Improving on Instinct

Why Startups Need Fractional FP&A: A Lesson from Daniel Kahneman

I was recently having coffee with a friend who is the former COO of a publicly traded company. During a period of rapid growth, she explained, everything moved so quickly that most decisions had to be made on intuition. There was no time to prepare analysis to support decision-making—and often, no data. It reminded me of life at many startups.

On the way home, I happened to catch a conversation between Adam Grant (celebrated Wharton professor) and Daniel Kahneman (Nobel Prize-winning economist). They were discussing the concept of System 1 and System 2 thinking from Thinking, Fast and Slow. System 1 is fast, automatic, and intuitive—the kind of thinking we rely on when we're moving at speed. System 2 is slower, more deliberate, analytical—and often underutilized when urgency dominates.

I love this framing because fractional FP&A is System 2 thinking for fast-moving companies.

Early-stage and scaling companies are often swimming in uncertainty. But while intuition (System 1) is essential for agility, relying on it alone can introduce blind spots: overconfidence, pattern-matching, and decision fatigue. A fractional FP&A partner doesn’t slow the company down—they counterbalance System 1 by injecting structured thinking, fresh data perspectives, and analytical clarity when it’s needed most.

Just a few hours a week of targeted analysis—performance trends, scenario modeling, budget calibration—can challenge faulty assumptions, reveal unseen risks, and support better decisions.

Kahneman warned that System 2 often takes a back seat because it’s effortful. But what if, instead of burdening internal teams, startups could borrow that cognitive capacity?

That’s what fractional FP&A offers: System 2, on demand.

If you are interested in exploring what Fractional FP&A Consulting can do to support your systems thinking, feel free to schedule a free discovery call here.