Why I'm Focusing on Deep Tech, Space and Defense

After 30 years in finance, I'm currently focusing my fractional CFO practice on deep tech, space and defense companies.

I've worked on both sides of the table. I was a banker and mezzanine lender at BMO, BDC and National Bank's Technology Group, then a fund manager, and since 2011 a fractional CFO through McIntosh Financial. The companies that taught me the most were the ones building hard things: rockets, wireless power for autonomous systems, AI-driven software.

Engineering moves fast. Finance often doesn't.

Deep tech founders are usually engineers and scientists. They can spend years developing a technology before it earns a dollar. During that time, they have to manage cash week by week, combine government programs with private capital, and report to investors, boards and funding agencies, each with its own rules.

A full-time CFO is often premature at that stage. Having no finance leader at all is too risky.

What I've learned on the ground

At Reaction Dynamics, a Québec hybrid-rocket launch company, I was fractional CFO from 2017 to 2021, starting in the company's founding year. I built the finance function from scratch and managed its government funding: NRC IRAP, SR&ED tax credits, the Canadian Space Agency and CRIAQ.

At Quaze Technologies, which develops wireless power for drones and robotics used in defense, I built the finance function from scratch and helped secure an innovation grant from Investissement Québec. Quaze was later acquired by Nasdaq-listed Red Cat Holdings.

I also spent almost four years as VP Finance at Innodem Neurosciences, an AI-driven software company, and later returned as its fractional Finance advisor from 2024 to 2026.

Three lessons stand out:

1.      Cash is weekly, not monthly. For a pre-revenue company, a 13-week rolling cash forecast is the most useful tool there is. It shows trouble while there's still time to act.

2.      Government financing is a discipline. Programs like IRAP, SR&ED and the Canadian Space Agency can be a major source of non-dilutive funding. They pay off only with clean records, on-time claims and careful compliance.

3.      Build for due diligence from day one. Investors, acquirers and defense customers will all examine your books. Systems set up early make the difference between a smooth process and a delayed one.

How I help

I work with founders who need senior financial leadership but aren't ready for a full-time CFO. That includes weekly cash flow management, government financing from application through claims, and capital raising with venture capital, strategic investors, debt and mezzanine. It also includes investor-ready reporting and data rooms, financial systems that hold up through due diligence, and restructuring support when a company needs to reset.

Having spent years on the lender and investor side, I know what funders look for, and I help companies show it to them.

Let's talk

If you're building in space, defense or deep tech and your finance function isn't keeping pace with your engineering, I'd like to hear from you. Contact me at susan@mcintoshfinancial.com or 514 915-3188.