In today's competitive environment, software development projects don't get funded unless they return clearly defined value to the business. Demands for shorter investment periods, faster time-to-market, and increased agility require new, radical software development ap- proaches. These approaches must draw on the expertise of both software architects and financial stakeholders and open the traditional black box of software development to rigorous financial analysis. One can accomplish this only by positioning software development as a value-creation activity in which business analysis is integral. The Incremental Funding Method (IFM) is a financially informed approach to software development. IFM maximizes returns by delivering functionality in "chunks" of customer-valued features, carefully sequenced to optimize the project's net present value. Instead of focusing exclusively on controlling risk and cost, IFM also addresses "time to value." It can work in conjunction with any iterative software development process such as the Rational Unified Process, Extreme Programming, Feature-Driven Development, or Crystal methodologies.