Marc Orchard Brings vCFO Expertise to LaunchVic's 30x30 Program

By Marc Orchard

Marc Orchard, CEO and co-founder of Brisbane-based virtual CFO firm Planet Startup, serves as a Lead Finance Facilitator for LaunchVic's 30x30 program. The role places his financial and commercial…

Marc Orchard, CEO and co-founder of Brisbane-based virtual CFO firm Planet Startup, serves as a Lead Finance Facilitator for LaunchVic's 30x30 program. The role places his financial and commercial experience in front of founders across Victoria's startup ecosystem, drawing on a career built entirely around early-stage technology companies.

Marc's background gives him a clear vantage point on what growing companies need from their finance function. He founded the BDO for Startups division and worked as Director of Startups at BDO Australia, served as Brisbane City Manager at Fishburners, and was Talent Program Director at fintech company Swyftx. He graduated from UQ in 2009 with a Bachelor of Business Management, started a financial planning firm which he sold in 2015, and was later appointed an Entrepreneur in Residence at UQ Ventures in 2022.

Marc describes a gap he has seen repeatedly across the sector. He argues that most founders receive very little proactive financial or commercial advice, that large accounting firms focus mainly on end-of-year taxes, and that a fractional or virtual CFO is well placed to fill that space. He states that less than 20 per cent of high-growth, pre-Series A companies in Australia have a full or part-time CFO, a figure that underpins much of his work with early-stage teams.

That experience is substantial. Marc says that over roughly five years he has worked with more than 500 high-growth technology companies, that he and his team have worked on several exits above $100 million, and that he has helped clients raise over $100 million in investment. Through Planet Startup he advises technology founders from seed to Series B, working with companies including Greaseboss, Orefox, Rainstick, Swyftx, xrecruiter and Nourish'd.

For the founders taking part in 30x30, Marc's involvement offers direct access to finance expertise shaped by both operator and advisory roles. It is a contribution aimed squarely at the stage where, by his own account, proactive financial guidance is most often missing.