The evolution of finance orgs

From scrappy startups to pre-IPO powerhouses, finance teams evolve fast—and not always in a straight line. We analyzed the org charts of 218 high-growth Y Combinator companies to answer the questions finance leaders ask most:
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• When should we hire our first FP&A lead?
• How big should the team be at 250 employees?
• When do specialized roles like Treasury or Procurement appear?
• How does accounting headscount scale compared to strategic finance?
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Inside, you’ll get a data-driven roadmap of how finance organizations evolve across four key stages: Early (5–50 employees), Growth (51–250), Scale (251–500), and Pre-IPO (500+) stages.
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How can this help you and your finance team?
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• ‍See the big picture — median team sizes, role mix, and org composition at each stage‍
• Spot the signals that it’s time to layer in new roles or functions‍
• Benchmark your team against peers at similar headcount and funding levels‍
• Understand the tradeoffs between lean vs. developed teams‍
• Plan for the future with insights on when specialization and systems typically take hold
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