A senior financial advisory practice, built for the moments where the right answer is too consequential to guess.
Lighthouses guide ships through complexity. They don't run the ship — they illuminate the path through the parts of the journey where the cost of getting it wrong is too high to risk navigating alone.
Our job is the same. Whether you're preparing for a raise, modeling a strategic pivot, building the financial foundation for the next stage, or making the call between two paths that both look right on paper — we don't take the wheel. We make sure you can see what's actually in the water.
Zach founded The Lighthouse Group after fifteen years at the intersection of institutional finance, global financial education, and cross-industry operational finance work.
His background includes investment banking at Jefferies & Co., where he advised on M&A and capital markets transactions for technology, media, and telecommunications clients; sell-side and buy-side advisory across multiple industries at a boutique M&A advisory firm; and teaching advanced financial modeling and valuation at top-tier financial institutions around the world. He began his career in Raytheon's Financial Leadership Development Program and holds dual degrees in Physics and Finance from Boston College. Beyond The Lighthouse Group, Zach also remains active in middle-market M&A advisory.
The through-line across every setting is the same: translating complex financial work into decisions leaders can act on.
Integrity & Transparency
Honest, data-grounded guidance. We don't tell you what you want to hear; we tell you what the numbers actually show — and what we'd do about it.
We don't let projections drift from what the business can actually do. The retailer count behind the revenue forecast. The pipeline coverage behind the bookings target. The capacity behind the headcount plan. The job is surfacing reality — current and forward — calibrated for who's reading it: investor, lender, board, or just you and the team.
Pedagogical Clarity
The work isn't useful if you can't follow it. Every model, analysis, and recommendation comes with the why alongside the what. You should be able to defend it as if you built it yourself — because in many ways, we built it together.
Tech-Forward Thinking
We use the latest analytical tools to ensure insights are built on current conditions, not yesterday's playbook. Frameworks and benchmarks continuously updated so what surfaces in your engagement reflects where your industry is right now — not where it was eighteen months ago.
Adaptable Engagement
Whether you need someone to get you pointed in the right direction with confidence in your financial footing, or a strategic partner walking alongside you through the next phase of growth — we have engagement models for both. The work bends to your situation, not the reverse.
Stating this clearly prevents scope drift and keeps engagements focused.
We don't do month-end close, reconciliations, or tax preparation. We work on top of clean books, not in the books. Strong accounting is a prerequisite for what we do, not a substitute.
We don't select or implement NetSuite, Sage, or other finance platforms. If you need that work, we'll recommend a partner. Our scope is strategic and analytical, not operational systems buildout.
We're not filling a seat in your finance department. We provide senior strategic and analytical firepower for specific decisions and transitions. If what you need is full-time CFO presence, we'll tell you — and help you find the right hire.
Or see the framework in action first — take the free Financial Health Scorecard at FounderFinance.ai. Same diagnostic that anchors every engagement.
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