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

This has been a year with it's shares of ups and downs, no doubt.

And as the sun sets on 2025, it's worth looking back at what it has meant.

Concentration, pull back, constraints, hubris and many a nervous month for lots of the founders out there trying to hit that next milestone.

But through it all, I've had a blast - because nothing good comes from anything easy.

To all the EmergeOne | Fractional CFO services CFOs, thank you for providing (in)sanity on demand in our chats, for showing up with such honesty and integrity with everyone of the clients we are so lucky to work with.

To Ghilaine Chan, ✌️ Michele Cuccovillo, Aylin Kate Aydogan and, now, Jay G. I appreciate and value all the work and effort you put in to keeping me on track and my eyes on the prize.

To each and every founder, startup, VC fund, investor, operator and board member who have referred us to someone in need of our support, you have our unlimited gratitude.

To every single client we have ever worked with and, of course, those we continue to support - you make every day worthwhile, thank you for trusting us to help you - it's why we exist.

To all the partners we have built relationships with in 2025, I'm excited to see what we can bring to the new year, more collaborations, more cross fertilisation and more value creation.

To every incredible guest who has joined me on Nothing Ventured this year and helped us grow to over 50,000 subscribers - there was something incredible to take away from each and every conversation - thank you for continuing to join me in exploring this ecosystem I love so much.

To my wife and kids who are there through it all, thank you for not kicking me out of the house (yet) - from the early morning treadmill runs to the late night calls - I couldn't do any of this without you and your love.

To everyone else - if we haven't met yet, let's and, even if we don't - just remember, whatever life throws at you: You've got this.

Play long term games with long term people and, remember...

Stay liquid.

Wishing you all a strong end to 2025 and a Safe and Prosperous start to the New Year 🙏🏾

Aarish out... (Till tomorrow 😅)

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

Can think of far worse places to spend the first day of 2026 ❤️

So many thoughts on the ups and downs of the last couple of years.

From soft markets to hard decisions 2025 (and 2024) has been challenging to say the least.

And it remains true that no forecast survives contact with the real world.

Business grew but not as much as I would have liked.

Clients raised (but not as much as they would have liked).

Our CFOs weathered some of the hardest storms that our clients have had to navigate.

But some didn't make it through.

For now, however, we continue to endure.

And today, I'm just enjoying the sun on my face :)

No alternative text description for this image

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.

taplio

Aarish Shah's Linkedin Analytics

Aarish Shah

Performance ScoreAarish Shah's LinkedIn Performance

What is Aarish talking about?

Aarish Shah's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Aarish Shah's Linkedin Analytics

Aarish Shah

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

What is Aarish talking about?

Aarish Shah's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Aarish Shah's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreAarish Shah's LinkedIn Performance

Aarish Shah's Best Posts (last 30 days)