Fractional CFO Services in
San Diego County
Main Street IQ is the fractional CFO that reads the business before the decision, not after. Founder Scott Hess is a U.S. Navy veteran with 20-plus years of CFO experience. For owner-operated DTC ecommerce brands, health and wellness practices, elective medicine practices, and wineries in San Diego County, we bring senior finance leadership and a built-in intelligence engine without the cost of a full-time hire.
Veteran-owned and operated.
Why San Diego Companies Outgrow Their Finance Function
San Diego County has one of the strongest consumer-brand and wellness economies on the West Coast, and most of it is built by owner-operators. The same growth that makes these businesses exciting creates financial complexity that spreadsheets and a part-time bookkeeper cannot handle. These are the four verticals we know deepest.
Ecommerce & DTC Growth
MER is holding. Revenue is up. Profit is down. San Diego's DTC and consumer-brand scene, from coastal North County active-lifestyle brands to the operators working out of Downtown and North Park, hits this point somewhere on the way to eight figures: ad costs, inventory working capital, and fulfillment complexity start eating the margin that used to be obvious. A fractional CFO builds the contribution margin model by SKU and channel, the inventory cash lock-up analysis, and the spend-to-cash bridge that tells you what is actually funding growth and what is just financing the next ad buy.
Health & Wellness Unit Economics
Longevity, IV therapy, hormone optimization, recovery, functional medicine. San Diego's wellness market runs unusually deep, and the practice in La Jolla, Del Mar, or Encinitas usually runs several modalities under one roof, each with its own acquisition cost, retention curve, and margin, all commingled in one P&L. A fractional CFO separates the lines, tells you which modality actually carries the practice and which one is quietly subsidized, and builds the membership and package economics that hold up as you add chairs and locations.
Elective Medicine & the Consult Lever
Cosmetic surgery, cosmetic dermatology, MedSpa, cosmetic dental. The La Jolla and Del Mar corridors carry one of Southern California's densest concentrations of elective medicine practices, and in this business everything turns on the consultation-to-procedure conversion and the mix of procedures you book. Most practices track production but never model the lever. A fractional CFO builds the per-procedure contribution math, the provider and room utilization read, and the marketing payback by service line so you grow the procedures that pay and stop subsidizing the ones that do not.
Wine Country Economics, San Diego Scale
Ramona and the San Pasqual Valley anchor a real and growing wine scene, smaller than the Central Coast but built on the same punishing economics: multi-year production cycles, barrel inventory, club shipments, and tasting-room overhead all pulling cash in different directions. A fractional CFO builds the 13-week cash forecast that tells you in June whether you will make it to crush, and the per-tier club unit economics that tell you which tier actually makes money.
Four readings, one practice
Every San Diego County engagement runs on the same instrument set. The depth and the cadence change with how close you want the CFO to the work.
Discover
A one-time read on the market your business sells into. Cohort dynamics, regional shifts, and the buyer behavior actually in motion.
Diagnose
A one-time read on your business. The Website Audit and Buyer Alignment work that names where the funnel leaks, where the messaging misses, and what AI engines say when a buyer asks about you.
Monitor
A continuous read. Monthly scorecards on AI-search visibility, competitive position, and the metrics tied to your next decision, so drift gets caught before it becomes a problem.
Advise
The CFO in the room. The standing decision cadence where we read the engine's findings against where the business is going and help you decide the next move.
Two ways that work
The difference is not the size of the number. It is who owns the books.
Engage
A CFO in your room
You keep your finance team. We bring senior judgment and the intelligence engine to the decisions that actually move the business: pricing, hiring, capital, channel shifts, board prep. For San Diego County owner-operators who have execution covered and want a CFO at the decision moments.
Manage
Your finance department, run by us
We are the finance function. Close, cash, books, investor reporting, and the CEO dashboard, run by the CFO with an embedded team and the engine underneath. For owner-operators who would rather not build a finance team at all. Run for a small number of clients at a time. See the full Manage page →
Not sure which one is you? That is the Intro Call. Both are scoped there, against your actual situation, not off a price card.
CFO Services Across San Diego County
We serve San Diego County from California's Central Coast, one of six coastal counties we cover from San Luis Obispo south. The work runs remotely with on-site time when it counts, and the vertical depth travels with us.
La Jolla, Del Mar & Carmel Valley
The wellness and elective medicine corridor. Longevity clinics, MedSpas, cosmetic dermatology, plastic surgery, hormone and IV therapy practices serving one of the most affluent patient bases in Southern California. For the owner-operated practices in this corridor we build the per-procedure and membership unit economics, the provider utilization read, and the cash visibility that keep margin intact as they add rooms, providers, and locations.
Encinitas, Carlsbad & Coastal North County
Active-lifestyle and consumer brands, wellness studios, and a deep bench of DTC operators built around the North County coastal identity. The pattern here is the brand that grew fast on a hero product and now carries a catalog, an inventory position, and an ad budget the founder can no longer read by feel. We build the SKU-level contribution model and the working capital plan that turn growth back into cash.
Downtown, North Park & Mission Valley
The urban core carries consumer brands, professional services, and multi-location wellness and fitness operators with seasonal visitor traffic layered on top. Multi-unit economics are the recurring challenge: which location actually earns its rent, which service line subsidizes the rest, and what the next lease does to the whole P&L. We build the per-location contribution read that answers those questions before the signature, not after.
Ramona, San Pasqual & Escondido
San Diego's wine country. Smaller than the Central Coast regions we also serve, but the same business: estate production, barrel inventory, club economics, and tasting-room seasonality. We bring the same club unit economics and cash conversion modeling we run for wineries up the coast, sized for the boutique producer whose whole operation runs on the owner's judgment.
Whether you need a part-time CFO for ongoing financial leadership, an interim CFO to bridge a transition, or a fractional finance partner to prepare for a fundraise, acquisition, or major growth initiative, Main Street IQ brings 20+ years of CFO experience to San Diego County businesses. From fractional CFO services and outsourced finance leadership to full interim CFO engagements, we scale with you. We serve companies across Orange County too →
Finding the SKUs that were financing the ad budget
Illustrative engagement
A DTC brand comes to us with top-line growth every quarter and less cash in the bank every month. The read: two hero SKUs carry the entire catalog, and the ad spend that looks efficient in the dashboard is buying revenue on the SKUs that lose money after freight and fulfillment. We build the contribution margin model by SKU and channel, rebalance the spend toward the products that earn it, and growth starts funding itself instead of consuming the credit line.
That is the difference between a bookkeeper who records what happened and a CFO who reads what it means while you can still do something about it. See what your numbers are telling you →
Common Questions
Main Street IQ is a fractional and interim CFO practice founded by Scott Hess, a U.S. Navy veteran with 20-plus years of CFO experience. It serves owner-operated companies under $50MM in San Diego County across four verticals: DTC ecommerce, health and wellness, elective medicine, and wineries. The practice pairs a named CFO with a built-in intelligence engine that reads the market, the funnel, and the cohort before the decision. The starting point is a free 30-minute Intro Call.
A fractional CFO costs a fraction of a full-time CFO hire, and senior finance talent in San Diego does not come cheap. The fractional model lets owner-operated companies under $50MM access CFO-level leadership without the full-time salary, benefits, and equity. Pricing depends on your vertical and your situation, so it is scoped on a free 30-minute Intro Call rather than printed on a tier card. You only pay for the work that pays you back.
We go deepest in four verticals: DTC ecommerce and consumer brands; health and wellness practices, a market where San Diego runs unusually deep from La Jolla to Carlsbad; elective medicine practices such as cosmetic surgery, cosmetic dermatology, MedSpas, and cosmetic dentistry; and wineries, including the Ramona and San Pasqual Valley wine country. The common thread is the owner-operated company under $50MM that has outgrown its finance function. San Diego's economy is far bigger than those four verticals, but they are where our methodology and peer benchmarks run deepest.
Primarily remotely, with on-site time when the work calls for it. Main Street IQ is based on California's Central Coast and serves clients across six coastal counties from San Luis Obispo to San Diego. The ongoing cadence, monthly reporting, and decision support run remotely; board meetings, team working sessions, and close-process overhauls can happen in your office. Most owner-operators find the rhythm indistinguishable from a local hire, minus the local-hire cost.
It is the research and monitoring layer built into the practice. Before we advise on a decision, the engine reads your market, your funnel, your cohorts, and what AI search engines say when a buyer asks about businesses like yours. Four readings come out of it: Discover reads your market, Diagnose reads your business, Monitor tracks both continuously, and Advise puts the CFO in the room to act on what the readings say. It is the difference between advice from experience alone and advice from experience plus evidence.
A part-time controller handles the mechanics of financial reporting: reconciling accounts, producing statements, and managing the close. A fractional CFO operates at the strategic level: analyzing contribution margin across SKUs, channels, or service lines, forecasting cash, advising on pricing and growth decisions, managing lender relationships, and building the systems that let your finance team scale. Most growing San Diego businesses need both: a strong back-office team and a CFO who turns the numbers into decisions.
Yes. San Diego wine country, anchored by Ramona and the San Pasqual Valley, is smaller than the Central Coast but runs on the same economics: multi-year production cycles, barrel inventory, club and tasting-room revenue, and a cash conversion cycle that punishes guesswork. Wineries are one of our four core verticals, and the club unit economics and 13-week cash forecasting we run for Central Coast producers apply directly to San Diego County wineries.
Related Guides for San Diego Operators
CFO, Finance Director, or Controller: Which Do You Actually Need?
The most expensive mistake a growing company makes at the finance leadership level isn't hiring the wrong person. It's hiring the wrong role.
The Cash Flow Illusion
Profitable on paper, broke in practice. How cash hides in inventory, AR, and expense timing, especially relevant for DTC brands and wineries.
Interim Finance Leadership
Your CFO just left. Or is about to. Interim finance leadership that embeds in days, stabilizes the function, and sets up your next permanent hire.