Seven Books.
Three Levels.
The Founder Financial Infrastructure Standard defines what financial infrastructure every early-stage company must maintain, at each stage of development, across seven domains.
Download Complete Standard — Beta v0.5 (PDF)The Seven Books
The Standard is organised into seven Books. Book 0 establishes the definitions, principles, and taxonomies that govern all others. Books 1 through 6 each govern a specific domain of financial infrastructure, with compliance criteria at three levels.
Three Compliance Levels
Every domain in Books 1 through 6 defines requirements at three compliance levels. Compliance levels are not stages; a company at any stage may operate at any level. The levels define the depth and completeness of financial infrastructure, not its presence or absence.
The minimum financial infrastructure required for a company to understand its position, manage its cash, and engage angel and pre-seed investors with credibility. Structural foundations are in place.
Full operational financial infrastructure. All domains are maintained with the depth required for institutional investor engagement at Seed and Series A. The standard expected at a Series A term sheet.
The financial infrastructure of an institutionally mature organisation. Board-level governance, departmental financial planning, strategic decision modeling, and continuous investor readiness.
How to Use the Standard
The Standard is designed to be used as a reference, not read sequentially. A founder preparing for a Series A raise begins with Book 5 to understand investor expectations, then uses Book 1 and Book 2 to assess the current state of the financial model, then Book 3 to review the cap table. An investor establishing portfolio financial requirements begins with Book 5, Section 5.3, the Investor Expectations Matrix.
Each Book page on this site presents the governing principles, compliance criteria, and common deficiencies for that domain. For the full text of each Book, download the PDF below or from the relevant Book page.
Downloads
Complete Standard — Beta v0.5Book 0: Foundations and Definitions
Book 1: Financial Architecture
Book 2: Performance Modeling and Forecasting
Book 3: Capital Structure and Equity
Book 4: Valuation
Book 5: Investor Readiness
Book 6: Strategic Financial Planning
Citation
The Standard is published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. It may be freely used, cited, adapted, and distributed with attribution.
ffistandard.org. 2026.
To cite a specific Book:
Founder Financial Infrastructure Standard, Beta v0.5, Book [N].
ffistandard.org. 2026.
To cite a specific section:
Founder Financial Infrastructure Standard, Beta v0.5, Book [N], Section [N.N].
ffistandard.org. 2026.
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Version: Beta v0.5, published April 2026. Version history →