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Daniel Sawko

Aarish Shah

I’m a founder, a CFO, and a builder of things that (hopefully) outlive me.

Over the last two decades, I’ve sat on both sides of the table — leading startups as CEO and CFO, raising capital, building from scratch, and seeing what happens when things don’t go to plan.

Today, I run EmergeOne, a fractional CFO consultancy working with some of the UK’s fastest-growing venture backed startups — from Seed to Series B and beyond.

Our team has raised tens of millions, supported nine-figure exits, and partnered with companies backed by funds like Stride, Hoxton, Playfair, Octopus, Founders Factory, and more.

But this isn’t just about finance.

It’s about making sure founders don’t fly blind.

It’s about helping early-stage businesses make better decisions, faster — without waiting until it’s too late or too expensive to fix.

And it’s about changing how this ecosystem understands finance:
→ Not as a blocker.
→ Not as a back-office function.
→ But as a core driver of strategic growth.

Outside of EmergeOne, I host Nothing Ventured — a podcast digging into the stories behind the people shaping startups, VC, and tech. 

Join tens of thousands of subscribers here: https://www.youtube.com/@nothingventuredpodcast

I am also writing Off Balance — the 100 lessons I have learned from 20 years as CEO and CFO - sign up for early access here: https://airtable.com/appr5NwjdkUBLaFhz/pagzDXf7qM4vgnVO9/form

Everything I do — from the boardroom to the podcast mic — is driven by the same purpose:

To educate, empower, and elevate the next generation of founders, operators, and CFOs.

If you’ve got a question about startup finance, venture, or what the numbers really mean, feel free to drop me a DM, I'll be happy to grab a chat.

In the meantime,

Stay liquid.

Founder

Business advisory providing Part Time and Portfolio Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Finance Director (FD) and finance ops services to startups and growth ventures.

We help you build a better finance stack.

Financial Modelling
Financial and Business Strategy
Financial Planning and Analysis
Treasury and Cash Management
Debt and Equity raises
Performance Dashboarding

There have been two unlocks for me at a personal level that have fueled my ability to build my business, my podcast, my platform.

Neither come from a place of condescension for others - not all of us are built the same way, my faults may be the things that help you flourish.

The first has been running.

For 6 years to the day, I have been running every day (barring a few days off every year predominantly due to some illness or the other).

I'm not aiming for distance, or speed or trying to get marathon ready - instead for me running is the simplest and most efficient way to get my body and mind prepped for the day ahead.

It's a time when I can focus on just putting one foot in front of the other instead of the usual chaos that my ADHDish brain normally throws at me.

The second has been sobriety.

People often ask me whether I feel different not drinking. This is the wrong question.

Because I don't feel any different.

But I know I would if I had a couple of drinks in the evening - the next day would be low energy, I'd have brain fog, no focus and limited bias towards action.

Again, stopping drinking alcohol was the right thing for me - that ADHDish brain again. For most people, having a beer, a nice burgandy or a single malt is a great way to take the edge off and relax, I don't begrudge anyone their fun.

But these two changes in my life have supercharged how I work and how I approach my life. They've helped me to improve myself and my relationships with others.

Because building a business is tough enough as it is.

For me, feeling like I have my body and mind in sync helps give me the resilience to push through those tough times better.

Helping venture backed founders scale | $500M+ in exits & capital raised | Bootstrapped EmergeOne to ​>$1M | Host of Nothing Ventured – real talk with VCs, founders & operators

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Daniel Sawko

Aarish Shah

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taplio

The Battle

Daniel Sawko

Aarish Shah

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Aarish Shah's LinkedIn Performance

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