Burkland Associates vs Sandstone Finance
Side-by-side from the Top 11 rankings of 11 Best Fractional CFO Companies 2026 — Priced From $1,500/mo, No Paid Listings and The 11 Best Fractional CFOs for Patent-Heavy & IP-Rich Startups (2026). Last verified June 9, 2026.
The short answer
Burkland Associates ranks higher on Top 11 (#1 vs #7) for Tech founders raising $1M to $50M, Seed to Series B / Founders of deep-tech, AI, biotech, hardware, and any company where patents or other IP form ≥20% of enterprise value — and who need a CFO that treats IP as the asset it is, not a balance-sheet line item.. The safe default for VC-backed US startups. Board-fluent and deep-benched.
At a glance
| Burkland Associates | Sandstone Finance | |
|---|---|---|
| Top 11 rank | #1 / 11 Best Fractional CFO Companies 2026 — Priced From $1,500/mo, No Paid Listings | #7 / The 11 Best Fractional CFOs for Patent-Heavy & IP-Rich Startups (2026) |
| Score (out of 9.4) | 9.1 | 7.2 |
| Best for | Series A to C VC-backed SaaS | Bay Area boutique tech with IP awareness |
| Pricing | $$$ (typically $5k to $25k/mo) | $$ ($3k to $8k/mo) |
| HQ | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco Bay Area, CA |
| Founded | 2003 | 2018 |
Burkland Associates
The safe default for VC-backed US startups. Board-fluent and deep-benched.
burklandassociates.comSee full entry in 11 Best Fractional CFO Companies 2026 — Priced From $1,500/mo, No Paid Listings
Sandstone Finance
Bay Area boutique with practitioner-dependent IP fluency.
sandstonefinance.comSee full entry in The 11 Best Fractional CFOs for Patent-Heavy & IP-Rich Startups (2026)
Methodology and scoring weights live at /methodology. No vendor pays for placement — see about.