Mariya Valeva — Co-Founder
There's a point where you just can't wing it anymore. Usually around $2M ARR. When growth is real, but messy. When the business works (but the numbers don't fully add up). When pricing gets risky, hiring gets heavy, and suddenly every "quick decision" starts showing up in your burn. That's where I come in. I step in as your Fractional CFO to help turn momentum into structure. We build pricing, capital allocation, operating constraints, and targets the team actually runs on. Over the last decade, I've worked with 20+ early and growth-stage companies, both VC-backed and bootstrapped, across SaaS, fintech, edtech, and agencies. I've helped scale revenue from $500K to $20M, grow teams from 10 to 200+, and build finance and ops foundations from scratch. I've been in the room for pivots, layoffs, down rounds, near-bankruptcies, and exits - not as an observer, but owning the financial logic behind what happened next. In 2024, I founded FounderFirst to go deeper with this work, helping teams build finance that actually supports growth, long before they're ready for a full-time CFO. Since then, we've partnered with 70+ founder-led startups and SMBs, including leading accelerators and venture studios. That's the professional story. Here's the real one. I grew up in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria - no English, no tech exposure, no obvious path. At 17, I taught myself English. At 19, I earned a scholarship to study in the U.S. I arrived with a suitcase, less than $300, and no backup plan, and did whatever scrappy thing it took to stay afloat. Eventually, I found my way into startups. The chaos, the ownership, the pressure, for the first time, I felt like I fit. What started as survival became a decade of building behind the scenes. Now I bring all of it - the scrappiness, the strategy, and the systems - to founders who are ready for real financial leadership. When I'm not deep in spreadsheets or board decks, you'll find me hiking a national park or nose-deep in a book. (Always open to recommendations.) If the next set of decisions actually matters, let's talk: https://bit.ly/3NEYTqT
Stackforce AI infers this person is a Fractional CFO specializing in SaaS and startup financial management.
Location: New York, New York, United States
Experience: 13 yrs 1 mo
Skills
- Financial Modeling
- Strategic Financial Management
- Advisory Boards
- Saas Financial Modeling
- Financial Reporting
- Project Management
- P&l Management
- Budget Allocation
- Go-to-market Strategy
- People Management
- Startup Scaling
- Corporate Finance
- Business Research
- Operations Management
- Financial Analysis
Career Highlights
- Scaled revenue from $500K to $20M for multiple startups.
- Founded FounderFirst to support early-stage financial leadership.
- Experienced in navigating pivots, layoffs, and exits.
Work Experience
FounderFirst
Founder (1 yr 9 mos)
Connectd
Advisor & Fractional CFO (1 yr 9 mos)
Harvard Innovation Labs
Mentor to B2B Ventures (2 yrs 8 mos)
IVY
Fractional Finance Partner (2 yrs 9 mos)
Director, Finance & Operations (2 yrs 5 mos)
Senior Manager, Finance & People Operations (11 mos)
Senior Director, Finance And Operations (7 yrs 4 mos)
Finance & People Operations Manager (9 mos)
Meraki Ventures
Fractional CFO/COO (2 yrs 9 mos)
GoButler, Inc
Operations & Finance Lead (1 yr 2 mos)
Global Capital Market Solutions (GCMS)
Market Research Intern (5 mos)
Lazard
Financial Analyst (1 yr 11 mos)
Infosys
Business Analyst Intern (3 mos)
Logica
Financial Analyst Intern (2 mos)
Education
Master of Arts - MA at Harvard University
Bachelor of Arts - BA at Smith College
Certificate at BrainStation
Graduate Certificate at Harvard University
