✦For founders of established South African service firms · R30m–R200m
Tight cash is the symptom. TRACK finds the source.
The Symptom-to-Source Method for established service firms: twelve weeks on your own books, with your finance lead in the room. You get the margin on your top three clients or projects, a collections system that brings your cash home, a 13-week cash forecast you both trust, a bank-ready pack you can defend yourself, and the Friday 15 that keeps it all running after we finish.
In a firm your size, tight cash is almost never a cash problem. It's the end of a chain: numbers that arrive late, margins nobody can see on your biggest clients, invoices sitting unpaid, and no view past this month's bank balance. Your bookkeeper reports what already happened, and most outside help hands you the analysis and takes the know-how with them when they leave. Founder's View works the chain backwards through the first four stages of TRACK, on your own books, and builds the fix into your finance lead so it keeps running long after I've gone.
One-to-one with me · One 90-minute Zoom session a week · Starts within 2 weeks of booking · Pauses over the December holidays
"We finally understood which of our projects were profitable, what was contributing to our declining margins, why we had cashflow problems and what to do about this."
Co-Founder & Executive Director, mining services company, about R200m revenue
Nyasha Madavo · Chartered Accountant (CA(SA)) · Deloitte-trained · Former CFO · Certified Company Director (IoDSA) · International Certificate in Enterprise Risk Management (Institute of Risk Management UK)
✦The real problem
You've built a serious firm. So why is cash still this tight?
The pipeline is full, the team is bigger than ever, and revenue is up on last year. Yet the week payroll runs, you still check the bank balance twice. A corporate client pays at 60 days, a government department at 90 or more, a project ran over, and the cash that should be there is sitting in someone else's account.
Your finance manager sends the management accounts. They arrive late, tell you what already happened, and don't answer the questions you actually have: which clients make you money, which projects quietly cost you, and whether you can afford the next senior hire.
And when the bank, your board or a buyer asks how the business is really doing, you can answer, but not with the confidence a firm your size should have.
This isn't a sign you've run it badly. Your firm grew faster than your finance function did.
So tight cash is the symptom, not the problem. TRACK, the Symptom-to-Source Method, fixes the causes in order: get your numbers true, read what they're telling you, act on what we find and look 13 weeks ahead, and confirm a weekly rhythm you and your finance lead hold together. See how TRACK works →
✦What it's like on the other side
Picture knowing exactly where your firm stands.
You open one page and see the margin on your top three clients or projects, and the leaks that were quietly draining profit: the underpriced client, the project that always overruns, the costs nobody was watching. Plug one or two, and Founder's View has often paid for itself.
The guesswork stops. You're no longer piecing together reports or rebuilding spreadsheets before every big decision, because you finally know where the business stands. Your finance lead updates the numbers, and every Friday you go through them together in fifteen minutes. When a bank, board or buyer asks, you send them the same day, and you walk into the facility review or tender meeting able to explain every number yourself.
You make the next hire, the next price change and the next big bid on evidence, not instinct. Clear spending limits let you delegate without signing off everything yourself, and you can step away for a week without losing sight of the numbers.
You see a tight month 13 weeks out, not the night before. And payroll week becomes just another week.
✦Who this is for
A quick gut-check before you book.
This is for you if…
You're a founder or MD of an established B2B service firm: agency, consultancy, professional or technical services, or specialist services to industry
Doing roughly R30m–R200m in turnover, with 10–150 people on payroll
Your clients are corporates or government, often on 30- to 90-day terms or longer
You have an in-house bookkeeper, accountant or finance manager producing numbers, but nobody giving you a forward view
You're busier than ever, but profit and cash haven't grown with the business
You want to understand the numbers yourself, not just receive a report
A bank facility renewal, a major tender, a co-founder or a buyer is starting to ask harder questions
This isn't for you if…
Businesses under R30m, or without a team of 10+ yet
Firms that already have a strong CFO or finance director steering the numbers
Firms whose only finance support is an external bookkeeper or accountant
Product, e-commerce or SaaS businesses
Someone looking only for a course to watch alone
Anyone who wants to hand finance off and never look at it again
Built on your actual numbers, with your finance lead in the room.
One 90-minute session a week, on Zoom, scheduled around your calendar. Your in-house finance lead joins, about 4 hours a week in total including the session, so what we build keeps running after we finish. Starts within 2 weeks of booking. We pause over the December–January holiday shutdown and pick up where we left off, so you never pay for weeks your business is closed.
Diagnose
01
Week One · T
See where you stand
We start with a no-judgement look at your real books, and the first thing I do is name three things you're already doing right. Then we lay out the picture as it stands today: cash, what clients owe you, what you owe, payroll, VAT and PAYE, contractor costs and your own pay.
02
Week Two · R
Read your numbers and map the work
We work through what your P&L, balance sheet and cash flow statement are each telling you, on your own actuals. Then we map revenue, staff time and direct costs to your top three clients or projects by revenue, so the margin picture rests on real numbers, not estimates.
03
Week Three · R
See what's actually making money
We analyse the margin on those top three clients or projects, and trace where the pressure and the leaks come from: timing, pricing, scope creep, unbilled work, errors or underused capacity. You leave knowing which work pays, which quietly costs you, and why. We start with your top three by revenue because that's usually where most of the margin is won or lost. Your finance lead learns the method alongside you, so they can run it across the rest of your work after we finish.
Fix & Forward
04
Week Four · A
Decide and act
This is where visibility becomes action. We turn what the numbers revealed into decisions: pricing, which clients to grow or rethink, the leaks to plug and the errors to correct. You leave this session having made the first one.
05
Week Five · A
Design your collections system
We review what every client owes you and why it hasn't been paid. Then we set up the system: clear terms, invoicing on time, a follow-up schedule and an escalation path, including for corporate and government clients on long terms. Your finance lead owns it from here.
06
Week Six · A
Run the collections campaign
We put the system to work on your overdue debtors, oldest and largest first, so cash that's already yours starts coming back in. Your finance lead learns the rhythm of following up without damaging the relationship.
07
Week Seven · A
Build the forecast, live
We start your 13-week cash flow forecast together, wired for how your firm really gets paid: retainers, milestones, deposits, invoices on 30- to 90-day terms and government payments that arrive later still. You and your finance lead build it with me, so you both know why every number is where it is.
08
Week Eight · A
Complete it and tie it to reality
We add the outgoings: payroll, PAYE, VAT, provisional tax, contractors on their own timelines and suppliers. Then we check the forecast against your bank and recent actuals until you trust it. Your margin findings and collections plan feed straight in.
09
Week Nine · A
Stress-test it
We run the forecast against a slow month, a government client paying at 120 days, a bigger VAT or tax bill, a project that overruns and a facility review. You learn what healthy looks like for a firm your size, and what to watch for before it happens.
10
Week Ten · A
Build your bank-ready pack
We put together what a bank, tender panel or partner wants to see: up-to-date management accounts, your 13-week forecast, the margin story behind your numbers, and the case for your facility or bid. Clear, consistent and yours to explain.
11
Week Eleven · A
Rehearse the meeting
You present your numbers and I play the banker, asking the hard questions they will. By the end you can explain and defend every figure yourself, without needing your accountant in the room.
Embed
12
Week Twelve · C
Install the rhythm
We install the Friday 15: fifteen minutes a week around your founder dashboard, prepared by your finance lead and reviewed by the two of you together. A final walkthrough hands the whole thing over, along with your Governance & Risk Management Toolkit, so you can delegate spending with confidence.
No homework for you. We build it in the room, together, so the work happens with me, not in the gaps of a week that's already full.
✦Who I am
Nyasha Madavo
Founder, Sapientis Advisory
Today, I work closely with founders of established service firms, typically R30m–R200m in turnover with managers, teams and a finance person already in place, to help them see their cash, understand their margins, strengthen their financial foundations and lead from real numbers.
Because this isn't just about numbers.
It's about building businesses that last.
As a CFO and outsourced CFO to owner-managed firms, I watched it repeat: profitable on paper, stressed about cash, no forward view, no real controls, and a finance function that hadn't grown with the business. What I didn't expect was that it would resurface something from years earlier. My own family's business collapsed while I was at university, undone by weak financial oversight and no real governance, the kind of fragility that doesn't announce itself until it's too late.
Both chapters converged into one mission: increase the success rate of growing businesses by embedding financial clarity and governance into how founders lead. This work is both professional and personal for me.
I'm a Chartered Accountant (CA(SA)), Deloitte-trained, a SAICA Top 35 Under 35 Finalist, an experienced CFO, a Certified Company Director (IoDSA), and I hold the International Certificate in Enterprise Risk Management (Institute of Risk Management UK). I've also built my own businesses from zero, so I know what it feels like to make big decisions from gut feel, and what changes when you lead with real figures.
I founded Sapientis Advisory to help founders stop guessing.
✦The method
How the TRACK Method works
The Symptom-to-Source Method: from the leak you can see to the lever that fixes it.
Founder's View isn't a one-off patch for a tight month. Each part of TRACK fixes one cause behind it. It's the first step of the path I take founders through, in the order it actually happens: numbers first, then the forward view and the rhythm to run on, then the governance and controls to protect it, then the growth, from "I'm guessing" to running a firm solid enough to grow, hand on or sell.
These twelve weeks cover T, R, A and C. K, Keep it Governed, Manage Risk & Grow, is where Founder's View Continuity picks up. It gives you a CFO in your corner every month while the governance, controls and risk register get built in, so you can delegate safely and grow. Your Governance & Risk Management Toolkit gives you a head start.
✦What clients say
Not a new idea. A proven part of my work, packaged for you.
Seventeen years across audit, finance, governance and risk, including as CFO to a business development enterprise, outsourced CFO to owner-managed companies, and internal financial controls for a listed group.
Founder's View is one part of the outsourced finance work I've been doing for years — cash visibility, margin analysis, forecasting and financial oversight — productised into twelve weeks for busy founders. Here's what leaders I've done that work with have said. The first three lead founder-led firms in the size range Founder's View is built for.
"Through the reporting dashboard and financial oversight provided, I gained a clearer understanding of our finances, including the factors creating cash-flow pressure and eroding margins. Her support with budgeting, cash-flow management, reporting and financial guidance helped me make more informed decisions, address key financial priorities and improve overall financial management."
"Working with you gave me the clarity and practical tools I needed to understand and oversee the financial drivers of my business with confidence. I now have a stronger grasp of the key financial areas that require attention and a clear view of how a finance function can contribute strategically to business growth. The insights I gained have strengthened my ability to make more informed decisions and engage with business finances as a value-creating partner."
Co-Founder & CFOTelecommunication services company, about R50m revenue — finance coaching and training engagement.
"We finally understood which of our projects were profitable, what was contributing to our declining margins, why we had cashflow problems and what to do about this."
Co-Founder & Executive DirectorMining services company, about R200m revenue — twelve-month engagement: finance coaching, monthly management accounts, financial performance oversight, and advice to directors.
"Nyasha provided high-quality governance advisory that strengthened our approach to decision-making, accountability and oversight. Her expertise in delegation-of-authority frameworks, board effectiveness assessments and governance-model design helped us establish clearer roles, more effective governance structures and a stronger foundation for sustainable growth."
DirectorDiverse services business — multi-year governance advisory work.
"She tested the design and operating effectiveness of key internal financial controls and provided high quality reporting. She is well versed and experienced in internal financial controls."
Engagement LeadAccounting practice — internal financial controls engagement for a listed telecoms group.
✦Questions founders ask before booking
Honest answers.
Is it worth R200,000?
At your size, one underpriced client can cost hundreds of thousands of rand a year. One overdue government invoice, or one project that overruns by a few weeks, can cost more than this whole engagement. Founder's View shows you where that's happening across your biggest clients and projects, and gives you a forecast to act on it. The figure to compare it to isn't zero; it's what not seeing clearly is already costing you. You can also pay in two instalments of R103,500. Prices exclude VAT.
What if I start and it's not right for me?
The Week One promise. If after our first session you don't believe this is worth it, tell me and I'll refund you in full. You keep the Numbers Read.
I already have a finance manager. Isn't this their job?
Your finance manager keeps the books accurate and the reporting running, and that's worth keeping. What's usually missing is the forward view, the margin analysis, and the experience to turn numbers into advice. Founder's View builds that with them, not around them. Nobody gets replaced; your finance lead comes out of it more valuable.
Can my external bookkeeper or accountant take part instead?
No. Founder's View is built for an in-house finance person, because they run the forecast, margin view and Friday rhythm with you every week once we finish. If all your finance support is external, we can talk on the call about what would fit instead.
I'm running a firm of 30 people. When would I do this?
In one 90-minute session a week, with me, not in your own time afterward. Your finance lead spends about 4 hours a week in total, including the session, and handles the updates in between. The self-paced training is there if you want to go deeper, never required.
Our projects, retainers and payment terms are complicated. Will this fit?
That complexity is exactly what this is built for: milestone billing, retainers, long payment terms, contractors and several service lines. We pour your real numbers in. If part of you is thinking yours is too complicated for this, that's the part this is for.
My biggest problem is clients paying late. Is this enough?
Yes. Collections is built in. We design your collections system in Week Five and run a campaign on your overdue debtors in Week Six. Then we build the forecast around how and when your clients actually pay, including government departments, and stress-test a major client paying late. If a bank conversation or tender is coming, Weeks Ten and Eleven get you ready for it.
Is there a shorter option?
Yes. Founder's View Essentials runs eight weeks and covers T, R, A and C without the collections system or the bank-ready pack. It's R120,000 excluding VAT. If cash is tight but collections and the bank aren't your pressure points, ask about it on the call.
What happens after the twelve weeks?
You leave with a forecast, a margin view and a weekly rhythm your team runs. Some clients stop there. Others move into Founder's View Continuity. That's a monthly CFO review, your forecast and dashboard kept current, and coaching for you and your finance lead. It also builds the K stage of TRACK: delegation of authority, key financial controls and a risk register. When the bank, the board or a buyer asks harder questions, you have a CFO who already knows your numbers. We'll only talk about it in Week Twelve, and only if it's useful to you.
What if you look and find the business isn't as good as I think?
Almost never. What I usually find is people who built something real with a few fixable gaps they were too close to see. That's why we start by naming what's already working, before we touch anything else.
Before we build anything, I look at your real books, and the first thing I do is tell you three things you're already doing right. Most founders have never had anyone qualified say that to them. Already had your Numbers Read? Join within 30 days and your R15,000 is credited, so you never pay twice. Want it first, on its own? Book a Numbers Read →
Top-Three Client & Project Margin Analysis
Value R36,000
The margin on your top three clients or projects by revenue, on your own actuals: which work pays, which quietly costs you, and why, so you can reprice or rethink the work that's quietly costing you. It's the most common blind spot I see in firms your size. Your finance lead learns the method alongside you, so they can apply it to the rest of your work after we finish.
The Financial Literacy Foundation
Value R17,000
What your P&L, balance sheet and cash flow statement are each telling you, accrual versus cash and profit versus cash, worked through on your own numbers with you and your finance lead.
Your Collections System, Designed and Run
Value R30,000
Clear terms, invoicing on time, a follow-up schedule and an escalation path, built for corporate and government clients on long terms. Then we run it on your overdue debtors together, so cash that's already yours starts coming back in, and your finance lead keeps it running after we finish.
The 13-Week Cash Flow Forecast
Value R48,000
Built with you on your real numbers and wired for how service firms actually get paid: retainers, milestones, deposits, 30- to 90-day terms, government payments and contractors on their own timelines. Because you build it with me rather than receive it, you understand every line. Not a template you'll abandon by Friday. Yours to keep and run every week, so tight weeks show up months early, not the night before payroll.
Your Bank-Ready Pack & Meeting Rehearsal
Value R36,000
Management accounts, your 13-week forecast, the margin story behind your numbers and the case for your facility or tender, in one clear pack. Then you rehearse the meeting with me playing the banker, so you walk in able to defend every figure yourself.
Your Customised Founder Dashboard & the Friday 15
Value R30,000
The handful of numbers that actually tell you how the firm is doing, including cash runway and the margin on your top three clients or projects, and nothing you don't need. Fifteen minutes on a Friday gives you oversight of the whole business without digging through reports.
Finance Lead Handover
Value R18,000
Your finance lead is trained alongside you, so the forecast, margin view and Friday rhythm keep running after we finish, with your finance lead preparing the numbers and you reviewing them together.
2 Weeks of Founder Support
Value R10,000
When our twelve weeks end, I don't disappear. For a fortnight afterwards you have direct access to me by email: a CFO-level second opinion while you start running it on your own. Confirm within 72 hours of our call and it becomes four weeks.
The Governance & Risk Management Toolkit
Value R24,000
Ready-to-use templates for the next stop on the road, K: Keep it Governed, Manage Risk & Grow: a delegation-of-authority template setting out who can spend, approve and access what; a governance checklist; a mid-year financial review checklist; and a risk register, so you can delegate spending without signing off everything yourself.
Self-Paced Financial Statements Training
Value R5,900
Unlocked after our first session, with 12 months' access for you and your finance lead. It reinforces what we cover live in Week Two. Optional, never homework.
Total value: R269,900
Included in Founder's View: R200,000 excl. VAT (or 2 × R103,500)
✦Not ready to talk yet?
Find out how much cash is hiding in your business.
The Hidden Cash Finder takes about 90 seconds: eight quick taps, no numbers to look up. You answer questions you already know the answers to, such as how long clients take to pay and how long it takes to get an invoice out.
You'll see straight away how much cash is likely tied up in your business. Your breakdown then shows:
Stuck in your debtors: cash your clients are holding beyond a healthy 45 days
Waiting to be invoiced: work you've finished but not yet billed
What it costs you every year: overdraft interest on that cash, plus the small leaks firms your size usually carry
One lever to pull this week: the single action that will move the most cash for you
It's an estimate based on the ranges you choose, not an audit. If you want the real number from your own books, that's what the No-Judgement Numbers Read is for.
Tired of growing the business and still chasing the cash?
I take on three Founder's View clients a month, because each one is hands-on and built around your firm, so there are only ever a few openings at a time. Next available start: 3 November.
Twelve weeks from now you'll know where your cash is going, which work makes you money and what the next 13 weeks hold. You'll have collected what you're owed and be ready to face the bank, with a weekly rhythm you and your finance lead run together to keep it that way. Less guessing, fewer sleepless payroll weeks, and a firm that doesn't need you watching the bank balance.
Every month you wait is another month of the same leaks. If one underpriced client is costing you R400,000 a year, waiting a quarter costs you about R100,000 before we've even started.
Start in November and your numbers are read, your margins clear and collections under way before the December shutdown. We pause over the holidays, then your 13-week forecast takes you into the January to March squeeze, so you see the dip coming instead of meeting it.
Book a call. We'll start with the three things you're already doing right, and you'll know quickly whether this is for you. No pressure either way.
On the call:
You tell me what's keeping you up at night.
I tell you honestly whether Founder's View fits.
You don't need to bring or share any numbers. Bring your finance lead if you like.
If it's a fit, I'll hold your start date for 72 hours. After that, it goes to the next founder on my list.
Confirm within 72 hours of our call and your two weeks of founder support after we finish becomes four.
Founder's View
R200,000
excl. VAT · or 2 payments of R103,500
Twelve weeks · You and your in-house finance lead (about 4 hours a week) · One 90-minute Zoom session a week
No-Judgement Numbers Read
Margin analysis on your top three clients or projects
Financial literacy foundation (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow)
Collections system, designed and run on your overdue debtors
If after our first session you don't believe this is worth it, tell me and I'll refund you in full. You keep the Numbers Read.
Looking for a lighter start? Founder's View Essentials: eight weeks, T, R, A and C without the collections system or bank-ready pack. R120,000 excl. VAT. Ask on the call.
Founder's View is offered by Sapientis Advisory (Pty) Ltd ("we", "us"). Questions about your data: nyash@leveluprlife.com.
What we collect
When you book a call through Calendly: your name, email and anything you add to the booking form.
When you use the Hidden Cash Finder: your answers, your contact details and the figures calculated from your answers.
When you email us or become a client: our correspondence and, for clients, the business financial information you share for the engagement.
Standard technical data (such as IP address and browser type) that our website host may collect to run the site securely.
How we use it
To reply to you, run your call, send your Hidden Cash Finder breakdown and any follow-up emails you signed up for, deliver your engagement, and meet our legal and accounting obligations. We never sell your personal information.
Our legal basis
Under UK and EU GDPR we rely on your consent for marketing emails, on steps before or under a contract for calls and engagements, on our legitimate interests in running the business, and on legal obligations for records we must keep. In South Africa we process personal information in line with POPIA.
Who we share it with
Only the service providers that help us run the business (such as Calendly, the hosting provider for the Hidden Cash Finder, Zoom, and our email and payment providers), our professional advisers, and authorities where the law requires it. Some of these providers are based outside your country; we rely on their contractual and security safeguards.
Client financial information
Anything you share about your business is kept confidential and used only to deliver your engagement.
How long we keep it
Enquiry and Hidden Cash Finder data for up to 24 months after our last contact; client records for as long as the law requires.
Your rights
You can ask to access, correct or delete your information, object to how we use it, or withdraw consent at any time, and you can unsubscribe from our emails with one click. Email us to make a request. You can also complain to your data protection regulator: the ICO in the UK, the Information Regulator in South Africa, or the relevant authority where you live.
Changes
We may update this policy; the date above shows the latest version.
