do you need a CFO today" to "what decisions made now will matter most in 12 months." That is a strategic question, not a service pitch. It positions Leo as a long-horizon advisor, not a vendor.
Leo should pick ONE of these and record a 5-10 minute Loom. The goal: deliver so much free value that Romain has to respond.
Hit multiple channels in the same week. The goal is not to be annoying - it is to be impossible to miss. Each touchpoint delivers value, not asks.
Send a connection request with a short, specific note (not a pitch):
Record the Board Package Gap Analysis (Loom 1 above). Keep it under 10 minutes. Walk through what GV expects vs. what most Series A companies actually produce. This is the centerpiece of the entire outreach.
Do NOT send it unsolicited. Wait for permission via the connection request CTA.
Circle back on the Loom with a specific new detail:
Look for mutual connections through the London VC ecosystem. Episode 1, Playfair Capital, and the Google/Yieldify alumni network are all warm paths:
Personal reference plus the Loom offer:
Clean close. No guilt, no pressure:
These are not templates. They are starting points Leo should rewrite in his own voice. The specific details are what make them work.
Romain Sestier is a Tier 0 priority for Phellos. He has the budget ($24M raised), the decision-making authority (CEO), and a clear financial infrastructure gap that Leo is built to solve: GV-backed, complex revenue model, no CFO, and a Series B window opening in 12-18 months.
The board package gap analysis is the way in. Leo shows Romain what GV expects in a monthly financial package vs. what most post-Series A companies actually produce. That Loom will be impossible to ignore because it reveals something Romain already suspects but hasn't addressed: the financial reporting isn't at the level his investors expect.
StackOne is a London-based company, which puts Leo in the same market. The product/engineering founding team means there is no internal resistance to bringing in fractional finance help. They don't have a finance person who will feel threatened. This is the highest-confidence lead in the Exa pipeline.