About Donkey Ideas

One person. A dumb name. A real portfolio.

Donkey Ideas is a one-person venture studio in New York. It's run by Alain Beltran — a controller and CFO with twenty years behind the numbers — and it exists to take the ideas everyone else calls dumb, put them through a real financial model, and build the ones that survive.

don·key i·de·asnoun, plural

Polite corporate English for dumb ideas — the early-stage, easy-to-dismiss concepts a venture studio exists to validate, build, and launch. See also: every venture in the portfolio.

Not a consultancy. A builder.

We ship our own product.

What it actually is

A venture studio — not an agency and not a fund. Donkey Ideas builds and operates its own portfolio of digital products, from consumer apps to SaaS to fintech. When it works with outside founders, it's as a builder and a fractional CFO, never as a check-writer.

Who's behind it

Alain Beltran — twenty years as a controller and CFO across SaaS, financial services, and public companies. Over $1B in daily liquidity managed, multi-entity M&A consolidation across nine countries, and now a dozen ventures built with that same discipline underneath.

Why the dumb name

Because every crowded market started as somebody's dumb idea. "Sounds dumb" usually means nobody serious is looking — which is exactly the opening. The name keeps the ego out and the curiosity in.

How the work gets done

One person with an AI-native toolchain builds what used to take a team. Validate with real market research, model it like a CFO, ship something small and fast, then spend real money only on what earns it. Playful going in, serious coming out.

The two jobs.

Same discipline, two doors.

Build the portfolio.

Take dumb-sounding ideas, validate them, and launch the ones that hold up — a growing portfolio of real, shipping products. See them all on the portfolio ledger.

Be your CFO, part-time.

The same twenty years of finance leadership, available to your startup or small business — modeling, forecasting, runway, and fundraising prep. That's fractional CFO services.

Got a dumb idea?

Then you already know where this goes.

Pitch it and you get a builder and a CFO in your corner — not a term sheet. Or if it's your numbers that need the help, book a free CFO call.

Pitch your idea CFO services