About
Understanding Finance
Understanding Finance is a critical skill to communicate with your peers in the C-suite.
- Learn about financial metrics in SaaS and other business models
- Understand the Cash Flow Statement, P&L, balance sheet of your company.
- Use the budget as an effective tool to make your plans happen.
- Contribute to your company’s funding trajectory.
- Work effectively with the board.
What you’ll learn
Finance often seems an administrative burden to CTOs. However, if used correctly, Finance can be a tool and a lever to get your plans executed.
In this workshop, we’ll guide you through all aspects of Finance.
You’ll learn about:
- Financial metrics – which ones are important and why, how do you measure them, how do you use them to express ROI.
- Budget, financial forecast, financial plan – what is their goal, how are they different, how do you put them together, how do you use them in your day-to-day operations.
- Funding – what is the role of a CTO in the funding trajectory. What can you contribute, what should you watch out for, and what can go wrong during due diligence.
- Valuation – can you as a CTO impact valuation (spoiler: yes!) and how can you do this for the better.
- Board dynamics – how is a board built, what is its function, what is relevant to the board members, how do you present to a board.
Nathalie De Ceulaer will guide you through all those topics, and give real-life examples of do’s and don’ts.
This Finance workshop is specifically designed for CTOs. We dive into the tech sector’s jargon and ensure clear explanations of new terms. We help CTOs better understand the language of the CFO and CEO, while highlighting the technical implications of different metrics and reporting strategies.
What you’ll get
- Practical templates: Work on a concrete budget or funding round using tested templates.
- Implementation strategies: Learn how you can contribute to a smoother fund raising and better relationship with your company’s board and investors. Learn how to involve your team and build consensus.
- Q&A sessions: Ask your specific questions and receive tailored advice.
About Nathalie
Nathalie De Ceulaer has been working with tech companies for over a decade. As a (fractional) CFO, board member and advisor, she has been involved in over a hundred startups and scale-ups, in a range of sectors and with different business models. With a firm financial background, she guides founders and C-level executives through the challenges of finance in startups and scaleups.
Nathalie also sat at the other side of the table as CFO and risk manager of Fortino Capital. She teaches entrepreneurial finance and financial analysis for innovative business models at Solvay Business School and wrote 2 books on funding and financial planning for growth companies.
She loves to coach founders and to help them stand their ground with investors. Her company Finnovators provides full scope financial services (from accounting, over financial modelling and reporting, to CFO services) to tech startups and scale-ups.
Practicals
The next workshop “Finance for CTOs” will take place on October 23, 2025, in The Brain Embassy in Antwerp.
- Arrival at 13:00
- Start workshop at 13:30
- End workshop at 17:30
You’ll pay € 650. SMEs in Flanders who use the KMO Portefeuille will only pay € 455 themselves.
Register for Understanding Finance
The SoftwareCaptains Academy is a service of SoftwareCaptains.
SoftwareCaptains is a registered service provider for the KMO Portefeuille.