Iryna Krutsenko — Strategic Finance Consultant | Helping Growing Businesses Understand Their Numbers

I've worked on both sides of finance — in the corporate world and in the public sector — and I've seen what happens when organizations have the right data at the right time, and when they don't.

When I worked in the solar industry, I saw how many growing companies operate without a dedicated strategic FP&A function. Even with strong finance and data teams, strategic forecasting often wasn't as deep or structured as it could be — and I realized this gap was especially critical for small businesses, growth-stage companies, and multi-location operations.

They had the numbers, but no story. And without that story, making smart decisions about growth was harder than it had to be.

What drives me now is helping businesses understand not just what happened, but what's possible. Can your business scale? Should it scale? Where should you invest next? These aren't bookkeeping questions — they're strategic ones.

I'm also learning how investors evaluate businesses through VC scout programs. Not to change careers, but to bring that lens to operators building companies. Understanding both the operator perspective (from 10+ years in FP&A) and the investor perspective helps me identify what makes a business truly scalable.

Nine Lives Strategy is my way to provide the kind of custom, strategic financial analysis that growing businesses need — without the $5K+/month fractional CFO price tag.

Now, I help small businesses and startups get the strategic insights they need to make confident decisions about growth — tailored to their specific situation, not templated solutions.