Chris Seidensticker is a hands-on CFO/COO with over 20 years of experience helping early-stage, venture-backed startups build financial discipline and scale with confidence. For the last 15 years, as a fractional CFO/COO, Chris has partnered with more than 50 startups, helping raise over $250 million in equity and debt and leading more than $350 million in M&A and asset transactions — including Astro Gaming’s sale to Skullcandy, ClearMetal’s sale to Project44, and a $140 million vaccine asset acquisition for PaxVax.
Chris partners with founders and boards at every stage from pre-seed through Series A — scaling efficiently, building operational infrastructure, creating financial models that operate as functional company roadmaps, standing up scalable back-office systems, and leading companies through fundraising rounds, first audits, and (when it’s the right call) wind-downs. Recent engagements include CFO/COO at Sniffspot, a community marketplace for renting dog-friendly land by the hour; CFO at Compound Labs, where he led Compound Treasury through its first financial audit, making it the first DeFi offering to receive a credit rating from S&P; and CFO at Swing Education, where he helped raise a $38 million Series C plus $20 million in venture debt and led the company through its first financial audit.
Earlier in his career, Chris built his finance foundation at Baxter Healthcare, Siebel Systems, and Estech.
Away from the spreadsheets, Chris enjoys staying healthy by being a dawn-patrol surfer and going to see live music. Originally hailing from south Mississippi, now based in the San Francisco Bay Area.