CPA • MBA • FPAC • Founder

I spent 15 years in finance watching small businesses get ignored.
Now I'm fixing that.

I'm Tulsi Chokshi — a CPA and finance veteran based in San Francisco. I've seen too many small business owners losing sleep over cash flow, spreadsheets, and "what-if" scenarios. So I'm building the tool they deserve.

Tulsi Chokshi

From spreadsheets to something that actually helps

For over 15 years, I've worked in finance — as a CPA, an FP&A professional, and a strategic advisor to businesses of all sizes.

I've built financial models, led forecasting cycles, and helped companies see around corners. But here's what always bothered me: the tools and expertise I used every day were only available to companies that could afford a finance team. The small business owner — the bakery, the plumber, the freelancer — was making the same high-stakes financial decisions with nothing but a bank balance and a gut feeling.

The gap I kept seeing

There are 33 million small businesses in the US. Most of them make financial decisions the same way: check the bank account, hope for the best. Not because they're unsophisticated — because every tool built for "cash flow forecasting" was actually built for accountants and CFOs.

Dashboards full of charts. Jargon like "variance analysis" and "rolling forecasts." Output that tells you what happened, but never what to do.

The moment it clicked

I watched a business owner stare at a perfectly accurate 12-month cash flow forecast and ask: "So... can I hire someone or not?"

The forecast had the answer buried in it. But she couldn't find it. That's not a user problem. That's a design problem. That's when I decided to build something different.

15+ Years in Finance
33M US Small Businesses Underserved
1 Mission: Make It Simple

Built on real financial expertise

MBA — USC

University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business (2019–2022)

CPA

Licensed Certified Public Accountant in California & Arizona

FPAC

Certified Corporate FP&A Professional — Financial Planning & Analysis

Forensic Accounting

AICPA Fundamentals of Forensic Accounting Certificate

Languages: English Hindi Gujarati (Native)

ForwardLens

AI cash flow forecasting for small businesses. Ask questions in plain English. Get answers you can act on.

Answers, not dashboards

"Yes, you can afford to hire" beats a 12-month waterfall chart every time.

Recommendations, not reports

Every result includes a specific action. We tell you what to do, not just what the numbers say.

Your language, not ours

"You'd have about $22,800 left" — not "Your projected cash position remains within acceptable parameters."

Visit ForwardLens →
"Can I afford to hire someone for the holiday rush?"
Yes, but time it carefully. Hiring at $3,600/month starting November still leaves you with ~$22,800 by January. But if your December revenue comes in at last year's level, you'd have a comfortable $31,000 buffer.

Recommendation: Hire a seasonal employee Nov–Jan rather than full-time. You keep the holiday capacity without the January cash crunch.

Thinking out loud about small business finance

Lessons from 15 years as a CPA and finance leader, the journey of building ForwardLens, and what I wish every small business owner knew about cash flow.

Small Business

The $10K question: When to hire vs. when to wait

The math behind the most stressful decision a small business owner makes.

Coming Soon
Building in Public

Why I left finance to build for the people finance forgot

33 million small businesses. Zero tools built for how they actually think about money.

Coming Soon
Fintech

Dashboards are the problem, not the solution

Every fintech startup shows you more data. What if the answer is showing you less?

Coming Soon